Donettes rally to earn big win at Twin Rivers

BROSELEY — A slow and steady game plan helps the Doniphan Donettes pick up an impressive win on the road.

After trailing in the first couple of innings, the Donettes exploded with a rampage of hits to get a dominant 17-5 win on Thursday over the Twin Rivers Lady Royals.

“Honestly, we started out a little slow, but we were able to get some things going at the top of the third,” Doniphan coach Brad Hagood said. “I did get a little concerned at first because we’ve had a tendency in the past to get down on ourselves when we’re trailing, but they kept their composure and focus, and things slowly started to click. I thought our energy was good today, and I’m very proud of how they battled for this win.”

Twin Rivers didn’t waste any time putting points on the scoreboard early with a line drive down past third base from freshman Alexis Parson to bring in two past the plate and a double ground hit from Abigail Suiter for a quick 3-0 lead.

The promising lead of the Lady Royals slowly started to erode as the Donettes managed to bring in two runs, and with an explosion of big hits to come, the Donettes would never trail again. At the top of the fourth, a blast hit down the center field from senior McKenna Monaghan added two more runs to take control of the game.

With another big hit from Caleeya Cates, the Donettes continued to add more points to the board and a commanding 12-5 advantage at the bottom of the fifth. From then on, a series of hits from the Donettes ended the chances of a competitive comeback to put the Twin Rivers away for good.

Senior Kaydyn Bond led the Donettes in hits going 4-for-4 and notched in one RBI. Pitcher Kylie Hawkins recorded five strikeouts and finished with three hits and four RBIs. Monaghan added with two hits and three RBIs.

“I’m feeling really good about this win,” Bond said. “We started out a little slow and then just started picking up after we got our runs, and everyone got up. Our team kept cheering for everyone, and we really started to gel as the game went on. I believe we must stay motivated and never get down on ourselves to keep this momentum going throughout the season.”

Hagood said Bond was outstanding today because she got things going for them. He also credited Hawkins as she hasn’t had many opportunities to get many reps in from the mound, but she remained composed and finished strong.

Hagood also couldn’t be happier with how his team responded against Twin Rivers after trailing early and hopes to keep pushing ahead by limiting distractions.

“We have to stay focused,” he said. “We can’t get comfortable and must come to the field every day ready to play. We aim to keep doing what we do and focus on the job ahead.”

Parson finished with 10 strikeouts from the circle and connected with two hits and three RBIs. Suiter added with one hit and two RBIs for the Lady Royals.

Despite the loss, Twin Rivers coach Lisa Boyer gave all props to Doniphan and how they were able to regain control of the game. Boyer also mentioned that this loss was a learning experience for her young team as they work to improve.

Doniphan has a good program, and they got a lot of experience,” Boyer said. “They were kind of slow starting off hitting, but when they started putting the ball in play, we started making several errors, and when you put that in with their good hard hits, it turns into 17 runs.

“I’m definitely not making excuses, but we got a lot of holes out here that we need to correct and we are still trying to learn and get better. We’re very young, so we’ve got a lot of learning to do, but we just have to take it by each game and try to get better.”

The Donettes are slated to be back on the road against Naylor Saturday at 10 a.m., while the Lady Royals are scheduled to be at Greenville Friday at 4:30 p.m.

Baseball

Twin Rivers 5, Doniphan 1

Also at Broseley, the Doniphan Dons didn’t have the same luck on the road as they fell to the Twin Rivers Royals 5-1 on Thursday.

Sophomore Luke Hester went 2-for-3 at the plate to lead hits for the Royals and had nine strikeouts on the mound. Jake Hester and Price Thurman added with one hit and RBI to help Twin Rivers to victory.

Doniphan’s pitcher Keaton Kepley connected with two hits and threw 72-41 with two strikeouts from the mound.

The Dons host Alton Monday at 4:30 p.m., while the Royals host Scott City Monday at 6 p.m.