The Troy Pre-Minor team found themselves a long ways from Troy over the weekend, as it was competing in the Dixie Youth AA Machine Pitch Region II Tournament in North Charleston, South Carolina.

“Things have been going great, so far,” head coach Andy Blair said.

“I think we have played pretty well so far and the kids are having a good time and not getting into too much trouble,” the coach said with a laugh.

It was an up and down weekend for Troy, however, on Monday, the team found a way to get back on track.

On Saturday, after winning an exhibition game over Iva, by the score of 12-0, Troy took on North Wood in the first round of the regional.

Through the past couple of tournaments leading up to this point, Troy’s offensive had been know to pile on a lot of run, and Saturday’s game was no different.

Troy won in a big way, 16-2, as it headed into Sunday’s game.

And like it did the night before, Troy’s bats again came alive, taking out Edisto this time, 11-3.

However, Troy ran into some problems later on that night against Bartow, as the offense failed to show up like it had previously.

The team from Troy suffered its first loss of the tournament, as it fell 3-2 as Bartow scored the inning run in its final at-bat..

“The kids were kind of down after the loss,” Blair said.

“But we had pizza waiting for them back at the hotel, so that helped a lot.”

The pizza did more than just lift the player’s spirits.

When the team returned to the field Monday morning, it faced Iva again.

And like the first time, Troy came out on top with a 6-3 victory.

“I thought we did a good job of bouncing back,” Blair said.

“That was a tough situation for us, but the kids fought hard and were able to get the win.”

And like Sunday night, the kids had something waiting for them at the end of the game – a trip to Chuck E Cheese.

Afterwards, the team was able to participate in something it had not been able to do since arriving in South Carolina.

“We finally found a cage to hit in,” the coach said.

“Our hitting had tapered off a little bit since the first couple of games, so getting some batting practice in was a huge benefit to us.

“By the end, the kids were hitting the ball really well,” Blair added.

While the offense may have cooled down slightly before Monday’s bating practice, another important aspect of the game has been strong throughout the tournament, according to the coach.

“We have had solid defense in every game so far, and that’s been huge for us,” he said.

“It has kept us in every game so far and hopefully, it continues to do so.”

On Monday night, the bats stayed alive for Troy, as the team was able to get some revenge against Bartow, thanks to a 6-0 win. That victory was all the team needed to advance to the championship round against Darlington, of South Carolina.

Troy needs to win two games today to win, with the first game getting underway at 10 a.m.

The last game of the regional would take place at 1 p.m.