Troy knocks off No. 22 Florida State

TROY UNIVERSITY

The Troy softball team got five hits and four runs in the second inning as freshman pitcher Ashley Rainey shut down No. 22 Florida State in the Trojans 4-3 win at home on Thursday afternoon.

The win marked the third over a Top 25 team for Troy (28-16) who also defeated No.21 Auburn and No.8 Louisiana-Lafayette earlier this season.

Ashley Rainey (15-8) gave up a three-run home run in the second inning, but retired 11 straight Seminoles after that picked up her 16th complete game of the season. Rainey didn’t issue a walk as she gave up just five hits in the win.

Taylor Smartt was the only Trojan with two hits as Troy distributed their seven hits among six players. Nikki Hollett delivered the RBI single that made the difference despite playing out of position.

Hollett moved from the left side of the infield to first base as Hayden Gann missed her first game in nearly three years due to a nursing school conflict. Gann had started 165 consecutive contests for the Trojans dating back to April 21, 2009.

Jessica Nori (3-2) was tagged with the loss for the Seminoles after giving up four runs, three earned over 1.1 innings with five hits. Lacey Waldrop pitched the final 4.2 for FSU and was affective, but couldn’t outduel Rainey who was lights out.

 

Florida State struck first with a three-run home run by Erika Leonard plating Kirsten Austin and Kelly Hensley who each reached on fielder’s choices. Despite not committing an error in the inning, the Trojans had a couple of defensive miscues on fielder’s choices that aided the Seminoles three runs.

Troy didn’t let the blast phase them as they responded with four runs in the bottom half of the inning. Hannah Renn got things started with a leadoff single and scored on Sarah Shields RBI double. Shields came around when FSU committed an error on Jaycee Affeldt’s sacrifice bunt attempt.

A single and hit batter loaded the bases for the Trojans with one out before Kelly Luquette delivered an RBI single to tie the score at 3-3. Hollett hit another RBI single to give Troy the lead at 4-3. Hollett’s RBI single came after she nearly hit a grand slam but missed the left field foul pole by just feet.

The Trojans return to the field this weekend when they host Middle Tennessee in a three-game Sun Belt series. The Trojans and Blue Raiders will play a doubleheader at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday before closing with a single game on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.