It’s been three weeks since the Troy AAA Americans played their last meaningful game. Troy knocked off Enterprise to win the district championship, but after their lengthy wait, the players are ready to return to the field.

“They are ready to play,” said head coach David Nelson. “They are tired of practicing. It’s been three weeks of layoff between the district tournament and the state tournament. We took a few days off and get back to practice.  They are ready to play; they are tired of seeing each other every day.”

Troy steamrolled their way through the district tournament. Although Troy went undefeated in the district tournament, there were areas that coach Nelson wanted to see get cleaned up before heading to Eufaula.

“The only team that is going to beat them is themselves,” Nelson said. “They have a talent and they have a good team. They will be in any ball game. The difference will be mistakes. If they can avoid making too many mistakes, we should come out on top.”

There were times during the district tournament where Troy felt like they almost let some games slip away.

“We had a lot of games where we threw strikes and played defense well,” Nelson said. “One game against Greenville and the second game against Enterprise we made some mistakes and let those teams stay in it a little longer than they should have. It was mistakes on our part.”

The state tournament brings along an uptick in the competition level.

“All of the teams are going to be good,” Nelson said. “All the teams have won a tournament and know how to win. If you make mistakes against a good team, you’re not going to come out on top.”

Troy used as many as seven pitchers in the district tournament. Nelson believes if needed he could use more.

“We are deep in pitching,” Nelson said. “I feel like that is a strength of ours as long as the guys get in there and throw strikes. If they can throw strikes we will have more pitching than we need.”

With all the depth Troy has in pitching, they are just as deep in their lineup.

“We have guys in the bottom of our lineup that hit well,” Nelson said. “There isn’t going to be an inning where we send three batters to the plate and we think we aren’t going to threaten the scoreboard. You are going to have to pitch well to get us out.”

Troy will begin their tournament on Saturday against the Dothan Americans at 8 p.m.