The momentum wasn’t as strong as they thought.

The Illinois softball season came to an end on a cloudy Thursday afternoon in Nebraska, as the team dropped its first round game in the Big Ten Tournament 5-2 to Penn State.

With an early exit from the Big Ten Tournament, the Illini saw their only chance at an NCAA postseason berth disappear.

Despite a late-season turnaround that saw the team win 11 of its last 12 games, climbing back up the Big Ten standings, Illinois’ sub-.500 record leaves it ineligible to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

The Illini consistently failed to drive in runners in scoring position throughout the game, a problem head coach Terri Sullivan said the offense dealt with all season long.

“I don’t mind getting beat when you bring your best and you make your opponent earn it, but we just didn’t do that today,” Sullivan said. “You win games and you lose games, but we certainly would have liked to compete a little bit harder today.”

Penn State freshman Macy Jones shut down Illinois’ offensive momentum, only making one mistake to Jess Perkins which allowed the sophomore to crush a two-run home run over the left field wall in the bottom of the first inning.

Instead, it was Illini senior Pepper Gay who struggled early. Gay allowed Penn State a bases-loaded opportunity with one out in the first inning, which resulted in 2 runs on an infield single and a wild pitch.

“I didn’t pitch my best,” Gay said. “I always have a rocky start and it ended up hurting us this game, because we didn’t score enough back in the end.”

Despite Illinois’ quick response from the Perkins home run, the Nittany Lions tacked on two more in the top of the second on a Kailyn Johnson triple off the right field wall, giving them a 4-2 lead the Illini couldn’t erase.

Illinois threatened in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, with batters reaching base on three separate doubles, but couldn’t capitalize on the opportunities.

In the fourth, freshman Kylie Johnson grounded out to end the frame, while a pair of pop-outs by Perkins and freshman Remeny Perez ended the fifth and a double play finished off the Illini sixth.

Gay said the pressure on the team was increasing as the innings went on.

“We were trying too hard because in the back of our minds, we knew it was single elimination,” Gay said.

Gay’s control returned, but unfortunately for Illinois, the senior put the pieces back together too late. She threw four innings of one hit softball — including throwing just five pitches to retire the Nittany Lions in the top of the fifth.

But in the seventh, Penn State’s Cassidy Bell homered to right field to extend the Nittany Lion’s lead to 5-2 — the final nail in the coffin.

With 10 returning players contributing in Thursday’s game, Sullivan wants her players to take what they can from the loss.

“They’ve got to take this experience and know that you have to bring your best all the time and all season,” Sullivan said. “It’s a great lesson for the team to have.”

But according to junior Alex Booker, it wasn’t just the underclassmen who took valuable lessons from a wild, up and down Illinois season.

“We’re still a family, we’re still a team, we’re still a unit, and we’re always going to be together,” Booker said. “We know that we can always learn from something and always learn from the game and put it into real life experiences, whether we are moving on to the life after softball or are moving on to next year.”

Sean can be reached at [email protected] and @Neumannthehuman.