The Troy O-Zone Rookies came into Tuesday’s District title game with hot bats, but left with an offense that was practically frozen.

Troy was blanked 15-0 by Enterprise American, and had just three hits for the game.

“They slowed their pitching down some, and that hurt us,” said head coach Ashley Floyd.

“That had hurt us earlier in the tournament against Eufaula because we were out in front of everything. We just didn’t put any good wood on the ball.”

Troy fell behind early when Enterprise American scored four runs in the top of the first, and the Trojans were never able to respond.

Enterprise went on to score two runs in the second, five runs in the third and four runs in the fourth.

Troy’s offense was led by Jackson Murphy, who went 2-2, and Bryson Gandy, who went 1-2.

Despite Enterprise’s huge run total, Floyd said it was the placement of those hits that cost Troy.

“They weren’t smoking the ball either,” Floyd said. “They had several hits that were just kind of in no man’s land, and that’s how they scored a lot of their runs.”

Troy finished as the runner-up, and Floyd said the team had improved during their time together.

“The guys had a good time, and I’d say there were definitely some big improvements in the last two or three weeks,” Floyd said.

“They turned a corner by being on this team. They grew up a lot, and I think they understand the game better than they did when they started.”

Floyd also said the experience had been a positive one for him, as the players had shown a desire to be coached.

“I loved it because I had gotten so used to coaching 7th, 8th and 9th graders at Pike Liberal, so it felt good to come back down,” Floyd said.

“The younger kids will respond better than teenagers will sometimes, and these kids were full of willingness to learn.”