NORTH ANSON — A timely hit was all it took to move on to the Class C South semifinals.

Unfortunately for the Carrabec softball team, it didn’t come from one of its players.

Instead, it came off the bat of Lisbon catcher Jasmin Le, in the form of an RBI single in the eighth inning that plated Mallory Fairbanks and gave the Greyhounds a 2-1 victory over the Cobras in the quarterfinal round Thursday.

“It just came in, I just swung for it, and it went out,” Le said.

Lisbon (11-6) — the No. 5 seed — will play at No. 1 Madison on Saturday in the semifinals. No. 4 Carrabec finished 11-6.

“We knew we were going to see good pitching and good hitting (from Lisbon),” Carrabec head coach Craig Knight said. “They put the ball in play more than any other team that faced us this year.”

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Both teams were scoreless until the bottom of the sixth inning, the result of an old-fashioned pitcher’s dual between Lisbon’s Alyssa Hall and Carrabec’s Sam LeBeau. Hall did masterful work, holding the Cobras to its lone run (which was unearned) on just two hits, striking out six batters.

LeBeau struck out two, allowing no runs until the final two innings. She was also the recipient of excellent defense behind her, specifically from shortstop Mackenzie Baker.

“They just kept battling,” Knight said. “I’m proud of them. They battled all year long, never saying die. They set their goals high, and today we just came up short of it. But I bet a few teams are breathing a little easier right now that they don’t have to play us.”

Carrabec missed on early scoring opportunities early in the contest. The Cobras managed to load the bases with two outs in the bottom of the second, but slugging catcher Bailey Dunphy hit into a fielder’s choice to end the inning.

“We knew (Dunphy) was good at hitting and bunting, so we worked on that at practice, and we executed that in the game,” Le said.

“When you’ve got the bases loaded with two outs and you’ve got the player of the year up, and you don’t get a run, those (opportunities) are hard to swallow,” Knight said.

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Carrabec did take advantage in the sixth. Cheyenne Sirois opened the inning by reaching first on an error, followed by a walk to Makenzie Edes. Paige Giroux then hit a groundball to Lisbon shortstop Brittany Norman, who tossed it to Fairbanks — the third baseman — in hopes of getting Sirois — the lead runner — out. But Fairbanks dropped the ball, loading the bases once again for Dunphy.

Dunphy walked on five pitches, scoring Sirois for the 1-0 lead.

The Greyhounds responded in the seventh. Le led the inning off with a walk, and moved to third on a base hit by pinch hitter Kiley Merritt, who then promptly stole second. Three batters later, Norman cracked a single to left field, plating Le and tying the score 1-1.

Lisbon had more offensive firepower in the eighth, as Fairbanks led the inning off with a single, and reached second on a wild pitch by LeBeau. Two batters later, Le strode to the plate, and on an 0-2 count, smacked a LeBeau pitch into the right-center field gap to score Fairbanks and take a 2-1 lead.

Hall made quick work of the Cobras in the bottom of the eighth, getting the last three outs on 12 pitches.

Lisbon head coach Terri Tlumac was pleased with her team’s ability to play sound, fundamental softball throughout the contest.

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“You expect the unexpected, you don’t know what each team is going to have that day,” Tlumac said. “(Carrabec’s) best hitter didn’t have a hit. Other games, she crushed the ball off of us. I expect us to do our job, control the things we can control. To hit the ball, to pitch down the middle, to field the ball. To make the standard plays that win games like that with those things.”

The Greyhounds will face a tough Madison team that rolled through the season. The Bulldogs sank the Greyhounds 10-4 on April 28.

“You’re going to expect consistency (from Madison),” Tlumac said. “They’re a consistently hard-hitting, defensively sound softball club. The coach there, Chris (LeBlanc) does a great job with them, and they’ve got a feeder program that every great team dreams of having. I expect consistency from them and for us to do the same.”

Dave Dyer — 621-5640

ddyer@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @Dave_Dyer


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