The Troy Dixie Darlings stared elimination in the face after losing game one of the 2015 Sub-District 1 softball tournament in Luverne, but they rallied to finish runner-up and earn a spot in the district competition.

After the round one loss to Andalusia on Friday, the Darlings needed to win out the rest of the tournament. After winning their next three games, the Darlings finished one win short of the championship, losing to Opp 9-8 Tuesday night.

“It was a good game, we played a pretty good team last night in Opp,” head coach Shane Griffin said. “ Everybody they have played in the tournament, they have beaten by 10 or more runs. We were the only team to play them that good. I was really proud of the girls for doing that. “

The Darlings started the game falling behind early to Opp but were able to cut their deficit to just one run in the third inning.

Opp was able to push across a couple more runs in the top half of the fourth to once again increase their lead. It was a common theme all night for Opp over Troy, every time the Darlings got a little closer, Opp pushed the envelope just a little bit more.

“We couldn’t score any more runs late,” Griffin said. “We got some runners on base, we just couldn’t get them home. That was the difference in the game.

The Darlings offense was very balanced during the game; nearly every Darling batter got a hit during the game.

“We got a lot of experience, the hardest thing about playing in tournaments is that you have girls that played on different teams during the regular season, that are now trying to gel together,” Griffin said. “We came together real nice.”

Experience usually leads to confidence in sports; The Darlings will have to rely on a lot of confidence when the talent takes a step up.

“We have a lot of confidence, I thought that win over Andalusia was huge for us,” Griffin said. “Once we beat them, and we had a lot of confidence. I think going into district we will be ready.”

The journey through district will begin Friday night for the Darlings. They will play Dothan at 5:45 p.m. in Greenville