Williams Helps Troy Secure Series, Seed

MOBILE, Ala. ? The Troy Trojan softball team defeated South Alabama 4-0 and 4-2 in Sun Belt Conference Softball action at USA's Jaguar Field on Sunday.

Ashlyn Williams picked up her Sun Belt Conference leading 26^th and 27^th victories of the season after tossing a complete game shutout in the first game and the last five innings of game two.

Williams (now 27-13) struck out seven Jaguars in seven innings of work while scattering four hits in the first half of the doubleheader.

With the victory Troy clinched the number three seed in the Sun Belt Conference and will face North Texas on Wednesday at 3:30 pm.

In game one Troy conquered the problems that plagued them on Saturday night ? errors.

Troy did not commit an error in Sunday's first contest. The Trojans are 10-2 in games where they fail to commit an error.

“It was a complete team effort in the first game. No errors was a real key,” head coach Melanie Davis said.

After both sides failed to produce a run in the first, Troy jumped on top 1-0 in the top of the second inning behind three Troy hits and a Rocky Paige RBI single. Two wild pitches gave Troy another run and a 2-0 lead in the second inning.

Troy caught another break in the top of the fifth inning when Kala Moore made it to second after grounding back to the pitcher and Leggett throwing it into the Troy dugout.

But the Trojans failed to capitalize with back-to-back outs and stranded Moore at third.

South Alabama picked up their third hit of the game in the bottom of the sixth on an Evelyn Pare bunt single. She moved to second after a Paige throwing error.

Williams turned up the heat after the hit and error to strike out the side including reigning Sun Belt Conference Newcomer of the Year Tara Donaldson looking to get out of the inning unhurt with Troy still leading 2-0.

“Ashlyn [Williams] threw a gem of a game with the complete game shutout, but we also got a complete offensive performance from the entire lineup with timely hitting,” Davis said.

Troy threatened again in the top of the seventh inning, putting two on with one out behind a Felicia Hammer walk and Jessica Lyle single.

Hillary Hughes capitalized drilling a double off the left field fence to plate pinch-runner Kaitlin Kenney. Tanya McLean then singled deep in the hole to shortstop to score Lyle.

Pinch-runner Anna Tew was thrown out at third after running through the bag and being unable to scramble back with Troy on top 4-0.

McLean finished game one 2-for-3 with one RBI. Both Paige (one RBI) and Johnson also finished 2-for-3 on the game.

Game Two:

Kala Moore led-off game two with a single past the diving USA shortstop Jenny Steven. Moore then picked up her 26^th stolen base on the year and moved to third base after a sacrifice.

But USA didn't bite on a double steal attempt and Moore was picked off at third base for the first Trojan out. The Jaguars then retired the next two Troy batters to escape the threat.

South Alabama picked up a run in the bottom of the second inning to lead 1-0 on an Ashley Elmore RBI single that also loaded the bases, but Lassiter got back-to-back strikeouts to evade further damage.

Troy grabbed a 2-1 lead in the top of the fourth inning on a Courtney Davis two-run homer that plated Hillary Hughes. The home run was Davis' 10^th of the season.

Elmore laced a triple to the fence in right centerfield and was plated on an infield single by Evelyn Pare to tie the game at two.

Cassie Lassiter (ND) got the start for Troy, completing five innings and allowing just two runs. Lassiter struck out five and walked two.

Ashlyn Williams entered the game out of the bullpen to start the sixth inning and struck out the side setting her up for five innings of scoreless relief.

She struck out 10 for the seventh time in 2008 and allowed no walks while scattering two hits.

Both teams traded zeroes on the scoreboard until the international tie breaker rule came into effect after the ninth.

Troy's Heidi Johnson sacrificed base runner Jessica Lyle (the last out in the ninth inning) over to third base, then Paige doubled Lyle in to put the Trojans on top 3-2.

Pinch-hitter Felicia Hammer followed up with a base knock of her own to score Paige and up the Trojan lead to 4-2.

Williams retired the Jaguars in order in the bottom of the tenth to seal the victory.

Troy University Athletics

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