Megan Phillips
Staff Writer
The Troy softball team got its share of sun the weekend before Spring Break as they traveled to Orlando, Fla., to participate in the UCF Knights Spring Fling Tournament March 7-9 and took four out of the five games.
Day one, Friday, March 7, saw two wins for the Trojans as they took the win against Bowling Green 3-0, and then brought home a 6-4 victory after 10 innings against Penn.
Against Bowling Green, Troy only allowed three hits and between pitchers sophomore Ashley Rainey and junior Jaycee Affeldt, who struck out a combined eight.
The Trojans started off with a bang in the first inning against Penn with pitcher Rachel Rigney hitting a grand slam. The team scored the game-winning run in the top of the tenth thanks to junior catcher Alison Milam batting in senior second baseman Kacie McAllister. Troy added another run before the inning was done.
Day two, Saturday, March 8, was another success as the team took home another win against UT Martin after 8 innings, 8-7.
Troy went into extra innings for the second straight game and once again Rigney’s bat was hot, driving in the game-winning run, which was Milam reaching home plate while Rigney flew out to left field.
The game was the second extra-inning win for the Trojans.
Day three, Sunday, March 9, saw mixed success as the Trojans took home a 4-1 win against Western Carolina, but then the tides switched as they fell 4-1 in their next game against UCF.
Troy scored twice in the first inning against Western Carolina and kept the lead, though Western Carolina prevented a shutout in the sixth inning by scoring on an RBI double.
In the game against UCF, junior pitcher Jaycee Affeldt struggled on the mound, allowing seven hits and three earned runs.
During the break itself, the Troy softball team traveled to Auburn on Wednesday, March 12, where it faced the Tigers, suffering a hard blow as they fell 13-5.
Auburn utilized the windy game, which had gusts up to 20 mph, to knock out a pair of home runs to begin setting up the eight-run difference.
Next, the Trojans traveled to Conway, S.C., to participate in the Chanticleer Showdown March 14-16 and only managed to pick up one win out of the four games.
Game one saw success for the Trojans as they took the victory over host team Coastal Carolina 6-2.
This win was largely thanks to home runs by sophomore outfielder Amanda Winters and Affeldt, propelling Troy into a steady lead after Costal Carolina threatened to make a comeback in the bottom of the fifth.
Unfortunately, the Trojans’ luck appears to have run out after this successful opener as they fell the next day to Fordham 9-1 after five innings of work.
The Fordham Rams were the first on the board and continued to add on in the second, fourth, and fifth innings. Troy was only able to pick up one run in the third thanks to McAllister batting-in senior outfielder Ebony Wright.
Then, later that day, the team would once again see defeat as they suffered a shutout against Minnesota, losing 2-0.
Minnesota used three pitchers to keep Troy at three hits and shut down the potential rally in the sixth started by senior third baseman Taylor Smartt.
On the last day of play, Sunday, March 16, the Trojans once again met Minnesota on the field, and although the team saw more success than the day before, they were still unable to see the win as they fell 4-2.
Winters had her second home run of the weekend and halved the Golden Gophers lead. Her efforts throughout the weekend led to her being named to the all-tournament team.
The Troy softball team will be in action next on Saturday, March 22, as they are once again on the road, this time traveling to Bowling Green, Ky. to take on another Sun Belt team, Western Kentucky, at 1 p.m.
