Published 12:00 am Tuesday, August 11, 2015
LAGRANGE – It’s game day for the Troup Lady Tigers.
While the Callaway and LaGrange softball teams opened their seasons with a game against each other on Friday, the Lady Tigers will get things going with a road game today.
Troup, which is looking to build on a successful 2014 season, will be in Columbus for a 5:30 p.m. game against Brookstone.
Also today, Callaway will look for its first win of the season when it travels to Temple, and LaGrange is off until the start of the Callaway Classic on Friday.
Callaway, LaGrange and Troup will all play in the Callaway Classic that will be held Friday and Saturday at Shuford Fields.
Before last season, a Troup softball team hadn’t made the state playoffs since 2009.
The Lady Tigers ended that trend by finishing fourth in Region 5-AAAA to reach the state playoffs where they lost in the first round to Marist.
At one point last season, Troup won six games in a row, and that included a big road win over a strong Woodward Academy team.
Last year’s team only had one senior, so most of the key players from that 2014 team are back.
Among the returnees is senior Amber Arnold, who hit .450 last year and led the team in RBIs.
Kinley Stanford, Maddie Weathers and Libby Wheeler also had strong seasons at the plate.
Hanna Lane, who is a senior, handled much of the pitching duties for Troup last season, and sophomore Abby Taylor also pitched a lot last year.
Callaway, which is coming off a 13-5 loss to LaGrange in its opener, will look to even its record with a win at Temple.
“We’ve just got to keep working,” Callaway coach Ashley Summerlin said. “It’s a long season. We’ll just have to figure some things out, but we’ll be fine.”
Callaway, LaGrange and Troup will each play five games in the Callaway Classic.
Callaway will play Northside at 4 p.m. on Friday before taking on Manchester at 7:30 p.m. later in the day.
Also on Friday, Troup will play Hardaway at 4 p.m. and Heard County at 5:45 p.m.
LaGrange’s two games on Friday are against Bowdon at 4 p.m. and Heard County at 5:45 p.m.
Reach Kevin Eckleberry at (706) 884-7311 or on Twitter @lagrangesports