DONIPHAN -- They washed cars, sold watermelons and delivered takeout dinners by the armload.
After three years of raising money to put the finishing touches on a new ballpark, the Doniphan softball team will realize a dream Friday -- playing for a district championship on top of the big hill next to the high school campus.
The second-seeded Donettes rallied from four runs down Thursday evening to defeat East Carter 8-5 in the semifinals of the MSHSAA Class 2 District 2 tournament at Quick Creek Park.
Senior Paige Eddington capped perhaps the biggest win in Doniphan softball history with a solo homer over the left-field fence with two out in the bottom of the sixth inning. With no one on base, East Carter pitched to the all-state shortstop after walking her three times.
Junior Kaylee Davis pitched around a one-out double from Naomi Crowley to keep East Carter off the scoreboard in the seventh to finish off the win. With the tying run on deck, center fielder Jaylin Dutton ran down a fly ball in the right-center gap to send the Donettes into the championship game.
Doniphan (16-4) will face top-seeded Willow Springs (17-7) at 5 p.m. with an eye on its first district softball title in school history. The Lady Bears will be aiming for their third district crown in a row.
Willow Springs defeated Alton 8-0 in Thursday's other semifinal behind a shutout from junior pitcher Sydney Miller.
Willow Springs has allowed two runs or less in 16 of 24 games this season. They enter the final with a six-game winning streak and a string of 20-plus innings without allowing a run in district tournament play dating back to last season.
The Lady Bears ended the Donettes' season last year in the district semifinals, 10-0, before blanking East Carter 6-0 in the finals.
"If we can bring the same attitude and same desire that we did today, we can walk out of here district champs," Donettes coach Brad Eddington said. "This is the big day we've been waiting for."
After losing its first two games of the season, Doniphan has won 16 of its last 18 for its first winning season during fall play since 2003.
Several defensive gems sparked the comeback after Doniphan fell behind the Lady Redbirds 5-1 in the top of second inning.
Freshman second baseman Madison Eddington started a pair of inning-ending double plays in the first and third.
Catcher Lexi Day's diving catch of a foul popup retired ECC cleanup hitter Shelby Cyr in the fourth and kept the Redbirds scoreless after Brooklyn Loftis singled and reached third with one out.
"Defense won the game for us," said coach Eddington. "The kids stayed focused and kept their composure after we made a couple of errors early in the game."
Doniphan trailed 2-0 quickly in the first inning.
Crowley reached on an error to start the game and scored from first on Loftis' hard double to the left-center gap. Loftis led a 10-hit attack for the Lady Redbirds with three hits and three RBIs.
Catcher Maddyson Holloway followed with a single to score Loftis. But Madison Eddington snared a hard liner off the bat of ECC pitcher Makenna Moore and threw out Holloway heading back to first for a double play to end the inning.
East Carter pushed across three runs in the top of the second to lead 5-1 after the first two batters were retired. Consecutive singles from Kennedy Thies, Bailey Gargac and Crowley produced a run and Loftis followed with a two-run single for a 5-1 lead.
Doniphan took advantage of a Redbirds error and a passed ball to pull within 5-3 in the home half of the second. Hannah Ponder singled and Jaylin Dutton earned a hit when her pop up fell on the infield between three ECC defenders.
Still down by two runs in the bottom of the fourth, Dutton, the Donettes' No. 9 hitter, singled to start a four-run inning. Leadoff hitter Timberly Masching singled sending Dutton to third. Day's sacrifice fly ball to right cut the lead to 5-4.
ECC put Paige Eddington aboard with another walk. But cleanup hitter Kaylee Davis, the Donettes' pitcher, delivered an RBI single and Madison Eddington followed with a two-run hit to break a 5-5 tie.
Davis faced just three batters over the minimum while holding the Lady Redbirds scoreless through the last five innings to earn the win. She struck out two and didn't walk a batter.
Sophomore pitcher Makenna Moore took the loss while striking out six and allowing nine hits.
East Carter (13-10) entered district play with five wins in its last six games. But with four upperclassmen on a roster of 16, nerves may have been a factor after the Donettes took back the momentum, coach Teresa Kearbey said.
"We jumped out in front and just had a few mishaps and it came back to bite us," said Kearbey. "Sometimes you get rattled and it's hard to recover."