Troy University Athletics
Trojans Split Opening Day Games
2/6/2009 6:00:00 AM | Softball
CHATTANOOGA - The Troy Trojans softball team took care of business against Tennessee Tech in the first game of the season, but the Trojans followed up with a tight loss against Virginia Tech to finish out the day.
"I can't say enough about how proud I am of our pitching staff," Trojans head coach Melanie Davis said. "Throughout the day Ashlyn (Williams) and Allison (Moore) combined for zero earned runs in 14 innings. I'm proud of the pitching staff."
The Trojans posted a shutout against Tennessee Tech in the 5-0 victory.
A Heidi Johnson home run in the sixth inning put the Trojans up 3-0, and two more insurance runs in the final inning led to the final score.
"She certainly got all of that ball," Davis said. "Heidi is a great hitter with runners on base. We feel like she can do a great job for us in the lead off position."
Johnson's home run to left field is the first and only yard shot for the Trojans so far.
"I'm very proud of the composure the pitchers held throughout the day and the night," Davis said. "That's a great sign of things to come for our program."
While Davis is happy with the Trojans pitching, there were areas she would like to see improve in the three remaining games of the weekend.
The Trojans couldn't get any run production in the Virginia Tech contest and dropped the game 1-0.
"I'm very disappointed with the way we swung the bats," Davis said. "In the first outing against Tennessee Tech, although we did score five runs, I feel like we didn't swing the bat with confidence. Hopefully we'll learn from that and try to correct that by tomorrow."
Defensively the Trojans did what they needed to do on the field.
"There were some big defensive plays," Davis said. "Our corners did a great job shutting down the Virginia Tech lead off batter. Everybody in the country struggles with keeping her off base. We did a great job with her. There was a lot of good things that happened today, but it's always disappointing to lose a game 1-0."
Felicia Hammer tagged out a Virginia Tech runner at the plate in the third inning off of a Heidi Johnson assist to keep the game within one run. That was the only play at the plate in the game.
The third inning is also when the Trojans gave the only run of the day.
"We're ready to get back out there and correct our mistakes tomorrow," Davis said.
The Trojans will face Campbell at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, and then they will face host UT Chattanooga at 3:30.
UT Chattanooga defeated Campbell 7-5 in a shootout to the finish on Friday night.
