The Troy Ponytails are banking on resiliency as they ready for the state tournament.

Two weeks after losing back-to-back games to Opp in the district championship, the Ponytails are practicing the July 8 state tournament.

“These girls are pretty resilient,” said head coach Matt Leverette. “We had a tough district … we had a few days off to recuperate, and it doesn’t take these girls long to get their feet back underneath them. I think they will be ready to go.”

Leverette said coming off the excitement of a tournament to return to a regular practice routine hasn’t been easy for the team. Even so, the players have responded well.

“The girls are getting excited to begin playing again,” he said, adding that the disappointing district tournament championship game loss can help fuel the momentum moving forward.

“We had a good run up to that point, and we had not lost a game up to that point,” he said. “Hopefully that will keep them focused and help them realize that there are a lot of good teams out there. Nothing is going to be easy.”

Leverette knows that offense will be important in the state tournament.

“We have to swing the bats,” Leverette said. “We are trying to get as many at bats against good live pitching as we can, and hopefully it will pay of. We are still working on our defense. We still have things that we need to do better there.”

Troy will utilize its speed to emphasize aggressive base running.

“We have a lot of girls that can run the bases well,” Leverette said. “We have been very successful. If we can get them on base than we have a good record of scoring them.”

The Ponytails begin the state tournament against Montgomery Gray at 6 p.m. on July 8 on Field 3 in Montgomery.