Troy Drops First Game of Season to North Texas

Saturday, February 8

Troy, Ala.

2:30 p.m.

Troy University

2-1

North Texas

3-1

North Texas

Troy

Troy Drops First Game of Season to North Texas

2/8/2025 5:02:00 PM | Softball

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By: Troy Athletics Communications

Troy, Ala. -- After winning two games on Friday to start the 2025 season, Troy dropped a 7-3 contest to North Texas on Saturday afternoon. The Trojans (2-1) struggled to get any offense going after scoring two runs in the first inning.

While the Trojans pitching staff struggled at times, Esmee Ames shined in her first Troy outing. The Florida Southwestern State transfer spun three hitless innings out of the bullpen, striking out one.

North Texas (3-1) pitcher Skylar Savage (1-0) shut the Trojans down, allowing only four hits in the complete game.

Alyssa Faircloth (1-1) -- coming off a spectacular outing against Tennessee State on Friday – ran into some trouble in the first inning after a walk and an error. However, the Trojans turned a smooth double play to escape the frame.

Taylor McKinney earned her fourth hit of the weekend to start the Trojans off, beating the throw to first base for a single. The hit extended her streak to seven games between 2024 and 2025.

Following Makaley Boswell's sacrifice bunt, Sissy Dunn smoked a ball to shortstop that couldn't be corralled. McKinney scored, and the Trojans added another run one batter later on a throwing error. However, the 2-0 lead wouldn't last long.

The Mean Green strung together four hits, including a two-RBI double down the third base line, in the third inning to take a 4-2 lead.

Sophomore pitcher Savannah Money gave up a leadoff single to start the fourth inning, but Reaghan Oney made an outstanding diving snag. When the baserunner tried to steal second, Sarah Beth Brake hosed the runner to help Money out of the inning.

Last season, Brake threw out 87% of attempted base thieves in 2024 and is 1-for-2 so far this year.

Troy's offense went dormant over the middle innings, and North Texas capitalized. A two-RBI double off the bat of Ausha Moore put the Trojans down 6-2, and the Mean Green went up 7-2 after five.

Although the Trojans would eventually fall, Cassidy Boltz led off the seventh inning with a line-drive double to right-center field. A sacrifice bunt and a groundout pushed the run across to cut the gap to four runs.

The Trojans play two games on Sunday to end the Trojan Classic. First pitch against Tennessee State is set for 2:30 p.m., and the nightcap against Samford starts at 5 p.m.

Quotable – Head Coach Eric Newell
"This is obviously not the result we wanted, but there were some good things that we saw. One thing in particular was when Esmee Ames came in and settled in, that was a nice thing. She's been battling back from a small procedure. Overall, I didn't think we played well and we weren't on our A-Game today. We'll get better and regroup, and hopefully we'll do better tomorrow."

Notables

Taylor McKinney extended her hit streak to seven games between 2024-25
Troy falls to 12-16 against North Texas all-time
The Trojans turned their first double play of 2025 and their first since May 4, 2024
Esmee Ames threw three hitless innings in her Troy debut after pitching 142.2 innings for Florida Southwestern State in 2024
Cassidy Boltz has started 2025 on a three-game hit streak, driving in five RBIs as well