Troy Angels looked to beef up their offense in advance of tournament
Published 3:00 am Thursday, July 7, 2016
![Messenger Photo/dan smith The Troy Angles are ready for their state tournament in Scottsboro on Friday. The Angels will go up against Green Hill in the first round at 5 p.m.](https://www.troymessenger.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2016/07/web-300x169.jpg)
Messenger Photo/dan smith
The Troy Angles are ready for their state tournament in Scottsboro on Friday. The Angels will go up against Greenhill in the first round at 5 p.m.
The Troy Angels head to the state tournament with confidence in their game plan.
“We don’t know much about the teams up there, but we are going to play the way we play,” said head coach Adam Navarre. “Hopefully it works out, and we can compete.”
The Angels begin state tournament play this weekend in Scottsboro.
“We are extremely excited,” Navarre said. “We have been doing a lot work on our pitching and our hitting.”
Defense proved key in the team’s district championship, so players have focused on offense in the past two weeks.
“We are really good on defense already,” Navarre said. “We have been doing a lot of hitting. We are getting better. That is our biggest thing. We are going to go up there and try to score a lot of runs and make other teams try and outscore us.”
To do that, players need to make sure they don’t let good pitches pass by them.
“We need to be aggressive and not just watch the ball,” Navarra said. “We have been letting some of our pitchers pitch to them in practice and it has helped a lot.”
Four pitchers will lead the Angels: Kaylee Navarre, Hannah Sparrow, Olivia Kirkpatrick and Molly Garrett.
“That is going to be the most important position on the field,” Navarre said. “We can score 15 runs all day, but if the other team can score 16 then you’re in trouble. It’s going to come down to pitching.”
The Angels team is one of five softball teams from Troy headed to divisional state championships.
“It’s pretty remarkable,” Navarre said. “Every (softball) team we have is going to state. I have never heard such a thing. That is impressive to me.”
The Angels will take on Greenhill at 5 p.m. Friday in Scottsboro.