Troy Belles fight off Gilbertown to advance
Published 1:50 pm Sunday, July 17, 2011
Three outs away from using the 10-run rule to end Saturday’s game with Gilbertown, Troy let a 12-2 lead slip away. Then the rains came. Six hours later when the game resumed, Troy needed even more runs to pick up a 14-13 victory.
Gilbertown scored 11 runs on two hits and used 10 walks in the final three innings to crawl back and tie the host team.
Troy’s Dixie Belles kept the opposing bats quiet for four innings allowing only one hit. Gilbertown took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on wild pitches. That lead would not hold for long, however.
After three consecutive walks and two hit batters, Sh’ara Lee drove in the go-ahead run on a fielder’s choice. A wild pitch later Troy was ahead, 4-2.
Three runs would cross for the host team in the second. Mollie Sims doubled to score Kayla Dendy. Meredith Motes then scored on an Amberlyn Baker single. Again, wild pitches would plate Troy runs giving them a 7-2 advantage.
Troy collected four hits in the fourth from Sims, Baker, Kait Ross, and Olivia Hudson to help add five more runs.
Troy starter Kristen Finlayson allowed only a single hit through four innings of work.
Things started nearly as gloomy as they ended Friday for Troy, when they were beaten by Geneva 14-4, when Kym Ross was hit with a stray ball on the elbow during warm-ups and was forced to sit out.
The two teams combined to commit six errors and walk 24 batters.
After Gilbertown took a 13-12 lead, Troy came to bat in the bottom of the seventh. Hudson singled to lead off the inning. Victoria Outlaw swatted an RBI triple to tie the game. Two pitches later Outlaw scored on a passed ball ending the marathon and securing Troy’s advancement.
Valley lost to Underwood 9-5 to fall into the loser’s bracket and will face Troy today at 2 p.m.