Lisbon’s DJ Douglass, left, makes it safely to third base in front of Monmouth’s Cam Armstrong on Saturday at Lisbon. (Bob Conn / The Times Record)
LISBON — The Monmouth Academy baseball team was on a roll, winners of nine straight contests heading into Saturday’s Class C South semifinal against top-seeded and undefeated Lisbon.
The loss for the Mustangs was an 8-3 setback to the Greyhounds May 13, with Monmouth looking for retribution.
Instead, it was Lisbon that just kept rolling, earning an 8-0 victory and a spot in the Wednesday’s Class C South regional final at Saint Joseph’s College in Standish (6:30 p.m.).
The Greyhounds will face sixth-seeded Sacopee Valley, which went on the road to down defending State Class C champ Hall-Dale on Friday, and turned around quickly on Saturday for a 5-4 road win over No. 2 Maranacook.
Lisbon (18-0) went back to the script that has worked all season — jumping ahead early then relying on solid pitching and defense to cruise to a win.
Monmouth starting pitcher Corey Armstrong found the going tough. He hit Lisbon’s first two hitters — Hunter Brissette and Noah Austin — with pitches, then allowed an RBI single by Lucas Francis for a 1-0 Greyhound lead. Armstrong continued to pitch wildly, plucking both DJ Douglass and Justin Le as Lisbon grabbed a 3-0 lead after an inning.
In the second, Armstrong hit two more Greyhound hitters as Lisbon’s lead doubled to 6-0.
Lisbon pitcher Noah Austin fires a pitch during Saturday’s Class C South semifinal against Monmouth at Lisbon. Austin tossed a one-hitter to power the Greyhounds to an 8-0 win. (Bob Conn / The Times Record)
For Lisbon, Austin was stellar, carrying a no-hitter into the seventh and allowing just one hit in 6 2/3 innings.
“We did what we had to do. We had good defense, made some fantastic plays, and had some timely hits,” said Lisbon coach Randy Ridley. I was surprised that Armstrong’s control was off, but on defense when they hit the ball, we made the plays.”
“We gave up too many runs early, too many runners, and Corey just couldn’t find it, and we left him out there too long,” said Monmouth coach Eric Palleschi after his Mustangs finished 14-4. “Ryan (Burnham) kept us in it, but we didn’t hit. It wasn’t a good performance for us today. Lisbon is a good team and you can’t give them extra outs and base runners. There is a reason they are 16-0.”
Austin started off strong, picking up the first of his two strikeouts during a 1-2-3 first.
With Lisbon leading 1-0, Jack Tibbetts’ grounder was misplayed for an error as Austin scored, and when Le was hit by an Armstrong pitch, Neil LaRochelle trotted home for a 3-0 lead.
After scoring his run, Austin immediately went behind the Lisbon dugout to see how his arm felt after being hit.
“That pitch hit me right on the elbow and I wasn’t sure if I could pitch, so I went and threw some pitches and I felt good,” said Austin. “I was able to hit my corners.”
Austin allowed a runner when he walked Trevor Flanagan with one out in the second.
Lisbon base runner Hunter Brissette is safe at second with a stolen base as Monmouth second baseman Trevor Flanagan looks on. Brissette and his Greyhounds rolled to an 8-0 Class C semifinal win over the Mustangs on Saturday in Lisbon. (Bob Conn / The Times Record)
But he retired the next two Mustangs on shallow pop ups.
“We know Noah will throw strikes and pitch to contact, and our defense has been fantastic all season,” said Francis, who singled for the second time in the second inning, sending Austin hustling to third after he was hit with a pitch for a second time.
LaRochelle was struck moments later by an Armstrong offering, ending the righty’s day (1 1/3 innings, six runs, six hit batters). Burnham relieved and allowed an infield single to Tibbetts to score Austin, and Levi Levesque lifted a deep fly ball to right field for a sacrifice fly to plate Francis. A Burnham balk made it a 6-0 game.
Lisbon tacked on two more runs in the fourth, with Douglass and Daytona McIver picking up two-out RBI singles.
From there it was all about Austin, who kept setting Mustangs down. After retiring Monmouth in order in the sixth, Ridley considered removing the senior.
“Noah pitched a great game, and no one had a clue of his no hitter through six,” the longtime Greyhound leader said. “We were thinking of resting his arm. He just pitched that well.”
Armstrong led off the seventh with a clean single to center field to break up the no-no, and a two-out walk to Matt Fortin ended Austin’s day. Douglass relieved and retired the final Mustang on a fly ball to Francis at shortstop.
“You don’t want to lose on our home field, and we were able to get things done,” said Francis, who was the lone repeat hitter (2-for-4, RBI, run scored).
Burnham pitched 2 1/3 innings on two runs, one strikeout, two walks and a hit batter. Cam Armstrong retired seven of the eight hitters he faced.
“We came together and did a good job. We have some younger kids and some older guys that gelled together. Today was just not our day,” said Palleschi.
Brissette was 1-for-3 with a double, stolen base and run, while Tibbetts was 1-for-4 with two RBIs and a run. Le reached base three times (two walks, hit by a pitch).
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