NTL SOFTBALL: TROY BREAKS 5-GAME LOSING STREAK WITH WIN OVER NEB (April 30, 2026)

Northern Tier Sports Report
EAST TROY — Troy snapped a 5-game losing streak as they rolled past NEB, 11-2, during NTL softball action Thursday.

“I think that we settled at the plate,” Troy coach Sadie Hardy said. “We were a lot more aggressive tonight that we have had been, we weren’t watching any pitches go by, and we got a lot more hits, and we had a lot more base runners. We started moving them around, and then our defense stayed strong tonight - that’s what happens when you play a clean game.”

The Panthers led 1-0 midway through the first but Troy pushed two across in the bottom half of the inning.

They added five more in the second for a 7-1 lead. After two scoreless innings the Trojans pushed another across in the fifth to make it 8-1.

NEB got one back in the top of the sixth to cut it to a 6-run ball game, but Troy answered with three runs in the bottom half of the inning for an 11-2 final.

Lauren Reed (3-for-3) had two doubles, 4-RBI, and three runs scored for the Trojans as Erinn Knapp (1-for-4) had a home run with 2-RBI.

Sydnee Bellows (2-for-4) scored three times with Maddyson Muir (1-for-4), and Delaney Kendall (1-for-3) both driving in a run.

Haidyn Watson scored, and had an RBI, with Aubree Kenyon, Danielle Roy, and Taylor Brown (1-for-2) also crossing home.

Jazmyn Frisbie (1-for-1) and Aleiyah Kutt (1-for-2) both had hits.

Knapp struck out 11 in the win, allowing three walks, four hits, and two unearned runs.

Madilyn Callear (2-for-3) scored for NEB as Zoey Thetga (1-for-2) also crossed home. Mackenzie Clark (1-for-3) had their other hit.

Kristina Larnard started, and went two innings with one strikeout, one walk, five this, and seven runs, one of which was earned.

Callear tossed the final four innings with three strikeouts, no walk, six hits, and four runs.

Callear led off the game with a single, then stole her way around the bases before taking home on a passed ball.

Bellows led off the bottom half of the inning with a hit, followed by Reed drawing a walk two batters later.

Bellows would score on a passed ball, with Muir later driving in Reed with a hit for the 2-1 lead.

The Trojans did most of their damage in the second with two outs as Frisbie led things off with a hit. After back to back fielder’s choices saw Roy as the only Trojan on the base paths an error off the bat of Bellows would bring her in.

Watson was then hit by a pitch setting up a 2-run double from Reed to make it 5-1.

Knapp then took a 2-1 pitch over left field for the 2-run home run for the 7-1 lead.

“After that first pitch was I getting a little bit down on myself,” Knapp said. “I just needed some confidence. When I get that I got out of my head, and I was just having fun.”

Reed would lead off the fifth with a hit, then scored three batters later on a 2-out Kendall single for an 8-1 ball game.

NEB got one back in the top of the sixth as Thetga had a 1-out hit. Two batters later she scored on an error off the bat of Clark for an 8-2 ball game.

In the bottom half of the inning Kenyon would reach on an error, followed by hits from Brown and Bellows to load the bases. 

A Watson sacrifice fly brought in Kenyon, then a 2-run Reed double made it an 11-2 final.

Troy (5-9) hosts Jersey Shore on Monday while NEB (4-11) is at Sayre on Monday.

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PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING

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