With most of Troy’s teams gearing up for the start of the state tournaments later this week, the Troy Ozone are anxiously awaiting their trip to Andalusia.

It has been a week since Troy swept rival Enterprise in the District Tournament. Even though a week has gone by, head coach Bobby Templin’s team is still feeling the excitement of the district championship.

“It’s been good,” Templin said. “It’s kind of an in-between time, but there is still excitement obviously from defeating Enterprise in the district tournament. We are trying to look ahead and stay focused on the state tournament.”

With the two-week break, job number one for any team is keeping the energy up on their baseball or softball team.

“It’s kind of hard to keep the energy level up when you’re still over a week away; in fact almost two weeks away,” Templin said. “The guys are putting in the work and they are getting work done in practice.”

In the sub-district tournament in Troy, the Ozone made quick work of their opposition. They outscored their opponents 50-3 and that dominance continued against Enterprise, defeating their rivals in two straight games by scores of 10-0 and 6-3.

The challenge now is to carry over their momentum into Andalusia.

“The challenge is we were playing so well,” Templin said. “You almost want to keep playing. We have to wait two weeks, so we have the challenge to maintain the level of play that we were at as we finished up. That has been the hardest thing, but at the same time we need to work and get ready for the state tournament.”

During the three games in the sub-district tournament, Troy’s pitchers didn’t allow a hit. In the district tournament, Landon Tyler picked up where they left off when he pitched a complete game shutout. Templin hopes to keep his pitchers ready to go during the layoff.

“We did a scrimmage against the rookie team last week and we have a scrimmage this Friday night in Andalusia,” Templin said. “We are trying to get them live work against each other. It is a balance that we have to maintain sharpness with them and not getting rusty, while at the same time keeping them fresh for next week.”

On the hitting side, Troy is simply trying to get their work in.

“The assistant coaches are doing a good job at getting them focused on hitting and making sure they have a plan when they get up to the plate,” Templin said.

Even in the down time, the excitement for next week’s tournament is high for Troy.

“I think they are genuinely excited about going to the state tournament,” Templin said. “We are looking forward to it.”

It will be a tough challenge right out of the gate for Troy when they take on Fairhope, the team that knocked them out a season ago.

“We know that traditionally they are a very strong team,” Templin said. “It’s a team that beat out Ozone team last year in the state tournament. We feel like we will definitely be challenged right off the bat.”