SKOWHEGAN — A 30-minute lightning delay proved to be just what Maranacook needed to recover from the thunder of Lisbon’s bats in the opening round of the 12-under state Cal Ripken tournament.
Unfortunately for Maranacook, the delay came just before the start of the bottom of the sixth inning, which meant it couldn’t build on its five-run rally and complete the comeback.
Levi Tibbetts homered twice, tripled and drove in six runs and Lisbon held on for a 10-7 win at the Carl Wright Complex on Wednesday. Lisbon will face Gorham in the next round of the double-elimination tournament Friday at 5:30 p.m. Maranacook will play River Valley of Turner in an elimination game at 3 p.m. on Friday.
Lisbon out-hit Maranacook 8-7. Five of Maranacook’s hits came in the sixth.
“The sixth inning is typically what we play like. It’s just too bad we fell short the other five,” Maranacook coach Mark Hreben said.
“We took a little bit of time to get our bats going,” Lisbon coach Darren Brown added, “but once we did, our power showed.”
Four of Lisbon’s eight hits were home runs. Nick Ferrence had a two-run home run in the third inning, when he went back-to-back with Tibbetts. Hunter Brissette added a solo home run.
It didn’t seemed like just icing on the cake at the time, but Tibbetts’ second home run, a three-run blast to put Lisbon up 10-2 in the top of the sixth, proved to be the difference.
“He’s a good work horse, and I think that’s all he really knows (hitting for power),” Brown said.
Sam Linton sparked Maranacook’s rally with a leadoff triple that ended with him scoring on an errant throw. Singles by Wyatt Lambert and Nick Florek and a walk to Eli Jacobs loaded the bases before Chris Reid drove in a pair with a single.
Jacobs scored on an errant pickoff attempt by the catcher and Jack Bonnefond drove Reid home with a ground out.
Luca Hannon doubled to keep the rally going, but Lisbon’s Ethan Brown snared Cash McClure’s sharp one-hopper to first and tagged the base to end the game.
The two teams weren’t completely unfamiliar with each other going into the tournament. Maranacook and Lisbon met in the opening round of last year’s 11U tournament, with Lisbon winning a squeaker, 3-2, in seven innings, according to Hreben.
The rematch looked like it might be another low-scoring game as it remained scoreless through two frames. Lisbon broke the ice with three in the third on Ferrence and Tibbetts’ round-trippers. Maranacook got one back on Cash McClure’s RBI single in the bottom of the third. But Tibbetts struck again in the fifth with a two-run triple, Mason Booker added a sacrifice fly and Hunter Brissette homered to make it 7-1.
Lisbon pitchers Neil LaRochelle III and Tibbetts combined to limit Maranacook to two hits through the first five innings. Then the lightning delay happened.
“I think it let them be kids. The pressure was off,” Hreben said. “We had nothing to prove at that point. (Lisbon) did. They had to shut us down. And they did a great job for five innings.”
Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638
rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com
Twitter: @RAWmaterial33
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