The 2011 Trojan Classic got underway at the Troy Sportsplex Friday night with two softball teams in Pike County competing in it.

Unfortunately, neither team got off to the kind of start it would have liked thanks to rough first innings.

The Charles Henderson Trojan took on the Excel Panthers in first round action of pool play, and before the team in orange and blue knew it, it was down 6-0 in the first inning. The Panthers were able to excel off of several Trojan errors and went on to win 10-1.

“Right now, we are battling ourselves,” head coach Robin Snyder said.

“It’s not as much about a confidence thing, but we are just battling ourselves. Our girls didn’t get their head’s down (Friday night) but this has been something we have been dealing with for the last couple of games now.”

The lone Trojan run came in the bottom of the fourth thanks to Jauqeja Booker double, bringing home Becca Hartley, who also hit a double the at bat before.

“We just had one bad inning (Friday night), and the girls battled through it, but you can’t have as many mistakes as we did and expect to win a game,” Synder said.

“We have to play better and be more mentally tough.”

The Goshen Eagles were also participating in the tournament and also dropped its first game against a team the Trojans know well in Eufaula.

The Tigers bested the Eagles 4-0, thanks to strong pitching.

Goshen went through the line up just twice, and had just two hits and nine strikeouts to show for itself.

Alli Warrick was in the pitcher’s circle for the Eagles and gave up three earned runs off of four hits. The junior pitcher did strikeout five Eufaula batters.