(St. Louis, MO) In the Class 3 District 1 softball semifinals on a bright Saturday morning, the Doniphan Donettes and Fredericktown Ladycats battled at Lutheran South High School for the right to head to the district championship Monday afternoon.
Both teams traded runs in the first inning, as Doniphan scored three runs on no hits, walking three times and using safety squeeze bunts to get them ahead early on. Fredericktown answered with two in the bottom half, then scored three more in the bottom of the second to take the lead after holding Doniphan’s bats in the top half.
But Doniphan woke up in the top of the third, scoring five runs on six hits to take the lead. It would be a lead they would never relinquish.
Doniphan would hold the Ladycats to one run on five hits from innings 4-7 and added some big insurance runs along the way to take down the one seed Fredericktown by a score of 11-6.
The Donettes will play the winner of Saxony Lutheran and Lutheran South on Monday afternoon at Lutheran South High School. First pitch is set for 4 pm.
As for Fredericktown, their season comes to an end at Doniphan’s expense at 15-7. It’s the second time in the last five seasons the Ladycats have had their season end via Doniphan.