Softball Drops in Power Five Match Ups

Sunday, March 5

Baton Rouge, La.

9 AM

Troy University

11-10

Illinois

12-6

Illinois

Troy

3/5/2017 9:25:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Grace Bolin

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana- In the last day of the LSU Tournament, Troy dropped 5-3 in a rematch against Illinois. The Trojans faced the Fighting Illini on Saturday in day two of the tournament and fell 4-3 in extra innings. In the final game of the tournament, host team No.13 LSU defeated the Trojans 11-1 in six innings.

Troy 3, Illinois 5

The first game of the day got off to a quick start as a lead off walk and RBI double put Illinois up 1-0 on the Trojans in the top of the first inning. Troy jumped out to a 2-1 lead after base hits from Erica Davis and Maddie Porter put two runners on. Freshman Logan Calhoun, who earned the start at shortstop, crushed a two RBI double to give Troy the advantage.

Illinois did not let Troy hold on to the lead long, as it answered back with an RBI double of its own in the top of the third and again in the fifth to hand them a 3-2 lead over the Trojans.

A passed ball and a single from Stephanie Snyder, who led the team with two hits, scored Katie Webb from third to tie the game at 3-3.

The Fighting Illini took advantage of a base hit after pinch hitter Stephanie Abello hit a two run homer over the center field wall to give the final Illinois 5-3 lead.

With that hit, Meg Willis came into the circle for the first time this season to relieve Peyton Glover, and Kaylee Hussey made an appearance at first base. Glover faced 26 batters in 5.2 innings and threw two strikeouts. With the loss, she moves to 2-4 on the season.

Troy 1, LSU 11
A lead off triple and score by Becca Hartley put Troy on the board early in the first inning to give Troy a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but the Trojans couldn't find an answer to the strong defensive efforts from the Tigers

LSU answered back with three runs off of three hits in the bottom of the first and then scored five runs in the bottom of the second after three walks, one hit and two pitching changes for Troy.

The Trojan defense held the Tigers scoreless through three straight innings, but a walk off three run home run from Sydney Springfield sealed the game for LSU after six innings.

Rachel Rigney Brown started in the circle and was relieved by Claire Graves in the third inning when Troy got in a jam with the bases loaded. Graves pitched for two outs and after several scored runs from walked batters, Rigney Brown re-entered for the remainder of the game. She faced 27 batters and threw four strikeouts.

NOTEWORTHY
• Meg Willis saw time in the circle for the first time this season. She threw 1.1 innings in game one and did not allow a hit or a run.
• Becca Hartley started behind the plate as catcher for the second time this season against Illinois, and Kaylee Hussey played 1.1 innings at first base, for the first time this season.
• Hartley leads the team with .324 average at the plate, 22 hits and 16 RBIs.
• LSU was the third ranked team Troy has faced this year. The Trojans defeated No. 19 Pittsburgh, but fell to No. 10 Minnesota and No. 13 LSU at the LSU Tournament.

UP NEXT
The Trojans will take a day off on Monday and will travel to Starkville, Miss., to face the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Tuesday at 6 p.m., before traveling to to Statesboro, Ga., to kick off conference play against Georgia Southern March 11 and 12.