A good start
- Updated: March 5, 2019
Donoho finally opens its season with area victory over Faith; PV opens area with win over Saks
Tuesday’s games
Donoho 13, Faith Christian 3
Piedmont 7, Jacksonville 4
Pleasant Valley 10, Saks 5
Ragland 11-11, Talladega Co. Central 0-0
Ranburne 16, Ohatchee 5
By East Alabama Sports Today
Opening Day finally came for the Donoho baseball team and there was a little more to it than a traditional opener.
The Falcons were the last time in Calhoun County to get on the field and they beat Faith Christian 13-3 in six innings in an area game Tuesday.
Four Donoho pitchers scattered four hits and struck out 11. Ace Hall Billings drew the start and threw 17 pitches in his one inning, striking out two. Seth Ford followed him to the mound and threw two innings. Left-hander Davis Jones and John Noone wrapped it up. Jones fanned four in 1 2/3 innings.
Billings is expected to draw the start in the Falcons’ Calhoun County Tournament opener against Jacksonville Friday.
“We hadn’t been on a field in two weeks,” Donoho coach Steve Gendron said. “We haven’t hit, we haven’t fielded, all we’ve been able to do is play catch. We were all excited, fired up, ready to play, myself and the kids included.
“It’s just fitting that it was 35 degree and windy, but it doesn’t matter. We were excited to play and we were glad we got the win.”
Donoho led 3-2 in the third. The Falcons extended their lead with a run in the fourth, then broke it open with four in the fourth, highlighted by Payne Golden’s two-run single.
Golden, a junior first baseman, and Edwin Connell both had two hits and three RBIs. Billings and Ford also had two hits apiece.
“I was worried,” Gendron said. “I felt like we’d be rusty, which we were. By our second and third at-bat our hitters started to figure out hey I remember how to do this.
“I’m hoping tomorrow (against Gaylesville) we show up and we look better than we did today and hope we get a good day of practice in on Thursday and then hopefully the rain is out of here and we go play on Friday.”
Donoho 13, Faith Christian 3
Faith 002 001 – 3 4 6
Donoho 121 432 – 13 11 1
WP: Billings. LP: Huie. 2B: Golden (D).
Ranburne 16, Ohatchee 5
OHATCHEE – Caleb Hill went 3-for-3 with three RBIs and Jake Burson drove in three runs with a pair of hits to lead Ranburne’s 12-hit attack.
The Bulldogs (2-4) took the lead with a six-run second inning and broke it open with eight in the fifth. They sent 12 batters to the plate in the second and 13 in the fifth.
Larry Noah had two of Ohatchee’s five hits and two RBIs. His two-run single highlighted a four-run second that answered Ranburne’s first big inning and got the Indians within 6-5.
Grayson Alward’s two-out RBI single gave the Indians a 1-0 lead in the first.
The Indians host Asvhille Wednesday at 1 p.m.
Ranburne 16, Ohatchee 5
Ranburne 060 28 – 16 12 1
Ohatchee 140 00 – 5 5 2
WP: Pollard. LP: Hale. 2B: Lipham (O), Noah (O).
Pleasant Valley 10, Saks 5
The Raiders scored first two innings and five in the last two innings to win their area opener.
Leadoff man Ashton King went 2-for-4 with four RBIs to lead PV’s offense. Colby Nelson pitched 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief behind starter Jackson Almaroad to get the win. Nelson struck out five.
The Raiders manufactured a pair of runs in the sixth to break a 5-5 tie. King squeezed home Jake Upton to break the tie and Skyler Mcleod scored an insurance run later in the inning on an infield error. Upton led off the inning with a triple.
“That was all him,” PV coach Chris Youngman said of King’s squeeze. “He’s a leader and he was looking for a way to get a run when we needed one.”
Taylor Fields went 2-for-2 for Saks. Jaylen Childs took the loss for the Wildcats, but struck out 11 in six innings.
Pleasant Valley 10, Saks 5
Pleasant Valley 140 002 3 – 10 6 4
Saks 000 230 0 – 5 5 11
WP: Nelson. LP: Childs. 2B: Fields (S), Jairrels (S). 3B: Upton (PV).
Piedmont 7, Jacksonville 4
PIEDMONT – Brant Deerman went 3-for-3 with two extra-base hits and four RBIs to power the Bulldogs in the potential Calhoun County Tournament semifinal game. Logan Pruitt pitched the first three innings, giving up three hits, one earned run and striking out five for the win. Bryce Walter pitched the last three innings, giving up one hit and striking out three, for the save.
Piedmont 7, Jacksonville 4
Jacksonville 002 101 1 – 4 5 2
Piedmont 221 020 x – 7 6 4
WP: Pruitt. LP: Breeding. 2B: Deerman (P). 3B: Deerman (P).
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