The tying run was left standing 120 feet from home in the bottom of the sixth inning for the Troy Ponytails Tuesday evening.

Geneva topped Troy 4-2 in the first game of the championship round, forcing a second game for all the winnings.

Troy fell behind in the second inning and never could get caught up down the stretch.

Devyn Butorac drew a lead-off walk for Geneva to start the second inning.Jaylee Stough and Mara Bottoms reached on a fielders’ choice, and Bottoms later scored on a RBI single to right field off the bat of Erin Shankle.

Troy head coach Larry Rushing said that things just didn’t go right for his team.

Troy committed no less than six errors, and left the game tying run standing at second in the final stanza.

“The girls are young, but they know what they are playing for,” said Rushing. “They want to be the No. 1 seed from this district, and it may have got to them a little. Hopefully, they loosen up a little in the second one.”

Troy got on the board in the bottom of the second using the speed of center fielder Kelcey Gibson.

Gibson drew a lead-off walk, and utilized her speed to advance multiple bases on passed balls and wild pitches, coming all the way around to score.

Troy’s second run came in the fifth inning.

Holy Hughes singled to start the inning and later scored on a big RBI double to left-center fielder off the bat of right fielder Mya Terry.

“They girls never quit and we had a shot to tye it up late, and just couldn’t get it in,” Rushing said. “These girls are not like adults, they seem to have quick memories and don’t think about losses too long.”

As of press time, Troy and Geneva were in the midst of the championship game.

Full game stories and reactions will be avalaible on troymessenger.com.

 

In the second game of the championship series, Troy came out firing. Troy plated nine runs in the first inning, and cruised to a 15-3 win over Geneva to claim the No. 1 seed and District Tournament championship.

Troy will now gear up for the State Tournament.