By Jacob Holmes

Ponytails advance to district championship

 The Troy Ponytails beat Luverne 5-2 Tuesday night to clinch their spot in Thursday night’s championship game against Opp.

Troy already defeated Opp earlier in the tournament, meaning Opp will have to beat them twice in order to steal away the championship title.

As for Tuesday night’s game, head coach Matt Leverett said it was a “pitcher’s duel.”

Troy Ponytails pitcher Sadie Leverett pitched all six innings, striking out 9 batters and only allowing 3 hits.

Troy was also held to three hits on the night. Leverett credited the team’s high base-running efficiency as the key to victory. “Base running continues to be our strong point,” he said. “We only had seven base runners on the night and we got five of them home. That’s pretty efficient.”

In a game that was tough to get hits in, McKenzie Cain shined going 2 for 2 in her at-bats. Rayleigh Carter added the other base hit.

On defense, Leverett gave a shout-out to Emily Dunn for making a crucial catch in right field.

The district championship between Troy and Opp will be held Thursday night at 6:00 p.m. in Enterprise.

Darlings fall to Geneva

Geneva handed the Troy Darlings their first loss of the district tournament Tuesday night 12-7.

Head coach Neil Armstrong said that he was proud of the way his team played.

“We hit the ball well, but we hit line drives right to them,” he said. “And Geneva caught some big-time pop-ups that ended our rallies. At 8 years old, pop-ups usually result in big plays, but Geneva made their catches.”

The Darlings are not out of the tournament yet though; they will play Opp Wednesday night to see who will be in the championship game. The game will be held at 6:00 p.m. at the Troy Sportsplex.

If Troy wins the elimination game, they will either play Geneva or Enterprise Thursday night depending on the winner of their Wednesday night game. If geneva beats Enterprise Wednesday, then Troy will play Geneva for the district championship, but will need to beat them twice to claim the title. If Enterprise beats Geneva Wednesday night, all three teams will draw for a bye and the other two will play each other for a spot in the championship.

In either situation, the game will be held at 6:00 p.m. Thursday night at the Troy Sportsplex.