LEXINGTON, Ky. — Marshall University had never been the the NCAA Regionals before, so it seemed as if the Thundering Herd was trying to squeeze as much as possible out of every game.

Marshall lost to Kentucky in an eight inning game on Friday night, 2-1, then beat Notre Dame 3-1 in seven innings on Saturday afternoon.

But Saturday evening’s game against Virginia Tech in an elimination game was a classic, a 13 inning game in front of 1,547 Herd, Hokies and interested ‘Cats fans had a little bit of everything, including a mid-game protest by Marshall Coach Shonda Stanton that was not resolved as the broadcast on ESPN3 and WMUL 88.1 FM, the MU student station, went off the air.

In a game that took over 3.5 hours, in the end, Marshall (36-22) blinked first in the 13th and the Hokies got the win, and the chance to try to beat UK twice on Sunday — they lost to the ‘Cats, 6-2, in the early game of a long Saturday at John Cropp Stadium at the University of Kentucky.

Virginia Tech got a two-out double by pinch-hitter/left fielder Amanda Ake, who moved to third on an error by Ashley Gue in centerfield, when she dropped the ball off the wall, allowing Ake to move up to 60-feet from the plate.

Bkaye Smith stepped up and finally delivered for the Hokies with a two-out single to give the Hokies a 2-1, 13 inning win — depending on if the protest is held up or not.

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Marshall bounced back from the disappointment of losing to Kentucky in the NCAA Regionals in extra innings last night to bounce the Notre Dame Fighting Irish out of the tournament with a 3-1 win Saturday at Kentucky's John Cropp Stadium.

Marshall (36-21) will now play Virginia Tech, who beat Notre Dame (finished the season at 43-15) on Friday but fell to the UK Wildcats in Saturday’s first game, 6-2.

That second elimination game of the day for the Herd will start about 30 minutes after the end of the win over the Irish, now 0-2 all-time versus the Herd.

Marshall is now 14-4 all-time against the Big East Conference and Notre Dame, the BE champs, have never advanced past the regionals in the NCAA post-season.

The Herd picked up its first win in its first trip to the NCAA Regional behind — who else — senior pitcher Andi Williamson, who improved to 33-17 on the season.

Williamson allowed no earned runs, one unearned run, six hits, one walk and six strikeouts in shutting down the Fighting Irish.

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Kentucky Wildcats got a bases-loaded, walk-off single with no outs in the bottom of the eighth to defeat the Marshall Thundering Herd in its first NCAA Regional game at the UK John Cropp Stadium in front of a sold-out, capacity crowd of nearly 1,700 and national audience on ESPN3.

It was another heartbreaker for the Herd, who lost a 3-1 lead to Kentucky and fell, 4-3, to the ‘Cats in the seventh inning of the regular season meeting at UK last month.

Kentucky moves to the winner’s bracket to meet the Virginia Tech Hokies at 1 p.m. Saturday, and the Herd will have a second-ever meeting with Notre Dame, who lost to Virginia Tech 4-3, at 3:30 p.m. in the loser’s bracket.

The loser of the UK-VT game will meet the winner of the MU-ND game at 6 p.m. Saturday.

HUNTINGTON — If ace Andi Williamson’s right pitching arm is the power that led Marshall to its first NCAA softball regionals appearance, then Ashley Gue is the glue.

Gue is among six Herd seniors who head to Kentucky for Marshall’s first NCAA game in history on Friday night against the 12th-seeded Wildcats (38-18).

It’s pretty safe to say that without the fleet center fielder who plays for her hometown school, the Conference USA-champion Herd (35-20) wouldn’t be in the 64-team NCAA bracket.

Gue’s style at the plate, with her speed from the left batter’s box, is without question slap-happy.

Her performance — and life for that matter — are anything but that.

She’s a table-setter in plenty of places.

MU coach Shonda Stanton left little doubt Gue’s growth as a player and team leader has mirrored that of the Herd program in its 20th season.