It has been almost two weeks since the Troy Dixie Belles won the District championship thanks to its sweep over Opp in Dothan.

Now, the girls find themselves close to where it claimed its latest championship at the state tournament in Midland City.

This is the longest the girls have gone without playing in tournament action since Sub-District began.

Even though the team has had a lengthy layoff between tournaments, head coach Buddy Mehaffey said he does not believe it will be much of a problem.

“They girls are anxious to play,” he said. “They have been practicing hard lately – they know what they want, and they are going for it.”

During those practices, Mehaffey said he and his team went over everything from bunting to catching to prepare for the next level.

“The fundamentals are a big part of the game,” he said.

“We worked a lot on our pitching and hitting to make sure that both would be ready to go and fresh for the state tournament.

“We worked hard and I think we will be ready,” the coach added.

Out of the seven teams in the tournament, only Troy had a first round bye thanks to its performance in the previous tournaments.

The team will take the field on Saturday at 5 p.m., taking on the winner of the 9:30 a.m. game against Gilberttown and East Montgomery.

While Mehaffey said he has not seen either team play, he knows that both will be a good opponent for Troy.

“The competition at this level is tough, and the girls know that.

“We are going to have to play sound ball. Whoever doesn’t make the errors in this part of the season is going to win,” he said.

“It’s going to come down to who wants to win the most.”

It was at this point last season when the Belles were in a similar position.

The team was headed to the state tournament, however, was unable to get anything going and was take out in two games.

It’s because of that result last year that Mehaffery said he believes the team is going to be more motivated to win this time in the state tournament.

“That was not a fun car ride back home (last year),” the coach said. “And no one wants to experience that again.”

“All season long, the girls have been playing with a lot of motivation – they want to get past this tournament, and they want to win a World Series.”