Troy University Athletics
Troy's One-Two Punch
3/10/2009 5:00:00 AM | Softball
Murfreesboro, TN - The Troy Trojans softball team allowed one hit in game one, and two hits in game two when they knocked off the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders in a double-header on Tuesday.
Ashlyn Williams took the mound for Troy in game one of the series, and she pitched the distance only allowing one hit on the day. The hit came in the bottom of the seventh with two outs and two strikes on the board.
Troy won that game 3-0.
"The key in this game is pitching and defense," Trojans head coach Melanie Davis said. "I couldn't be more proud of both of those phases of our game. Ashlyn (Williams) and Allison (Moore) combined to only allow just three hits on the day in 14 innings. Middle has a lot of speed, and our pitching staff did a great job against them."
Troy's defense stepped up behind the pitching staff and didn't commit an error in either of the two games.
"If you can put that kind of pressure on the other team then it can take pressure off of your offense," Davis said.
Troy's offense got the job done as well. Troy had nine hits in game one.
Troy scored their three runs in the fifth inning starting when Felicia Hammer singled to right field. Katie Ely came in to pinch run for Hammer, and Ely moved to second from a Kaitlin Kenney sacrifice bunt. Hillary Hughes sent a homer to left field to put the Trojans up 2-0.
Kala Moore also added a hit, and Hayden Gann drove her in before the innings end giving Troy a 3-0 lead.
Williams allowed one hit, walked one batter, and struck out 13 of 21 batters on the mound.
In game two, the Blue Raiders jumped out early and grabbed their first lead of the day. The Blue Raiders led Troy 1-0 until the third inning.
Troy knocked in two runs in the third, and turned around in the fourth to add four more.
Rocky Paige's two-run home run in the third put Troy ahead for the rest of the game.
In the fourth inning, Troy added four runs on four hits. Kenney, Kala Moore, Hughes and Gann scored runs for Troy in the fourth leading to the final score of 6-1.
"With 23 hits on the day you obviously couldn't ask for a lot more out of our team," Davis said. "We were able to hit in the clutch and get sufficient runs to win the games."
Allison Moore pitched the distance for Troy as well and allowed two hits, walked one, and struck out five batters.
"All in all you couldn't have asked for a better performance on day one of Sun Belt Conference play," Davis said.
Troy will play for the series sweep on Wednesday at 1 p.m.
