Lisbon High School pitcher Tyler Halls fires a pitch during a game against Mountain Valley High School in Lisbon on Friday.
LISBON — Fresh off of a tough, one-run loss to Hall-Dale on Thursday, Lisbon turned to ace Tyler Halls and a relentless offense to bounce back against a rapidly progressing Mountain Valley team.
Both Halls and the bats came through with a resounding 13-3 win in six innings on Friday.
Halls, a southpaw, found his curve ball a couple of innings in and scattered five hits and two walks, struck out eight and allowed two earned runs. He also led the 14-hit attack with a single, double and triple, three RBIs and two runs scored.
“The plan was to use the curve ball. We started out throwing it right at the beginning of the game and I really struggled,” Halls said. “I wasn’t snapping it enough and it was always outside. But throughout the game I threw it a little bit more and just gained my composure and it worked a lot.”
Noah Austin added three singles and drove in three runs for the Greyhounds (9-3). Eight of the nine Lisbon starters collected at least one hit.
“I thought we hit the ball extremely well again,” Lisbon coach Randy Ridley said. “We played very good defense, and that’s the key. We made a great step today. I think after (Thursday’s) loss, I think it was like, Okay, no more. We’re ready to go.”
Cam Godbois collected two hits for the Falcons (7-3), including a two-run double. John Pepin also had two hits.
The Greyhounds had at least one hit in each inning and came out swinging with three hits apiece in the first and second innings. Ryley Austin (two hits) drove in brother Noah to make it 1-0 in the first. Cole Bolduc’s leadoff double, Noah Austin’s two-run single and Hall’s RBI triple were the big hits in the second inning that put Lisbon up 5-0.
An RBI single by Ryley Austin and a double by Nick Lerette to drive him in made it 7-0 in the fourth.
Despite his problems commanding the curve ball early, Halls didn’t run into any trouble until the fifth, when a single, an error and a wild pitch plated Godbois with the Falcons’ first run. Halls buckled down and struck out the side to maintain a 7-1 Lisbon lead.
“He struggled with the curve ball in the beginning of the game but he never gave up on it, which is good, because even if you can’t get it over, you throw it to keep them off-balance,” Ridley said.
Halls’ defense helped him out, too, committing just one error while left fielder Cam Bolduc and third baseman Lucas Francis turned in sparkling plays to keep the Falcons off the bases.
Halls’ two-run double helped the Greyhounds add three more in the fifth. They nearly invoked the 10-run mercy rule an inning early but had a runner thrown out at the plate.
That just delayed the inevitable. Although Godbois’ two-run double made it 10-3 in the top of the sixth, the Greyhounds ended it with three in the bottom of the frame.
Besides the bounce-back win and the Class B Heal points that come with it, the continued balance in Lisbon’s lineup encouraged Ridley. The bottom third of his order — Bolduc (two hits, double), Noah Francis and Nick Austin — combined to go 4-for-8 with five runs scored.
“(Bolduc) hit the ball well. And Nick Austin has really come around,” Ridley said. “The past two games those guys are really starting to hit. And that’s what we’ve been waiting for, the bottom of the lineup to start to help out and turn that lineup over.”
“We have a balanced lineup,” Halls said. “We’ve got guys at the bottom of the lineup that are always producing.”
Lisbon High School’s Ryley Austin beats the throw to first base behind Mountain Valley High School first baseman Cam Godbois during their game in Lisbon on Friday.Mountain valley High School’s John Pepin (3) gets the bat on the ball on a pitch from Lisbon High School pitcher Tyler Halls during their game in Lisbon on Friday. Pepin grounded to shortstop and was out at first.Lisbon High School’s Nick Austin dives back to first base ahead of the throw from the pitcher as Mountain Valley first baseman Cam Godbois applies the tag during their game in Lisbon on Friday. Mountain Valley High School catcher John Pepin, left, tries to tag Lisbon High School runner Tyler Halls during their game in Lisbon on Friday. Halls was safe on the play.
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