The Troy softball team survived an elimination game on Thursday defeating Florida International in a high-octane, offensive slugfest, 14-9. The Trojans will take on North Texas today in the Sun Belt Conference Championships at the Troy Softball Complex.

Troy and FIU traded blows in the first two innings before the Trojans pulled away for the victory.

After starter Rachel Rigney surrendered three runs in the opening frame, Troy answered on a grand slam from Kellie Housley in the bottom half.

Kacie McAllister walked, Bailey Blake reached on a bunt single and Hannah Renn walked to start off the home half of the first. After a strikeout, Housley ripped a 1-0 over the fence in left-center field to give the Trojans the one run advantage.

FIU plated three runs in the top of the second on a home run by Amber Curry and Rigney was replaced by Jaycee Affeldt in the circle.

Affeldt, who pitched four innings of quality relief on Wednesday against South Alabama, turned in another good performance. Despite walking six batter and allowing eight hits, Affeldt kept the Golden Panther mostly in check.

In the bottom of the second, Troy once again loaded the bases on a single from Ebony Wright, a walk by McAllister and a bunt single from Blake. Renn stepped to the plate with two outs and lined a ball over the fence in nearly the same spot as Housley’s home run an inning before to give the Troy its second grand slam in as many innings.

“I felt like in that situation that they might pitch around me. I went up there thinking that I was going to be very selective. I was in a really good position with a 2-0 count, their pitcher made a mistake and I capitalized on it,” Renn said. “As a team we a very resilient, it takes a lot to get us down. We knew that it was still early when we gave up those three runs in the first, we knew there was a lot of game left.”

Renn’s homer, her 11th of the year, moved her into fourth for most single-season home runs in Troy history. She is also sixth in career homers with 18.

Renn finished the game 2-for-2 with a pair of walks and three runs scored. Housley was 3-for-4 with five RBIs.

“Florida International is a really offensive team and we knew that they were going to get their fair share of run support,” Troy head coach Melanie Davis said. “Our kids took a good approach, forced a couple of pitching changes and scored enough runs to win.”

Troy faces North Texas at 12:30 p.m. today.