Troy University Athletics
Troy University
Mississippi Valley State University
Trojans Sneak Past Mississippi Valley State
3/11/2012 3:16:00 PM | Softball
BATON ROUGE, La- Hayden Gann's one-out RBI double in the bottom of the seventh inning gave the Troy softball team a 4-3 comeback victory in the final game of the Purple and Gold Challenge on Sunday.
Tied at 3-3 in the bottom of the seventh, Gann ripped a double into the left center gap to score sophomore catcher Kacie McAllister from second base to give Troy another comeback win and their first at the Purple and Gold Challenge.
Troy starter Ashley Rainey picked up her team-leading seventh victory as the freshman pitched all seven innings for her sixth complete game of the season.
For the first time in the Purple and Gold Challenge, Troy jumped out early and put two runs on the board in the bottom of the first inning.
After a Jaycee Affeldt single up the middle to advance Troy catcher Kacie McAllister to third, senior Hayden Gann laid down a bunt down the first base line that allowed McAllister to score and move Affeldt up to second.
Up next, Troy senior third baseman Nikki Hollett roped an RBI double to left center to bring in Affeldt and give a Troy an early 2-0 lead.
Hollett's RBI was the 113th of her career and moves the senior into a fourth-place tie with former Trojan Renie Mitchell.
Mississippi Valley State picked up its only three runs of the game in the top of the fifth off of Rainey, with a one-out double by Alexandra Hobbs that scored Rachelle Harris to cut the Troy lead to 2-1.
Three pitches later, Natalia Covarrubias sent a two-RBI single up the middle that plated Shana Ladner and Hobbs to give the Devilettes a 3-2 lead, their first of the game.
The Trojans rallied back in the bottom of the fifth, with a runner on first and second, Gann sent a two-out RBI single up the middle to score Michelle Hewett to tie the game at 3-3.
After retiring MVSU in order in the top of the fifth and sixth innings, in the seventh, Rainey and the Troy defense worked out of the biggest jam of the day.
With the go-ahead run on second with one out, Rainey worked a ground ball to Hollett at third base, who threw across to first for the second out. After making the catch, Gann came up firing, throwing to shortstop Bailey Blake, who was covering third base, to cut down MVSU pinch runner Megan Martinez for the third out of the inning.
In Troy's final at-bat, the bats came to life again for the Trojans. With one out, Kacie McAllister reached base on an infield single to put the go-ahead run on base. After fouling off six-straight pitchers, Jaycee Affeldt reached base on a hit-by pitch to bring up Gann with just one out.
Gann, who already had two hits on the day, sent a 2-1 fastball to the left center gap to score McAllister from second to give Troy a 4-3 walk off victory over the Devilettes.
Gann finished the day 3-for-4 at the plate, as the Hoover, Ala. native picked up three RBIs and notched her seventh double of the season.
McAllister was other Trojan with multiple hits, as the sophomore was 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Hewett, Affeldt, and Hollett all picked up hits in the comeback victory.
Rainey (7-2) picked up her third complete game in her last four starts, as the freshman allowed three runs, all coming in the fourth inning, and allowed five hits while striking out five.
With the non-conference tournament portion of the 2012 season over, the Troy softball team travels to Monroe, La. for a mid-week Sun Belt matchup with the ULM Warhawks to open up conference play.
The Trojans and Warhawks will play a doubleheader beginning at 5:00 p.m. from the ULM Softball Complex and finish out the series Thursday at 5:00 p.m.
Troy returns home to the Troy Softball Complex on Wednesday, March 21 to face the 19th-ranked Auburn Tigers at 6:00 p.m. The Trojans begin their Sun Belt home slate in a doubleheader against 11th-ranked Louisiana-Lafayette at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 24.
Check back with TroyTrojans.com for updates on Troy softball. To find more information about Troy softball on Twitter, follow @TroyAthletics, @TroySBall, and @iamtylerpigg.
