Troy Softball opens up the season with wins

The Troy softball team flexed its offense in two wins at the Trojan Classic to start the season. The Trojans beat Central Michigan 7-4 and ended the night with an 8-2 victory over Tennessee State.

Over the two games, Troy showed its versatility in both speed and power. The Trojans mashed five home runs and stole eight bases.

Taylor McKinney hit two homers – numbers 26 and 27 for her career – moving into eighth place all-time in program history. She now sits five home runs behind Kelly Horne for seventh place.

The Trojans smashed four home runs to open their season with a 7-4 win over Central Michigan. After being no-hit for four innings, the Trojans offense exploded for a five-run fifth inning.

Down 2-0 in the fifth inning, Cassidy Boltz crushed a three-run homer to give Troy a lead it wouldn’t relinquish. She finished the game 1-for-2 with three RBIs. Caiden Oliva, a true freshman from Ponte Vedra, Fla., went 2-for-2 with a home run after entering the game as a pinch hitter.

Mya Holt (1-0) earned the win, making her first career start as a true freshman. The righty from Wetumpka, Ala., finished the contest with 5.1 innings pitched, three earned runs, two strikeouts and two walks.

Holt started the game with two scoreless innings before the Chippewas struck first on a sacrifice fly in the third inning.

Central Michigan added another run in the fifth inning – two singles and a sacrifice bunt extended the lead to two runs. The Trojans offense knocked off the rust in a big way in the fifth, scoring five runs to take the lead.

Oliva got the rally started with an infield single in her first collegiate at-bat, but Troy followed it with two quick outs. However, an error by Central Michigan’s shortstop brought Boltz to the plate.

Boltz’s shot to left-center field was the first home run in a season-opener under head coach Eric Newell, and the first since Jade Sinness in 2021. Taylor McKinney punished another Chippewas error with a blast of her own to center field, pushing Troy’s lead to 5-2.

Central Michigan wasted no time fighting back, forcing Holt out of the game in the sixth and scoring two to make it a 5-4 game. Oliva and Sarah Beth Brake added solo home runs of their own to put the game out of reach, as Kate Peters earned the save out of the bullpen.

Troy (2-0) capped off the first day of the season with a dominant 8-2 win over Tennessee State (1-1) as the offense continued raking. Alyssa Faircloth (1-0) shut down the Tigers offense, spinning five scoreless innings before allowing a run.

Faircloth was untouchable from the circle, striking out six batters and only allowing 4 hits over six innings. In her first outing of 2025, the sophomore forced 14 swings and misses.

Over the game, Troy put together a team effort offensively. Four Trojans had multi-hit games, and six recorded an RBI.

After hitting a home run in the first game of the day, Taylor McKinney hit a line drive homer as part of a 2-for-3 game. Reaghan Oney went 2-for-2 with two walks, two runs and an RBI. Sissy Dunn and Makaley Boswell also had two-hit games, knocking in one run apiece.

After scoring seven runs in the last two innings of the Central Michigan game, the Trojans kept their momentum going to start the Tennessee State game. Troy scored a run in five out of its six offensive innings against the Tigers.

Taylor McKinney led off the bottom of the first with a double. Following a sacrifice bunt from Natalie Turner, Oney legged out an infield single – her first collegiate hit – as McKinney plated the first run of the game.

In the third inning, Troy used two singles and three steals to scrape together two runs, taking a 3-0 lead. The Trojans stole X bases in the game.

The Trojans piled on in the fourth, scoring three more runs to widen the gap to 6-0. With two outs, Natalie Turner started a rally after taking a walk. Dunn hit an RBI single, Oney took a walk, Boswell smoked an RBI double down the line and Cassidy Boltz capped off the inning with an RBI single.

On the first pitch of her fifth inning at bat, McKinney ambushed a breaking ball for her second round-tripper of the day.

Although Faircloth let up a run in the sixth inning, she worked around a walk and a double to escape the frame. Troy added one more run in the sixth before Savannah Money took the circle to close it out.