Troy Closes Hillenbrand Invitational with Win

Sunday, February 18

Tucson, Ariz.

10 AM

Troy University

5-3

Montana

1-9

Troy

Montana

Photo by: Meredith Gramley

Troy Closes Hillenbrand Invitational with Win

2/18/2018 1:17:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

By: Grace Bolin

TROY, Ala.- A sacrifice fly and a passed ball were just enough to lift Troy (5-3) over Montana (1-9) 2-1 on Sunday in Troy's final game of the Hillenbrand Invitational hosted by Arizona.

Logan Calhoun continued to have a solid day at the plate as she led things off with a hard-hit single up the middle. She stole second to get in scoring position with no outs early in the first. A sacrifice bunt from Madeline Porter advanced Calhoun to third with just one out. On a 1-0 pitch, Katie Webb hit a sacrifice fly to bring Calhoun home as Troy took an early 1-0 lead.

Montana struggled to get anything going in the first three innings at the plate. Kelly Horne led off for Troy in the second, reaching on an error from the third baseman. Kaylee Hussey put two runners on, also reaching on an error. Carli Kayler got on base with a fielder's choice, as the Grizzlies got the lead-off runner out.

Montana tied the game as the lead-off batter hit a home run over the right field wall, but the defense worked through it to get three consecutive outs.

Webb reached on an error in the fourth and advanced to second as Horne barreled a single through the middle, but a few early fly balls and a strikeout ended the scoring campaign for Troy.

In her last at-bat, Calhoun got her second hit of the game with an infield single, beating out the throw from the short stop. She stole second and advanced to third from a groundout from Webb. A passed ball allowed Calhoun to get the go-ahead run across the plate.

The Trojans finished the game, as Talia Truitt caught a line drive in left field. With the tying run reaching first on a walk, Erica Davis catches a line drive and turns the double play at first base to improve to 5-3 on the year.

Annie Willis earned her first start in the circle, getting the win to move to 1-1 on the season. Through 7.0 innings of work she compiled seven strikeouts, only allowing one run. She has a 0.70 ERA.

QUOTABLE
"These opening tournaments are a great way to play some good competition to see what we are doing well and what we need to get better at," head coach Beth Mullins said. "It was important for our team to go on the road to an unfamiliar place and get comfortable being uncomfortable. I thought we had some very solid pitching and defense throughout and that's always a good base to start from. We are excited to get back home, work on a few things and then play in front of our home fans this weekend"

NOTEWORTHY

Sophomores are leading the team at the plate as Webb and Calhoun have .393 and .391 averages, respectively.
Troy has five or more hits in seven of its eight games.

UP NEXT
Troy will make the short trip to Birmingham to take on Samford on Wednesday Feb 21,, before returning home to host its second and final home tournament of the year.

For more on Troy softball, visit TroyTrojans.com and follow @TroyTrojansSB on Twitter.