DENTON, Texas — Florida Atlantic’s Kerri Croney went 2-for-3 with three RBIs to lead the Owls to a 6-4 upset victory over second-seeded Troy University Wednesday evening at Lovelace Stadium.

Kathryn Stauffer picked up the win in a relief appearance. She pitched three innings of one-run ball and gave up two hits.

The two teams battled back and forth throughout the contest, as neither squad could rest easy with a comfortable lead on the opening day of play in the 2009 Sun Belt Conference Softball Championship.

“For us it was a heart attack game,” FAU coach Joan Joyce said. “I don’t know if I could last through too many of them. I thought we did a great job coming back from being down to start with”

The Trojans opened the scoring in the second inning despite falling into an early two-out hole. Sarah Shields and Kala Moore both connected for consecutive singles before Heidi Johnson ran out a triple to right field that brought home both runners.

But the Owls answered in the following frame. Ashlyn Parmeter connected on one of FAU’s three hits and then made Troy pay for its lone error as she sprinted across home plate to put the Owls on the board.

The two teams traded a run through the next two innings. Felicia Hammer knocked back a double in the fourth, and pinch runner Katie Ely scored on a wild pitch for Troy. Florida Atlantic responded again, though—this time with a solo home run from Croney to close the gap to one again.

And the Owls kept the momentum going with three runs to go up 5-3. The Trojans threatened by loading the bases in the bottom of the seventh inning, but the Owls held on for the win.

Florida Atlantic will take on South Alabama on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. while the Trojans will face Western Kentucky University in consolation play at 12:30 p.m.