Troy University Athletics
Trojans Take Series Over FAU
4/5/2009 5:00:00 AM | Softball
TROY - The Troy Trojans softball team clinched another Sun Belt series with a 5-1 victory over the Florida Atlantic Owls on Sunday.
“Anytime you can win a series in the Sun Belt Conference that's a great thing,” Trojans head coach Melanie Davis said. “I challenged the team yesterday to come out and hit the ball better and win the series. They took the challenge and ran with it today.”
The Trojans (30-9, 13-2) posted seven hits on the board, and the most notable hits came very early in the contest.
Sarah Shields led off the game with a double, and Nikki Hollett sent a homer deep over the left field fence to give the Trojans an early 2-0 advantage.
“I'm really proud of how these two freshmen performed for us today,” Davis said. “Nikki's home run was very big for us, and Sarah did a great job in the lead-off spot for us today.”
Sacrifice was the name of the game in the second inning for the Trojans as they posted another run to take a 3-0 lead.
Hillary Hughes got things started with an infield single, and Kaitlin Kenney came on to pinch run at first base. Kenney moved to second base on a wild pitch with Hayden Gann at the plate. Gann laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Kenney to third, and Felicia Hammer laid another sacrifice bunt to score Kenney from third.
“I was really proud of how we executed in the second to get that run on the board,” Davis said.
The Trojans added two more runs in the third inning. Kala Moore started things off with a double to center field. Tasha Elmore moved Moore to third with a fly out to right field, and Nikki Hollett sent the RBI across the plate with a single. Ashley Adkins came in to pinch run for Hollett, and later scored off of a Hayden Gann single.
“The difference between yesterday and today was the hitting,” Davis said. “Today we hit the ball. We have had excellent pitching the entire series, but the hitting has been up and down. Today we had excellent pitching with hitting and good things happened for us.”
Ashlyn Williams pitched for the Trojans, and she went the distance again. Williams struck out 11 batters. She allowed three walks, four hits and just one run.
The Trojans faced three FAU pitchers. Troy posted five hits and five earned runs against starter Amber Barton. Barton pitched two and one-thirds innings. Troy posted two more hits against reliever Kat Stauffer in two and two-thirds innings, and Carrie Ann Potter came in to finish the game. Potter pitched a complete inning and didn't allow a hit.
The Trojans next action is against Florida State on Tuesday in Tallahassee. The Trojans are back in conference action on Friday and Saturday at North Texas before returning home to observe Easter Sunday.
“Anytime you can win a series in the Sun Belt Conference that's a great thing,” Trojans head coach Melanie Davis said. “I challenged the team yesterday to come out and hit the ball better and win the series. They took the challenge and ran with it today.”
The Trojans (30-9, 13-2) posted seven hits on the board, and the most notable hits came very early in the contest.
Sarah Shields led off the game with a double, and Nikki Hollett sent a homer deep over the left field fence to give the Trojans an early 2-0 advantage.
“I'm really proud of how these two freshmen performed for us today,” Davis said. “Nikki's home run was very big for us, and Sarah did a great job in the lead-off spot for us today.”
Sacrifice was the name of the game in the second inning for the Trojans as they posted another run to take a 3-0 lead.
Hillary Hughes got things started with an infield single, and Kaitlin Kenney came on to pinch run at first base. Kenney moved to second base on a wild pitch with Hayden Gann at the plate. Gann laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Kenney to third, and Felicia Hammer laid another sacrifice bunt to score Kenney from third.
“I was really proud of how we executed in the second to get that run on the board,” Davis said.
The Trojans added two more runs in the third inning. Kala Moore started things off with a double to center field. Tasha Elmore moved Moore to third with a fly out to right field, and Nikki Hollett sent the RBI across the plate with a single. Ashley Adkins came in to pinch run for Hollett, and later scored off of a Hayden Gann single.
“The difference between yesterday and today was the hitting,” Davis said. “Today we hit the ball. We have had excellent pitching the entire series, but the hitting has been up and down. Today we had excellent pitching with hitting and good things happened for us.”
Ashlyn Williams pitched for the Trojans, and she went the distance again. Williams struck out 11 batters. She allowed three walks, four hits and just one run.
The Trojans faced three FAU pitchers. Troy posted five hits and five earned runs against starter Amber Barton. Barton pitched two and one-thirds innings. Troy posted two more hits against reliever Kat Stauffer in two and two-thirds innings, and Carrie Ann Potter came in to finish the game. Potter pitched a complete inning and didn't allow a hit.
The Trojans next action is against Florida State on Tuesday in Tallahassee. The Trojans are back in conference action on Friday and Saturday at North Texas before returning home to observe Easter Sunday.
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