CRESTVIEW — Roman Donofro wasn’t perfect in his final regular-season home appearance for Crestview High School’s baseball team Tuesday night, but he was pretty good.
The pitcher celebrated Senior Night with his first career no-hitter as Crestview beat Marianna 4-1.
Photo gallery>>>Crestview baseball downs Marianna.
Donofro finished the night with eight strikeouts and four walks. Marianna’s lone run came in the first inning on two Crestview errors.
Donofro was so locked in on the task at hand that he was unaware that he had thrown a no-hitter until after the game.
“I don’t know what it feels like,” he said. “It just hit me.
“I’ve had three one-hitters, and the hits all came in the seventh.”
Crestview coach Tim Gillis said he believed that Donofro’s lack of awareness about the no-hitter allowed him to play baseball without extra pressure.
“He really threw the ball well,” Gillis said. “He had a couple of pitches working for him. It was a tough battle.
“We had a couple of big hits. Dakota (Dean) had a big three-run double there that kind of (gave) us a little distance. But at the same time, it was a struggle.”
While Donofro took care of business on the mound, Dean provided the Crestview offense’s spark. Dean was 2-for-2 with a double, three runs batted in, two stolen bases and a run scored.
Dean led Crestview's first inning with a base hit up the middle. He then stole second base and third base and scored on a sacrifice fly by Corey Armstong.
Justin Rebholz, Tate Sweatt and Hunter Sullivan were on base for Crestview when Dean came to the plate in the second inning. Dean’s line drive to deep right field cleared the bases. Dean was thrown out at third base when he tried to stretch the double into a triple.
A three-run cushion was all Donofro needed as he kept Marianna batters off balance by throwing his fastball and curveball for strikes throughout the game.
The Crestview defense settled down after the first inning; it was flawless the rest of the way, as the Bulldogs reeled off their 10th consecutive win and improved to 18-4 on the season.
Dean and Rebholz led the Crestview attack with two hits each. Corey Armstrong, Austin Armstrong and Sweatt each had one hit.
Dean, who has been red hot at the plate in recent weeks, said his success is just a matter of seeing the ball well and putting the bat on it.
Dean also said he expects the momentum to continue for the Bulldgs.
“The train’s going to keep on going,” he said. “Bulldog Express, baby.”
•Softball: Crestview 3, Milton 1: Kayla Kelch was 3-for-4 and Molly Woodward was 2-for-2 with two stolen bases as the Bulldogs beat the Panthers on Tuesday.
Taylor Rolison was the winning pitcher as Crestview improved to 15-9 on the season.
Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Donofro throws no-hitter (photo gallery)