MADISON — The scoreboard just beyond the left field wall at Madison’s Colin Campbell Field is a big target, but one Madison softball coach Chris LeBlanc couldn’t recall being hit until Saturday.

“I’ve been kind of waiting for it to happen. It was a nice shot,” LeBlanc said.

The shot came off the bat of Madison catcher Aly LeBlanc, Chris LeBlanc’s daughter. Aly’s first-inning blast off the scoreboard was the first of two home runs she hit in the game, helping the top-seeded Bulldogs take a 9-3 Class C South semifinal win over No. 5 Hall-Dale.

Madison (18-0) will take on No. 6 Lisbon (12-6), an 8-4 winner over No. 2 Telstar in the regional championship game at 7 p.m. Tuesday at St. Joseph’s College in Standish. Hall-Dale ends the season at 11-7.

After Hall-Dale took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, when Becca Ackerson scored on an error, LeBlanc’s two-run home run keyed a three-run inning and gave Madison the lead for good.

“I was just really pumped, because I made an error that caused a run in the first inning, so I felt like I needed to get my team some runs. That relieved some stress for me,” LeBlanc said.

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LeBlanc added a solo home run in the sixth inning, for her second two home run game of the season. LeBlanc also hit a pair of homers at Wiscasset.

Madison pounded out 11 hits, and came through in clutch situations. Seven of Madison’s nine runs were scored with two outs.

“We talk about turning over that order. It really doesn’t matter if our four, five and six are coming up, or our seven, eight, and nine. It seems to work for us,” Coach LeBlanc said.

While Hall-Dale put the lead runner on base six times, it was unable to consistently capitalize on the chances. Hall-Dale ran into a pair of outs on the bases, and stranded nine runners on base.

“We hit the ball hard today, so I’ve got no complaints on how we hit the ball. We made a couple mistakes and they took advantage of it. Good teams will do that,” Hall-Dale coach Stephen Acedo said.

Madeline Wood struck out seven in the win. Aly LeBlanc, Kayla Bess and Aishah Malloy each scored two runs for Madison.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM


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