ON FIRE: Hun School softball player Meghan Donohue hits the ball in a game last spring. Senior first baseman Donohue went 3-for-5 with a homer, three runs, and one RBI as Hun defeated Doane Academy 17-6 last Monday. The Raiders, now 4-2, play at Northern Burlington on April 10, at WW/P-South on April 11, at Blair Academy on April 13 and at the Peddie School on April 16. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

Even though the Hun School softball team trailed visiting Lawrenceville 6-0 in the bottom of the sixth inning last Thursday, Meghan Donohue wasn’t about to give up.

The Hun senior first baseman smashed a double off the left field fence, attempting to spark a rally for the Raiders.

“We worked the pitcher to be up more than she was,” said Donohue. “A lot of that hit had to do with seeing the ball and taking one that was good. It felt good. This is my senior season. I am just out here having fun; that takes a lot of the pressure off for me.”

Donohue, though, was left stranded and Hun ended up losing 7-0, snapping a three-game winning streak.

“Today was a really disappointing game,” said Donohue. “We really worked hard to try and get base runners but we just couldn’t finish.”

While Donohue was frustrated by the final result, she likes the way the Raiders have played in the early going.

“We have had a very strong start; what we have seen is that we can hit the ball,” said Donohue, who went 3-for-5 with a homer, three runs and one RBI as Hun defeated Doane Academy 17-6 last Monday to improve to 4-2.

“We can capitalize on those runners but today we didn’t show that. At practice the next couple of weeks, we are going to focus on contact. When we get baserunners, we have to be able to move them along.”

As a four-year starter and a team captain with classmate M.C. Shea and a pair of juniors, Gigi Venizelos and Abby Zucatti, Donohue is looking to set a positive example.

“This team means everything for me,” said Donohue, who is headed to Babson College this fall where she will be playing for both its field hockey and softball programs. “I am disappointed about the score, but I left everything out here, and that is what we have to do as a team now.”

Hun head coach Kathy Quirk liked the effort she got from Donohue at the bat and in the field.

“Meghan swung the bat well and she had a nice defensive game,” said Quirk. “She probably caught more foul balls against the fence than we have ever caught before.”

Quirk was pleased with the team’s defensive play overall. “Abby [Zucatti] saved us in the outfield today,” said Quirk. “We didn’t have errors, they just hit the ball where we weren’t.”

Looking ahead, Quirk wants her players to hone in on their hitting. “We need to do what we practice everyday, we work on batting every single day,” said Quirk, whose team plays at Northern Burlington on April 10, at WW/P-South on April 11, at Blair Academy on April 13 and at the Peddie School on April 16. “We just lost confidence today. We went through the order once and we just didn’t seem to make any adjustments.”

Donohue, for her part, believes the loss to Lawrenceville can serve as a wakeup call for Hun.

“For the rest of the spring, we are looking to motivate ourselves with this game,” said Donohue.

“It is going to push us forward when we play Blair. That is is the best competition we are going to see and we need to build off today.”