Trojans Take Two on Opening Day

Friday, February 10

Hammond, La.

5:30 p.m.

Troy University

Jackson State University

2/10/2012 3:40:00 PM | Softball

By: Matt Mays

Game One Box Score | Game Two Box Score

HAMMOND, La. – The Troy softball team picked up a pair of wins on a rain-soaked opening day at the Southeastern Louisiana Lion Classic as they knocked off Jackson State and Kansas.

The games, which were scheduled to be played at 12:30 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., respectively, didn't get underway until nearly 6:00 p.m. as rain showers moved through south Louisiana.

Troy (2-0) breezed past Jackson State (1-1) in the opener, 9-0, as Ashley Rainey threw a complete-game shutout and homered in her collegiate debut.

However, the nightcap wasn't as easy as the Trojans withstood a late rally from Kansas (0-2) in an 8-7 victory in a game that ended just past 12:15 a.m.

The Trojans return to the diamond tomorrow when they take on Nicholls State and Northern Illinois. Troy will first take on the Colonels at 1:30 p.m. before taking on the Huskies at 4:00 p.m.

Be sure to check with TroyTrojans.com for recaps and results from the Lion Classic. Fans can also find Troy on Twitter at @TroyAthletics or become fans on Facebook.

GAME ONE – TROY 9, JACKSON STATE 0

Rainey made quite the impression in her collegiate debut as the Tuscaloosa native threw a complete-game shutout for the Trojans and hit a home run in a 9-0 win over Jackson State.

Rainey (1-0) struck out eight while pitching the full seven innings but also made her mark at the plate. The true freshman's fourth-inning three-run blast blew open a 2-0 and allowed the Trojans to cruise to the season-opening win.

Sarah Shields led the Trojans at the plate with a 3-for-4 game including an RBI single as Troy opened up the scoring in the second inning. Shields' run-scoring base knock put Troy up 2-0 as Hayden Gann and Taylor Smartt led off the inning with back-to-back doubles to give Troy the early lead.

Rainey made LeEthel Guillory (0-1) pay for leadoff walks to Hannah Renn and Smartt to open the fourth inning as she put the Trojans up 5-0 with her three-run blast.

The Trojans would add four unearned runs in the sixth and seventh innings to take the 9-0 decision. In all, JSU committed six errors while Troy pounded out nine hits.

Rainey held the Tigers to just four hits and five baserunners on the day.

GAME TWO – TROY 8, KANSAS 7

Troy had to fight off a five-run bottom of the seventh from the Jayhawks, but did so late on Friday night to preserve the first win of Jaycee Affeldt's collegiate career.

The earlier season jitters got to both team's pitchers as the two sides combined for 18 walks and seven wild pitches, but in the end the Troy offense was just a bit better than that of the Jayhawks.

That Troy offense helped Affeldt (1-0) overcome a shaky first inning where three of the first four Jayhawks got base hits and put the Trojans in a 1-0 hole early. Gann erased the deficit with one swing of the bat to leadoff the second inning as her solo home run tied things up at 1-1.

KU retook the lead in the bottom of the frame with an unearned run, but the Troy offense responded again in the third to give the Trojans the lead for good.

For the second straight inning the Trojans got a leadoff home run, but this time from the ninth batter in the lineup, Kacie McAllister as Troy pulled even, 2-2. Troy was able to take the lead thanks to mistakes from Jayhawk starter Alicia Pille (0-2), who walked two batters and threw four wild pitches to help Troy to the 4-2 lead.

Troy would tack on two insurance runs in the fifth thanks a two-RBI single from Rainey and two more in the sixth thanks to a KU error.

Meanwhile, Affeldt cruised through the middle innings as Troy built an 8-2 lead, but hit a snag in the bottom of the seventh as the first three Jayhawks reached base. After all three came around to score and a two-run homer by Marissa Ingle followed, Affledt's day was done.

As the Trojans come into the 2012 season with five inexperienced arms in the circle, the task wouldn't get any easier for Michaela Hamilton who was called in to save the game in her Division I collegiate debut with a runner standing on first base.

Despite a walk and a couple of wild pitches, Hamilton was able to strike out two, including the final out with runners standing on second and third to give Troy the 8-7 win.