SPRINGFIELD, Mo. • The Troy softball team encountered a bit of state softball jitters early. But the jitters, like Eureka, ultimately weren't enough, as Troy rolled to the 9-5 victory Friday morning in the Class 4 state semifinals at the Killian Sports Complex.
Troy (28-4) will play Blue Springs (24-8) for the championship Saturday at 10 a.m. It will be a rematch of the Sept. 24 game in which Troy defeated Blue Springs 3-2 as part of the Kewpie Classic.
"Coach always says that it takes 16 of us to get things done and not just the nine on the field," Troy shortstop Emily Crane said. "This is great because I would like to have to play and beat the best to win. That's what we're going to have to do. This is amazing."
Eureka (23-6) jumped ahead 1-0 in the top of the first inning.
After Alana Hester was hit by a pitch to lead off the game, she stole second base and scored on a throwing error from Troy shortstop Emily Crane.
"We never stopped believing in ourselves, we just kept coming at them," Troy third baseman Whitney Richardson said. "We were down by that run early (but) I didn't see anybody down in the dugout. We all knew we could come back."
In the third inning, that's just what the Trojans did.
Emily Crane ripped a run-scoring double and scored on a Morgan Oliver single to put Troy up 2-1.
"I was glad I got that (throwing error) out early, instead of the seventh inning," Crane said. "I think we all relaxed after that and got back to playing Troy softball."
Troy went ahead 3-1 in the fourth before Eureka cut the lead to 3-2 in the top of the fifth.
Hester laid down a one-out bunt and circled the bases on a Morgan Oliver throwing error.
"After I stepped on first and I didn't seeing anything but the ball in the outfield, I was gone," Hester said. "We just couldn't really all hit at the same time, and (Troy is) a really good ball team. It's really special to be playing for third place now, and we're going to give it our all."
From there, Troy's offense poured it on.
The Trojans scored three runs apiece in the fifth and sixth innings to take a 9-2 lead.
The key blow inn the fifth was a two-run single by Richardson to make it 6-2.
"It feels really good to have a big hit like that in a big game," Richardson said. "It was great."
In the sixth, Troy buried Eureka with small ball.
Three of the five hits in the inning were bunt singles, and the bunts by Savana Grover and Morgan Oliver went for RBIs.
"From Day 1, I told the girls if they wanted to win a state championship, they had to execute their bunts." Troy coach Lance Richardson said. "If not, somebody will shut you down. Today was something that was a little more special because we had contributions from top to bottom, girls squeezing when I asked them to squeeze. Girls coming up with the big hit, you name it."
Eureka added three runs in the seventh on a Jamie Fowle three-run home run to left field.
"Troy is obviously a really great team," Eureka coach Mark Mosley said. "Unfortunately, we didn't play our defensive game like we usually do, and we gave them a lot of base runners."
Liz Wiegand earned the win for the Trojans. She pitched seven innings and gave up five runs on five hits.
Maddie Krumrey took the loss.
