Hollett Powers Trojans to Victory

Saturday, February 26

Hattiesburg, MS

11:30 a.m.

Troy University

Mississippi Valley State University

Photo by: Troy University

2/26/2011 2:47:27 PM | Softball

Junior hits two more home runs in the victory, Ashlyn Williams makes her return

By: Travis Jarome

Box Score (.pdf) | Box Score

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Troy University Trojans pounded out the most hits of the season en route to defeating Mississippi Valley State University 12-6 in the second game of the Southern Miss Invitational, closing out the day with a pair of victories.

Junior Morgan Grove (Tampa, Fla./Tallahassee CC) picked up another victory this season, her fifth against no losses as she worked three innings of no-hit ball before allowing the first hit in the bottom of the fourth inning. She finished the day going four innings, allowing three runs (two earned off of five hits).

The big news on the mound for the Trojans was the return of senior Ashlyn Williams (Hattiesburg, Miss./Oak Grove HS), as she made her return to the mound after missing last weekend due to a surgical procedure. The senior worked three innings, throwing 59 pitches and allowed three runs off of three hits. She also struck out four batters in the process.

At the plate, the Trojans were led by Nikki Hollett (Melbourne, Australia/Wesley College) as she went 4-for-5, with four runs scored, five runs batted in, a double and a pair of home runs. Junior Hayden Gann (Hoover, Ala./Hoover HS) also went 4-for-5 with a run scored a pair of RBI.

Troy (9-3) jumped ahead early, as they have done in each of their nine victories, scoring a run in the first inning. The Trojans used a leadoff walk by Michelle Hewett (Alford, Fla./Chipola JC), who was then sacrificed over the second by Kelly Luquette (St. Amant, La./St. Amant HS). Hewett advanced to third on a failed pick-off attempt, and then scored on a groundout by junior Hollett to take the early lead.

The Trojans kept the momentum going in the second inning when they added a pair of runs, highlighted by back-to-back singles from Sarah Shields (Schereville, Ind./Lake Central HS) and Taylor Smartt (Troy, Ala./Charles Henderson). The first run of the inning scored on a sacrifice fly by Kortney Cooper (Dothan, Ala./Northview HS) and the other scored on a fielder's choice by Kacie McAllister (Dothan, Ala./Dothan HS) to take a 3-0 lead after two innings of play.

Troy added another in the third on Hollett's eighth home run of the season, before erupting for four runs in the fourth to push their lead to 8-0. Hewett connected on a one-out triple, and scored on a Luquette fielder's choice in which she reached second on a fielder's choice. Hollett then followed with her second home run of the game and her ninth of the season, a new career-high for the junior shortstop to push the Trojans ahead by six runs. The Trojans added another pair of runs in the inning to extend the lead to eight.

Mississippi Valley State got on the board in the fourth as they connected on their first hit of the game, and extended that to five hits and three runs to trim the lead to 8-3 after four complete innings of play.

The Trojans answered in the top half of the fifth inning as they added a pair of runs off the Devilettes pitching. Luquette got the inning started for the Trojans with a two-out double down the leftfield line, scoring on a Hollett single to left. After Hollett advanced to second on the throw home, Hollett scored on a Gann single to center to push the score to 10-3 headed to the bottom of the fifth inning.

The Trojans added a pair of runs in the seventh inning after Mississippi Valley State scored three in the bottom of the sixth for the final margin.

Shields and Smartt each finished the game with three hits, while Hewett added two in the 17-hit attack by the Trojans.

Troy returns to action on Sunday against Evansville, before closing the tournament against Southern Miss at 5:30 pm. Live stats will be available for each of those contests.

For all the latest news on Troy University Athletics, follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/TroyAthletics, or at /TroySoftball, and become a fan on Facebook.