Troy greases Elba
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, July 1, 2003
The rains held out in Enterprise just long enough Tuesday for the Dixie Ponytails of Troy to crush Elba.
Troy advanced to the next round of the sub-district tournament with a 21-11 win. Troy will play the winner of Tuesday's late game between Enterprise and Greenville today at 6 p.m.
The game only lasted four innings, but head coach Kenneth Carter was not overwhelmingly pleased with his team's performance.
"We kept trying to give it away," Carter said. "We had a couple of chances to 10-run them, but I asked the girls, 'Do we have to score 50?'"
Although Troy won easily, the defense was suspect in the later innings. Troy surrendered five runs in the third and four in the fourth, but the offense kept the game from being too close.
Troy scored five runs in the first, two more in the second, five in the third and capped the game with a nine-run fourth. Bobbi Jo Strother picked up the win as Troy's pitcher.
Kasee Carter had a big night at the plate for Troy. She went 3-for-4 with a grand slam, and even reached home on a walk.
"It was a wild pitch on ball four, and she ran to first. She went to second and they threw the ball into centerfield," Carter said. "They kept throwing the ball away, and she ended up scoring on the play."
In addition to Kasee's lay, several other Troy players had solid nights on offense as well.
Kristen Messick went 2-for-2, Carrie Little went 2-for-2, Shera Upshaw went 1-for-1 and Kellie Ann Sanders went 1-for-3.
Tuesday night's win was the second 20-plus run effort for Troy after losing the first game to Andalusia. The first-round loss puts Troy in the position of bracket buster.
If Troy loses tonight, the bracket is safe, as either Greenville or Enterprise will be undefeated for the championship game Thursday.
If Troy wins, three teams will have one loss and the same number of games played. The three teams would flip a coin to determine who played first, and the third team would play the championship game Friday against the winner of Thursday's game.
"We want to mess up the bracket," Carter said.