LISBON
Lisbon worked the count Saturday afternoon and walked its way into the Class C South high school baseball regional final.
The Greyhounds drew six walks at the plate and benefited from one hit batter en route to a 9-0 victory over Traip Academy in the teams’ regional semifinal. Lisbon will now face Mountain Valley Conference rival Monmouth Academy in the regional final at St. Joseph’s College on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
“When it’s playoff time you have to capitalize on other team’s mistakes,” Lisbon coach Randy Ridley said. “We hit the ball, found holes here and there. Had a couple bad luck hits, overall we made good contact. That’s what we needed to do. You have to put the ball in play to have a chance to win.”
Both teams had opportunities in the first inning as Traip (10-8) had runners on first and second, but left them stranded.
In the bottom half of the first, Noah Austin started the inning by getting hit by a pitch. Tyler Halls reached first on a fielders choice. He stole second and third during Ryley Austin’s at-bat, who later drew a walk and stole second. Nick Lerette and Lucas Francis popped out to end the inning.
The second time through the order is when the Greyhounds (14-4) made their mark. The bottom of the third inning started with two walks. Ryley Austin’s sacrifice bunt moved Noah Austin and Halls over. Lerette loaded the bases with a walk. Francis’ single into right field drove Noah Austin and Halls in. Lerette tried to score as Traip kept throwing the ball around the infield, but he was tagged out at the plate. Francis moved to second and came home after a pair of passed balls to make it 3-0. Nate Havlicek singled and moved to third on a Cole Bolduc single. Havlicek scored on another passed ball.
In the bottom of the fourth, Trevor Selma came on in relief of Hunter Sewtelle, but it was more of the same for the Greyhounds. Back-to-back singles put Noah Austin and Halls on base. Ryley Austin walked to load the bases. A Francis single scored Noah Austin. Havlicek went to first on a walk to score Halls. Bolduc reached first on an error and two runs scored. Havlicek capped the inning off by scoring on a passed ball.
By the second inning, Ryley Austin had found a groove on the mound. He set down the next nine batters in a row. After a leadoff single in the fifth by Tyler Apodaca, Noah Austin started a 5-4-3 double play.
Traip’s first-base coach didn’t like the call, thinking Miller beat the throw. He left the first-base coaching box to argue the call, and by rule, a coach can’t leave the coach’s box to argue. While he wasn’t ejected, he and head coach Seth Cole were restricted to the dugout for the remainder of the game.
“We are a fairly aggressive hitting team, that was a little too aggressive today,” Cole said. “With that said, (Ryley Austin) was throwing pitches around the plate, we didn’t want to get behind in the count. Perhaps a little more selectivity would have been to our benefit there in the early point when it was still 0-0.”
In the sixth, Ryley Austin received some stellar defense from his brother Noah at the hot corner. Teddy Driscoll hit a one hopper, Noah dove to stop a sure-fire double into left field. His throw was off the mark at first. He didn’t expect he was going to get redemption so quickly, but the next batter, Charlie Driscoll, hit a liner to the exact same spot. He made the stop again and doubled up Driscoll trying to get back to first.
Noah Austin also made a stellar catch earlier in the game, reaching into the stands to make the catch.
“It was a little different,” Noah Austin said. “I just had to adjust as quick as I could to set my feet. Once I knew it was going to be a little bit past (out of the bounds), I made the diving catch.
Ryley Austin went the distance as he pitched to contact, allowing three hits, striking out two and walking two.
“First-pitch strikes and don’t walk anybody, that was the goal,” Ryley Austin said. “Let them hit the ball because I knew my (defense) would make the plays.”
Lisbon and Monmouth split two regular-season meetings this year, with the Mustangs downing the Greyhounds in Lisbon, 14- 11, and the ‘Hounds rallying for a 7-6, nine-inning win to end the regular season on May 31.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
