Troy Ozone team slugs way into finals

The Troy Dixie Ozone team slugged their way into the district championship Thursday night, tallying six home runs in their 17-12 victory over Enterprise.

“They’re hitting well,” Coach Lee Hussey said after the win forced a second game in the championship series. The team was still playing at press time Thursday.

The Troy team was 2-1 going into the championship series, having defeated Slocomb 20-6, Geneva 12-5 and 5-0 and having lost 7-3 to Enterprise.

Throughout the series, the team had relied on the strength of its bats, tallying nine home runs before Thursday’s games.

“We’ve done well,” Hussey said earlier in the day on Thursday. “Ten of our 12 players are pitchers, so we’ve been able to spread out our pitching with two or three different pitchers and keep our opponents off guard.”

But it was the bats that impressed Hussey. “Yeah, they’ve been hitting well.”

In the opening game against Slocomb, Nick Lewis was 3 for 3 with a grand slam; Tyler Hussey was 2 for 3 with two home runs; Dawson Hamlin was 2 for 3; Graham Wilkes was 2 for 3 with a home run; and Nate Dukes was 1 for 1 with a home run.

The team faced Geneva for the first time on Saturday, winning 12-5. Hamlin was 2 for 2 with a home run and Tyler Hussey was 1 for 2 with a homerun.

Enterprise’s pitcher proved tough for the Troy team on Monday. “That had great pitching that night and took our bats away,” Hussey said of the 7-3 loss. A highlight of the game was Grant Hughes’ three-run homer. “He scored all our points for us.”

The loss dropped the Troy team to the loser’s bracket, where they faced Geneva again. Lewis hit a two-run homer in Wednesday’s 5-0 victory, and Hussey said the remainder of the runs were scored on errors.

During Thursday’s first game, Lewis was 2 for 2, with two home runs; Jack Labrant was 2 for 3 with a home run; Wilkes was 1 for 1 with a home run; Devan Suddith was 2 for 3 with a home run; and Bryson Gandy was 2 for 3 with a home run. Hussey was 1 for 3; Hughes was 2 for 2; Charlie Tisdale was 1 for 2; Kobe Griffin was 1 for 3; Dukes was 0 for 2; and Clayton Hester was 1 for 3.