Donovan Catholic Softball Wins State Championship

The Donovan Catholic High School softball team won its first state championship on Saturday, knocking Mount St. Dominic on its heels early to capture an 11-1 victory.

And the Griffins left no doubt from the start. The tweeted updates from the NJSIAA on the progress of the Non-Public A title game were stunning. A 4-0 lead on a home run. A 7-0 lead on a three-run double. And those were just from the first inning, where Donovan took a 9-0 lead.

The Griffins didn't score again until the bottom of the fifth inning, when they added two runs to end the game via the 10-run rule and capture the title on their third trip to the final in the last four years.

Jayda Kearney had the three-run home run that made it 4-0, according to NJ.com's report on the game, and finished with 4 RBI, and Lindsay Hay and Karina Gaskins each had 3 RBI for Donovan Catholic. Pitcher Lindsay Nelson struck out four Mount St. Dominic batters and walked one.

Donovan Catholic will be looking to add the Shore Conference Tournament championship to its honors when it takes on St. John Vianney on Monday at Count Basie Field in Red Bank. It will be a rematch of the South Jersey Non-Public A final between the teams, which Donovan won in 10 innings, 3-2, on Friday.

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