This weekend, the Troy Trojans (33-23) closed out the 2025 regular season with a series win over rival South Alabama Jaguars to secure the No. 8 seed in the upcoming Sun Belt Conference Softball tournament in Troy. 

After Troy beat South Alabama on May 1, South managed to tie the series with a 12-3 win on May 2. Troy led 3-0 going into the fourth inning but South Alabama scored 12 unanswered runs to tie the series. 

McKinnon Howard led Troy at the plate, going 3-for-3, while Taylor McKinney hit a double and scored one run. Dailynn Motes drove in one run. Alyssa Faircloth (15-7) pitched five and 1/3 innings and struck out three batters, while giving up five hits and four earned runs. Troy had four fielding errors as a team. Motes tallied eight putouts and one assist. 

The Trojans bounced back to throttle South Alabama 12-2 later in the day to earn the series win, run-ruling the Jags in five innings. 

McKinney went 2-for-2 with a home run, a double, five RBIs and two runs, while Natalie Turner went 2-for-3 with a double, one RBI and two runs. Annie Orman drove in two runs and Motes scored two runs. 

Mya Holt (11-5) pitched all five innings and fanned three batters, while giving up seven hits and two earned runs. Orman tallied three putouts with no errors. 

Troy will host the SBC Tournament this week, May 7-10, at the Troy Softball Complex. Troy plays James Madison in the first round at 7 p.m. on May 7 and Coastal Carolina plays Southern Miss earlier in the day at 4 p.m. 

The quarterfinals will be held on May 8. At 10 a.m., Louisiana plays Appalachian State and Marshall will play the winner of Southern Miss vs. Coastal at 1 p.m. Texas State plays the winner of Troy vs. JMU at 4 p.m. ULM will close out day two against Georgia Southern at 7 p.m. The semifinals will be played on May 9 at 4 and 7 p.m. with the Conference Championship at 1:30 p.m. on May 10 in a game that will air on ESPN2.