Troy University Athletics
Trojans Set For Early First Place Battle
3/19/2010 4:00:00 PM | Softball
TROY, Ala. - After a long 12-day road trip, the Troy Trojans softball team is back at home with early control of the Sun Belt standings in their sights.
The Trojans (15-12, 3-0) will host the FIU Golden Panthers (18-8, 3-0) in a critical three game, Sun Belt series. A doubleheader is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on Saturday with a single game on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. The winner of the series will take early control of the Sun Belt standings.
Troy will look to a few players that have been swinging the bat well lately for leadership throughout the weekend. Kala Moore and Sarah Harris were each named to two different All-Tournament teams on the Trojans recent road swing.
Harris hit .500 at both the Bulldog Classic hosted by Mississippi State and the Pepsi Malihini Kipa Aloha Tournament hosted by Hawaii. She also hit her first two home runs of the season at the latter. On the whole 12-day, 11-game road trip, Harris hit .429 with four runs scored.
Moore was the Trojans catalyst at the tournament in Honolulu, hitting .579 with 11 hits in five games. She also stole three bases and scored three runs. On the entire trip, Moore batted .447 with five runs scored and five stolen bases.
Ashlyn Williams and Courtney Cherry each also earned All-Tournament honors at the Bulldog Classic.
The Trojans enter the weekend with a team batting average of .287, the fourth best mark in the Sun Belt. Moore leads the squad with a .391 average and is tops in the Sun Belt with 34 hits in Troy's 27 games.
Troy has two other statistical leaders in the conference. Rocky Paige leads the Sun Belt with 10 doubles, while Williams is tops with 200 strikeouts, 101 more than second place Kasey Barrett of FIU.
Williams leads the Trojans pitching staff with a 2.39 ERA in 22 appearances. She has thrown 15 complete games, with the earlier mentioned 200 strikeouts to just 35 walks. Batters are hitting .198 against her.
The Golden Panthers are currently on their own spring break, as they come into Troy having lost a single game to No.5 Alabama and two to No.19 Florida State.
FIU is led offensively by a true freshman in Brie Rojas who has a .447 batting average. Another underclassman, sophomore Ashley McClain also has some good numbers with a .398 average and 33 RBI in FIU's 26 games.
The pitching staff is anchored by senior Kasey Barrett who entered the week with a league low 0.29 ERA.
The first game of Saturday's doubleheader can be heard on WTBF-AM 970, with all three games being shown on Trojan Gamepass at the above link. Live stats for all three games will also be available at the above link. Admission to all games at the Trojan Softball Complex is FREE.
