Trojans snag two from visiting Demons
Published 10:56 pm Wednesday, April 15, 2009
It seemed fitting that Rocky Paige scored the winning run in game two to cap a Trojan doubleheader sweep of the visiting Northwestern State Demons Wednesday night in Troy.
Paige went 2-for-3 at the plate for Troy (32-14) with a triple, four RBIs and one run scored in a game one 9-1 victory in five innings. She followed that up with a 3-for-4, four-RBI, three runs scored game in a game two 10-9 win. In game two she drilled a three-run home run in the first inning and tripled in the bottom of the seventh to score Kaitlin Kenney and tie the game at 9-9 and scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly from Sarah Shields.
“I haven’t been hitting good, so I think after I got those first couple hits I got really comfortable and then everyone else was hitting so it became easy since I hit after everyone else,” Paige said.
Troy head coach Melanie Davis said it was good to see Paige come out of a slump.
“Rock has had a lot of bad luck this year,” Davis said. “She is always one to be hard on herself, but it was a great night for her.”
In game two the Demons (5-35) took advantage of four Troy errors to gain a 9-5 advantage, but Troy battled back with three runs in the sixth inning to cut the lead to 9-8 and won in walk-off fashion in the seventh.
“Obviously our team has struggled in pulling off the win and come-from-behind wins have been tough for us,” Davis said. “And that second game we were behind throughout the contest and I think the positive, despite our poor performance from the pitching staff and a poor performance on defense, is that this team found a way to win. And they got the big hits in the clutch. I am really proud of them for that.”
Hillary Hughes and Heidi Johnson hit home runs in the first game and Tasha Elmore added a solo shot in the second game. Allison Moore picked up two wins in the circle for Troy, as she allowed two earned runs and six hits in 10 innings of combined work between game one and two. She struck out a total of nine batters and walked seven.
Click here for photo gallery of Wednesday’s action