What looked like smooth sailing turned into troubled waters for the Troy Pre-Minors tournament team.

However, in the end, the home team got the result it hoped for.

Crenshaw County and Troy kicked off the tournament after both made the trip to Brundidge, where the tournament will be taking place for the next couple days.

Thanks to some key hits, Troy was able to come away with the 8-4 win, but had to hold off Crenshaw County in the process.

“This was a tough one,” head coach Andy Blair said afterwards. “We were a little nervous coming into the game, so hopefully, we got the jitters out of our system.

“I thought we played OK for some of the game, but towards the end, we didn’t make the plays we usually make and they were able to come back,” he said.

After a scoreless first inning for both teams, Crenshaw was able to get on the board first in the top of the second inning, scoring two runs.

That lead would not last very long.

Troy would come up in the half inning following and score three runs.

Gage Knighten drove in both Ty Singleton and Karson Mays to tie the game at 2-2, and a few batters later, Trott Sikes drove in Knighten to give Troy a lead it would not relinquish.

Troy would score runs in every inning after that, while holding Crenshaw County from doing the same.

Jackson Blair drove in Will Stephens in the bottom of the third to give the team a 4-2 lead, Holden Hollingshead drove Knighten in the bottom of the fourth inning and Cole McWhorter drove in Payne Griffen in the bottom of the sixth inning to extend the Troy lead to 6-2.

The big hit came in that same inning, when Caden Bryan drove in two runs to give his team a 8-2 lead.

Crenshaw County did have their opportunities to cut into the lead.

In the top of the fourth, the visiting team had the bases loaded with one out, but was unable to score.

In the top of the sixth, it was able to break through, scoring two runs thanks to some Troy miscues in the field.

“We got to be able to play better defense,” Blair said. “If we don’t do that, we are not going to win – simple as that.”

The coach said one thing he did like was how his team was able to adapt to the pitching machine as the game went on.

“Every pitching machine has their own personality.

“I felt like our guys were able to get a good feel for it after one time through the lineup,” Blair said.

Every Troy player was able to reach base at least once, while Singleton, Knighten, Sikes, Hollingshead, McWhorter and Blair all finished with two hits.

Now, the team will prepare for its game today against the winner of the Eufaula, Greenville game. “I told the kids, this game is over and to let it go and rest up,” the coach said.

“We made a lot of mistakes in this game, but we were still able to come away with a win – but we got to play better.”