FAIRBORN — After a rough start to their season, the Troy Trojans softball team enjoyed a run-ruled road win Friday April 5 over the Fairborn Skyhawks at Community Park.
Troy, now 2-9 overall and 1-2 in the Greater Western Ohio Conference’s American North, opened up the game with seven runs, added six more in between, then closed out the sixth with seven more runs to claim a 20-8 win in six innings.
“We’ve played a lot of tough teams so far this year,” Troy coach Scott Beeler said moments after congratulating his team for their win. “We played some really tough teams down in Tennessee, and we’ve lost some games since we’ve been back. But we know we are very balanced. From top to bottom in our lineup, we know we can hit. Everybody on the team can hit the ball.”
Unofficially, Troy smacked 13 hits and took advantage of eight walked Trojans, two Skyhawks errors and at least one hit batsman.
Briana Lavender hit a triple and eventually scored in the second inning, Kaitlyn McClure smacked two doubles, and Tia Bass bashed a solo home run over the right field fence for Troy.
The steady rotation of Trojans pitchers Erica Keenan, McClure and Paige Nadolny kept the Fairborn bats confused, and Troy’s defense played errorless softball in the win.
Beeler congratulated Fairborn junior shortstop Kendall Winn on her defensive play, including a diving catch to rob Troy’s Ella Furlong of a hit in the second inning. Second baseman Madison Durbin made a head-first dive to stop a Jaiden Hunt grounder, then flipped on to senior first baseman Kelsie Coleman to throw out the speedy Trojan in the same inning.
Coleman, Kenzie Culbertson and Ashlyn Baker recorded multiple hits for Fairborn.
After the game, Fairborn coach Tim Duncan spoke briefly with his team, hopped on a small tractor and began grooming the infield in rapid circles. Still wearing a frown, the Skyhawks coach briefly stopped long enough to talk about the game.
“We had no pitching. It’s that simple,” he said. “Our pitchers didn’t do a good job, and our defense fell when the pitching went down. So it’s all on the pitching and the defense in this one. … You’re either winning or you’re learning. And right now, we’re learning. So we’re hopefully learning from this one.”
Then he drove off.
Assuming the forecasted rain stays away, Fairborn (4-2 overall, now 2-2 in the GWOC American South) will host a doubleheader with Huber Heights Wayne. The first game is set for an 11 a.m. start, with game 2 scheduled for 1 p.m.
Troy has the weekend off. The Trojans will next play at 5 p.. on Monday, April 8 at Sidney.
