Donettes rally last for title

It has been said he who laughs last laughs best. The same is true for rallies on the softball diamond.

The Doniphan Donettes rallied from a three-run deficit in the bottom of the seventh inning Thursday to pull out an 11-10 victory over the Neelyville Lady Tigers in Ozark Foothills Conference championship game at J.D. Rains Field.

“I’ve always just tried to tell my girls to don’t ever give up and keep fighting — and that’s what they did,” Doniphan coach Brad Hagood said. “We had a conversation there as they came off the field in the middle of the seventh and I said, ‘Look — keep your hand up. This game’s not over. We’re gonna keep fighting and see what happens. And sure enough, they continued to fight. The dugout and everyone at the bench was up and had some good energy there.”

Dalila Watson opened the bottom of the seventh inning with a walk, then Kaydyn Bond and McKenna Monaghan both singled to load the bases.

Two batters later, Watson scored on a wild pitch to make it 10-8, then Gracen Kirby singled home both Kaydyn Bond and Monaghan to tie the score at 10. Kylie Hawkins then singled home Kirby with the winning run.

“It has been an amazing year for Doniphan Donettes softball,” Hagood said. I told my assistant coach on the way home that I really believe we’ve shocked some people this year. I really don’t know early on that we got the respect that we should have gotten. These girls have worked hard. They’ve had good attitudes and had great effort all year.”

The Donettes’ rally came on the heels of an impressive rally by Neelyville in the top of the seventh inning, where the Lady Tigers scored six times to erase a three-run deficit of their own.

“I was proud of the fight that they showed,” Neelyville coach Cindy Siebert said “They could have gave up pretty early but they didn’t. They came back up in the top of the seventh and gave us a fighting chance.”

Dixie Cloud doubled home Parker Ernst to cut the deficit to 7-5, then Leah Million doubled home Cloud to make it a one-run game.

Layni Dobbins’ hit a flyball off the right fielder’s glove to plate Leah Million and tie the score at 7-all. Layni Dobbins came home with the go-ahead run on an error, then Jade Crosswhite capped the rally with a two-run inside-the-park home run, making it 10-7.

Before the top of the seventh, “I told them it was do or die,” Siebert said. “We’ve got a bunch of girls that really care and so they took every at bat and tried to keep us in there.”

Monaghan had two hits for Doniphan, while Monaghan and Kirby each drove in a pair of runs.

Crosswhite had three hits for the Lady Tigers, while Cloud and Leah Million had two each. Crosswhite also drove in three runs.