BROSELEY -- One statistic stood out as the Doniphan softball team continued its five-game road trip Tuesday against Twin Rivers that told everything one needed to know about the outcome.
Doniphan sent 24 batters to the plate in the first three innings. Twin Rivers sent 17 batters to the plate for the entire game.
That statistic, along with five errors by the Royals defense, played into a lopsided 13-1 five-inning victory for Doniphan.
A two-out single by Madison Eddington that eluded the glove of diving right fielder Taylor Dugger in the third was the 12th hit of the day for the Donettes, who improved to 2-2 and scored 13 runs for the second time in as many days.
"With all the hard work this team has put in, it's really starting to show when they step up to the plate," Doniphan coach Brad Eddington said. "The biggest thing I've like compared to our first two games is we're relaxed and patient when we get up there."
Starting pitcher Kaylee Davis limited Twin Rivers (0-4) to four singles and helped her teammates score six runs in the first before she even stepped into the circle in the bottom of the frame.
The Donettes had four hits and Twin Rivers contributed three errors in the inning.
Timberly Masching commenced the rout with a leadoff infield single, advanced to second on Lexi Day's base hit and jogged to third when Paige Eddington drew a four-pitch walk. Davis followed with a single to left field that allowed Masching and Day to score easily. Two throwing errors and heads-up base running extended the play as Paige Eddington scored and Davis took third.
Madison Eddington's first hit scored Davis for a 4-0 lead before Audri Holland reached on an error to put runners at the corners. Hannah Ponder and Karlee Harder followed with back-to-back RBI groundouts to cap the momentous inning.
"That's hopefully what it's going to be for us the rest of the season," Eddington said. "We finally have gotten healthy and for two days now, it's worked pretty good -- to perfection. Just a lot of team oriented offense."
The Donettes had four singles in the first inning and seven for the game. Day, who bats second and transferred from Naylor, had three hits and scored three times.
Twin Rivers appeared to be experiencing some early-season jitters against the Donettes, who seemed to exacerbate the situation with their speed and aggressiveness on the basepaths in a three-run second inning.
Day hit a one-out single then stole second and third before scoring on an error. Paige Eddington was hit by a pitch, stole second and reached third on the same error. Davis then walked before Madison Eddington drove in both with a double to the gap in left-center field to make it 9-0.
Doniphan finished with six steals.
"The errors set us back a ton, cost us at least six runs, but they've got some good hitters and they're fast," Twin Rivers coach Joey Kerperein said. "We expected them to hit the ball hard but the errors changed the whole attitude of the game."
The Royals return just three seniors and have 11 underclassmen.
"We need some young kids to step up, and once we figure that out I think we'll be all right," Kerperein said. "I hate to lose like this for it to do us any good, but definitely now when we go back to practice, we've got some ammunition."
Twin Rivers scored its only run in the second when Brittany Williams led off with a single and came around to score on Sam Mcmahon's sacrifice fly. But the Royals were left with just one hit the rest of the way.
Davis yielded a one-out single to Bella Galloway in the third, but Harder, the Donettes' right fielder, caught a fly ball and gunned down the runner at first for a double play to end the inning.
Harder retired the final six she faced, including the last two with strikeouts, and helped Doniphan pad its lead with a six-run third inning.
Hannah Ponder, in her second game back from an injury, began a doubles barrage attack with a two-bagger to dead center. She traded places with Masching two batters later before Day's third hit, an RBI double, put the mercy rule into effect.
Paige Eddington and Davis followed with consecutive RBI singles to set the final score. Masching and Davis each finished with two hits while Madison Eddington had three.
"It's from different points in the lineup and it doesn't matter where we start an inning at," Eddington said. "When these girls have a chance to hit lately, they haven't missed."