Troy’s Belles capped off a perfect tournament Tuesday night with a 12-0 win over South Dale in the championship game at the Troy Sportsplex.

The Trojans did not allow a single run in the entire sub-district tournament and head to Ozark Thursday for the District tournament. Troy outscored its opponents 45-0 in sub-districts.

“I don’t think it has ever been this easy at sub-districts in past years,” Becca Hartley said. “It just feels great to be on such a good team and we will start again Thursday and try to win the first two so we don’t have to play Saturday.”

Troy may have won easily in the sub-district tournament, but Troy head coach Steve Finlayson knows it will not be easy going forward.

“We got the easy part out of the way and now starts the hard part,” Finlayson said.

Finlayson said it has been a joy to coach such a talented group of girls.

“This has been the most fun I have had as a coach,” he said. “When you have girls with this much talent coaching is easy. These girls always get along and they have not had any major squabbles. They cheer each other on all the time and they console each other when a bad play is made.”

Hartley said the time the girls spent together before the tournament began has had a huge part in the team’s success.

“Hanging out together really helped us out because we all know we can talk to each other and pick each other up without any feelings getting hurt,” Hartley said. “We just hope we can last through the summer and win it all.”

The winning pitcher in the championship game, Kristen Finlayson, said it was fun to be out there for the championship, but it was not all smooth sailing for the 13-year-old.

“This is my first time being at sub-districts and I was nervous and shaking out there in the first inning,” Kristen Finlayson said.

Finlayson was not shaking for long, as she struck out seven batters and allowed zero runs and two hits through three innings for the win. Hartley threw the final two innings of the mercy-rule victory and allowed two hits while striking out none and walking none.

Troy jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning and added eight runs in the second to go up 11-0. The final run came in the fourth inning.

At the plate for Troy, Hartley led the way by going 2-for-2 with a grand slam home run, a triple, two runs scored and four RBIs. Tootie Goshea was also 2-for-2 and scored one run.

Hannah Fountain went 2-for-3 with two runs scored for Troy. Stephanie Finlayson also went 2-for-3 and had one RBI.

Madison Mehaffey, Kristen Finlayson, Mary-Michael Dunn and Brittany Golden each had one hit and one run scored. Mehaffey had one RBI. Alli Ellis contributed one hit and Brooke Hudson was 1-for-1 with two runs scored and one stolen base.

Kristena Harper, Kaitlyn Skelley, Kayliegh Thompson and Savannah Weed each had a hit for South Dale.

Troy advances to the district tournament in Ozark that begins tomorrow.

Click here for a photo gallery of Tuesday’s game

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