Hartley Walks Off Against No. 19 Pittsburgh; Troy Splits Day Two of the Troy Classic

Saturday, February 25

Troy, Ala.

3 PM

Troy University

8-4

Southeastern Louisiana

7-5

Southeastern La.

Troy

Photo by: Colin Edwards

Hartley Walks Off Against No. 19 Pittsburgh; Troy Splits Day Two of the Troy Classic

2/25/2017 10:40:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Grace Bolin

TROY, Alabama - An exciting night at the Troy Softball Complex ended with a Becca Hartley walk-off home run as the Trojans defeated the No. 19 Pittsburgh Panthers 7-2. Troy split the day as it fell to Southeastern Louisiana 8-5 in game one. The Trojans now move to 9-4 on the season.

Southeastern Louisiana 8, Troy 5
Troy's comeback fell short against the Lions as it dropped the first game of the day 8-5. After a scoreless first inning from both sides, the Lions posted six runs in the top of the second to take a 6-0 lead. Troy answered back with three runs of its own as freshman Brooke Echols hit a three run home run, the first of her career, to put Troy within three.

Both teams had defensive showdowns in the third through fifth innings as no runs were scored on either side. Troy got the bats going again in the bottom of the sixth as Kaylee Hussey got base with a single to right field. A few passed balls allowed another Troy run to score, and a double from Becca Hartley scored Grace Mirly to put Troy within one.

Unfortunately, the Lions posted two more RBI singles to take the 8-5 win and give the Trojans their fourth loss of the season.

In the circle, Rachel Rigney Brown earned the start and pitched 1.2 innings before being relieved by Peyton Glover, who pitched the remainder of the game.

Troy 7, Pittsburgh 5

A 5-5 game against the No. 19 Panthers in extra innings was a perfect setup for senior Becca Hartley. After the Trojan defense came up clutch in the top of the inning to not allow any Panther runs to score, Hartley blasted her sixth homer of the season to give Troy a 7-5 win on the night.

The game started as the Panthers took an early 2-0 lead, but the Trojans were able to answer back with one run in the first inning with an Erica Davis RBI double.

After two scoreless innings, the Panthers posted another run to take a 3-1 lead, but Troy quickly tied the game as Meg Willis led off with her second home run of the season and an Echols' base hit scored Maddie Porter.

Pittsburgh regained the lead in the top of the fifth after a two RBI single gave them a 5-3 lead. With the game on the line, down two in the bottom of the seventh, Stephanie Snyder led off with a single up the middle. Another double from Davis advanced the runner to third and a single from Maddie Porter scored Jordan Gray. Kaylee Hussey also drove in a run off of a base hit to tie the game at 5-5.

In the eighth inning, runners for both teams were placed on second. Troy's defense recorded three easy outs to give the Trojans a chance to win it at the plate. Carli Kayler was placed on second for Troy as Hartley stepped up to the plate. One a 1-0 count, Hartley blasted her perfect pitch over the center field wall as Troy defeated the Panthers 7-5.

NOTEWORTHY
• Brooke Echols hit her first career home run in game one against Southeastern Louisiana
• Becca Hartley now has six home runs on the season and 29 in her career.
•The last time Troy defeated a ranked team was on May 2, 2015, as the Trojans took down in-state conference rival No. 22 South Alabama 6-3.
• Five players recorded multi-hits against Pittsburgh.
• Kaylee Hussey leads Troy with a .405 average with 15 hits in 37 at-bats.

QUOTABLE
"That was a great team win against Pittsburgh," head coach Beth Mullins said. "I thought our team did a great job bouncing back from game one and they never gave up. I can't wait to get back out there tomorrow to close out the tournament on championship Sunday."

UP NEXT
The Trojans are back in action tomorrow to close out the Troy Classic. They will face Lipscomb at 12:30 p.m. and Southeastern Louisiana at 3 p.m.

For more on Troy softball, visit TroyTrojans.com and follow @TroyAthletics and @TroyTrojansSB on Twitter.