Troy head coach Terry Garrett might not know exactly what his team will do offensivly but he is fairly certain they are sound defensively.

“We’ve played a couple of practice games against good compititon and we’ve looked good in the field,” he said. “They’ve look good at every practice.”

Troy will host the Dixie Ponytails X-Play State Tournament beginning with opening ceremonies on Friday. Play will begin at the Sportsplex on Saturday morning.

Hosting a tournament at the state or World Series level can be beneficial in the sense that the team is playing on its home turf. The negative is the lack of game experience. Garrett feels Troy’s experience in past state tournaments will help come game time.

“We have seven players that have played in a state tournament before,” he said. “They earned their way there. Sometimes the host team gets overlooked but this is a good team.”

Troy will open against Sand Mountain Americans at 9 a.m. on Saturday.

Members of the team are: Sidney Armstrong, Addison Bryan, Tucker Earles, Alyssa English, Sydni Garrett, Kelsey Gibson, Holly Hughes. Abby Lee, Nelsey Leverette, Ashlan McCloud, Molly Kate Sanders, and Rose Snyder.