Trojans Walk Away with Series Sweep

Sunday, April 10

Troy, AL

1:00 p.m.

Troy University

Western Kentucky University

Photo by: Kevin Glackmeyer

4/10/2011 5:01:30 PM | Softball

TROY draws eight walks and hits two home runs in Sunday victory

By: Travis Jarome

Box Score

TROY, Ala. (TroyTrojans.com) – The Troy University softball team walked their way to victory, literally, on Sunday as they drew eight walks and used a walk-off home run to complete the sweep of WKU, 9-0, on Sunday afternoon in Sun Belt Conference action at the Troy Softball Complex.

TROY (25-18, 6-7 Sun Belt) won their fourth consecutive game, and their fifth in six conference tried, as they scored in four of the six innings against the Lady Toppers. Meanwhile, WKU (21-20, 3-9) could not solve the riddle of senior Ashlyn Williams (12-11), who won for the second time this weekend to go along with a save. The senior pitched her third complete game this week, allowing just four hits in six innings with two strikeouts.

Nikki Hollett paced the Trojans 10-hit attack with a pair of hits, and intentional walks, as she drilled a two-run home run and two-run triple late in the contest. Kacie McAllister was 3-for-3 on the afternoon, including a double; while freshman Lauren Griffith hit the second walk-off home run in three years against WKU, as she hit the third pitch she faced in a pinch hitting role off the flag pole in right center field.

The Trojans jumped on top early in the first inning when Taylor Smartt drew a four-pitch walk with one out, before Hollett connected on her league-leading 18th home run of the season. The Trojans had a chance to add more runs in the inning but left the bases loaded for the first of three consecutive innings.

After a scoreless second inning, the Trojans added another pair of runs in the third inning. After a Sarah Shields single up the middle, TROY used a sacrifice bunt and a single by McAllister to load the bases with just one out in the inning. Kelly Luquette drew a bases loaded walk to bring in Adkins, before Smartt hit a sacrifice fly to deep centerfield to score Kortney Cooper and give the Trojans a 4-0 lead.

The lead stayed that way until the fifth when the Trojans added three more runs, which started when McAllister doubled down the leftfield line with one out in the inning. After a walk and a pitching change, Hollett was pitched to for the first time in two at-bats and connected on a two-run triple down the left field line to score McAllister and Luquette to extend the lead to 6-0. They pushed the lead to 7-0 when Hollett scored on an illegal pitch by Brittanie Albright.

The Trojans needed just one run in the sixth to end the game with the run rule. However, they did one better after Michelle Hewett beat out an infield single to bring Griffith up for just the seventh time this season in a pinch-hitting role. The freshman did not disappoint as she delivered the game-ending hit when she hit a 1-1 pitch deep to right centerfield off a flag pole for her first career home run.

TROY puts their winning streak on the line against top-ranked Alabama on Tuesday night. The game will be played at the Troy Softball Complex with the first pitch set for 6 pm. Alabama (37-5) enters the contest having dropped their last three games on the road to LSU.

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