Softball Splits Conference Opener with Georgia Southern

Saturday, March 11

Statesboro, Ga.

12 PM

Troy University

11-13, 0-1

Georgia Southern

11-9, 1-0

Troy

Georgia Southern

Softball Splits Conference Opener with Georgia Southern

3/11/2017 5:28:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Grace Bolin

STATESBORO, Georgia- Troy (12-13, 1-1 SBC) split its conference opener as the Georgia Southern Eagles picked up a 3-2 win in game one, but Troy fought back to run-rule the Eagles 11-3 in the second game of the day off of a Becca Hartley grand slam and a Kaylee Hussey home run.

Game one: Troy 2, Georgia Southern 3
The Trojans had a hard time finding an answer to Georgia Southern's pitcher Dixie Raley. Raley (7-6) threw 10 strikeouts on the day and only allowed two runs on five hits from the Trojans.

The Eagles scored early as two singles and a score on an error put Georgia Southern up 1-0 in the bottom of the first. Troy was able to tie up the game in the third inning as Hartley hit an RBI double to score Carli Kayler who reached on a hit by pitch.

The Eagles quickly responded as Emily Snider hit a two-run shot to put the Eagles up 3-1 in the bottom of the inning.

Meg Willis led off for the Trojans in the top of the sixth and blasted a solo home run down the left field line, her fourth of the season to put Troy within one, but Troy was unable to make a come back as the Eagles took the 3-2 win.

In the circle, senior Rachel Rigney Brown earned the start and threw a complete game giving up six hits and throwing one strikeout. With the loss, she moves to 5-7 on the season.

Game two: Troy 11, Georgia Southern 3

Troy was able to shake off the early loss as they demolished Georgia Southern 11-3 in six innings at Eagle Field. Hot bats and a grand slam from Becca Hartley propelled the Trojans to the win.

After a scoreless first, Troy got on the board first with back-to-back hard hit singles from sophomores Kaylee Hussey and Madeline Porter. Two hit by pitches in a row scored a run and loaded the bases for the Trojans. A fielder's choice from Erica Davis allowed another Trojan run to score to give Troy a 2-0 lead.

The bats continued to be on fire as the cardinal and lead posted three hits to score another run putting the Trojans up 3-0. Troy's current home run leader Becca Hartley stepped up to the plate with bases loaded, and the inevitable happened. Hartley crushed her first grand slam of her career to put Troy up 7-0.

A couple of Troy fielding errors allowed the Eagles to put their first run on the board in the bottom of the third. With bases loaded in the fourth, Troy took another hit by pitch to bring in another run to go up 8-1. Another Troy error gave Georgia Southern it's second run of the game.

A hard hit single to center field from Snyder scored Hartley from second. In the sixth inning, catcher Kaylee Hussey launched her first career homer in the sixth inning, a two run shot which gave Troy a comfortable 11-3 advantage to close out the game.

Claire Graves (5-2) earned the start and the win after pitching a complete game. She threw one strikeout and only allowed three runs on five hits.

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