DONETTES DO IT AGAIN: Kirby’s triple helps Doniphan repeat as champs

Trailing by a run in to the bottom of the fifth inning of Wednesday’s Ozark Foothills Conference softball tournament championship game, the Doniphan Donettes needed a heroine — and they found one.

Kenna Kirby socked a triple to leftfield on a 2-2 pitch and came around the bases on the ensuing throw to give the Donettes a 5-3 win over the Neelyville Lady Tigers at J.D. Rains Field and back-to-back OFC tourney titles.

Doniphan coach Brad Hagood said the championship “feels great.”

“I knew this was going to be a struggle for us coming in,” Hagood said. “Neelyville’s got a good ball team. Since I’ve took over this program, they’ve always been a rival of ours, and I knew it was going to be a dogfight. We were just fortunate to come out on top.”

Despite being the underdog, it was Neelyville who got out to the early lead, as Delayni Dobbins singled home September Preslar in the top of the first inning for the game’s first run — then made it 2-0 in the top of the second when Jade Crosswhite singled and later scored on an error.

The Donettes cut the lead in half in the bottom of the fourth inning when winning pitcher Kylie Hawkins hit a sacrifice fly to score Kiernyn Bond. The next batter, Peyton Lowery, singled to center to chase home Dalila Watson with the tying run.

The Lady Tigers briefly retook the lead when Miah Martin singled home Hannah Hover in the top of the fifth inning to go ahead 3-2, but Doniphan did not give up.

“I just tried to tell them to stay calm, just to stay calm” when we were trailing, Hagood said. “Don’t let your emotions take over. I always tell my girls we don’t want to be too high and we don’t want to be too low — we want to keep the same mentality and stay right in the middle.

“I think coming out, we were up a little bit too much, because we made mistakes that we typically don’t make. We had some errors there early. But I just feel like though after the nerves settled down, then we started getting some things going offensively.”

Those good things came to fruition in the bottom of the fifth inning, when Kenzee Davis hit a leadoff single and Paige Wilson walked, setting the table for Kirby’s heroics.

“She’s been consistent all year putting the ball in play and and she’s got speed,” Hagood said of Kirby, the team’s leadoff hitter. “I’ve got confidence in this team, my batting lineup 1-9. I have confidence in anyone that steps in the box.”

So what was Kirby thinking when she made contact on the go-ahead hit?

“I better run fast,” she said.

Hawkins had a strong game in the circle for the Donettes, allowing just one earned run while scattering eight hits and walk over seven innings.

Martin and Preslar each had a pair of hits for Neelyville.

Preslar took the loss for the Lady Tigers despite allowing just four hits and three earned runs in six innings of work, She struck out six and allowed just one walk.

“We played hard,” Neelyville coach Daniel Sexton said. “They got a key hit there and that girl’s really fast — and they played a really good defense. They made a few errors, but the third baseman (Bond) made a couple of really good plays that our girls hit hard. … But all in all, they played hard. And that’s all you can ask.”