Thoughts of facing Newell-Fonda in the state championship would have to wait.
For today, the Lisbon Lions were in the Class 1A State Semi-Final. It was an honor they’d had for the past three years.
Also, for the past three years, they had been denied the opportunity to make it further than that.
And so the Lions, the third seed, found themselves with another chance as they faced the Wayne Falcons, the second seed, and no strangers to postseason encounters with the Lisbon Lions.
Both teams spent the first inning getting warmed up, as there were a couple of exciting plays, but ultimately each team left a runner stranded at the end of their frame.
The Lions were up at the top of the second, and, with one out, Kali Nelson got things going with a chop to pitcher Sterling Berndt, who got a glove on it, but couldn’t recover the ball in time to get Nelson out at first base.
Paige Roos then bunted the first pitch that came her way, again in Berdnt’s direction. Berndt scooped it up and attempted to tag Roos halfway to first, but couldn’t quite reach her.
Now Nelson was at second, with Roos at first.
Blair Baltes stepped up to the plate, and an erratic pitch from Berndt hit Baltes’ hand, advancing her to first and loading the bases.
Lions catcher Taylor Techau, like Roos before her, laid down a bunt on the first pitch to come her way, which led to an RBI by sending Nelson across home plate and giving Lisbon a 1-0 lead.
The bases remained loaded, with only one out. Addy Happel came in to pinch run for Techau.
Robinson hit a sacrifice fly to right field that yielded another RBI, as Roos scored another run for the Lions.
Two outs soon followed, but after Allgood struck out three of the four batters she faced in the bottom of the second inning, Lisbon entered the third inning with a 2-0 advantage.
At the top of the third, Mia Petersen took first base following a pitch to the helmet.
Next, Ella Clark bunted the first pitch she saw, sacrificing herself on the way to first base to advance Petersen to second.
Then Allgood, batting .358 for the season coming into the game, hit to the shortstop. A couple of wild throws by the Falcons led to Petersen scoring a third run for the team.
Nelson then hit to center field, which was caught, but enough for Gabi Moehlman, running for Allgood, to score and make it 4-0.
The bottom of the third inning could have been considered uneventful, if one could set aside Berndt hitting her sixth home run of the season over the center-right field fence and making it 4-1.
The Lions faced down more peril in the bottom of the fourth, when the Falcons had baserunners on first and third and Allgood helped her team out of the inning with her eighth, ninth, and tenth strikeouts of the game.
The bottom of the sixth tested Lisbon’s mettle, as it essentially opened with runners at first and second, with no outs.
Camryn Jacobsen was Allgood’s eleventh victim of the game, striking out with an 0-3 count.
Abigayle Henderson then popped up to Clark on first, leading to the second out.
It turned out the Falcons were just getting started.
Izzie Moore, the shortstop for Wayne, chopped a ball to the infield for a fielder’s choice RBI, allowing the Falcons to cut into the Lions’ lead and make it 4-2.
Allie Jo Fortune was up to bat when a disconnect between pitcher and catcher caused a missed throw from Techau to Allgood, and the Falcons capitalized on the confusion, scoring a run from third and making it 4-3.
Allgood shut down the uprising by striking out Fortune to escape the inning.
When the Lions couldn’t get the offense going at the top of the seventh, all eyes were on the Wayne Falcons to see if they could use their last chance to at least tie the game and force an extra inning or more.
Berndt continued to be tough for the Lions to contain, hitting a ball deep to left field-center for a double, setting herself up as a potential tying run.
Jaide Harvey then struck out after three straight strikes from Allgood.
Mya Willey popped up a fly ball to Hall, who caught it carefully but with ease, and the Lions were one out away from making it to the state championship for the first time in a long enough time.
And, just like she had with Harvey, Allgood dispensed of Emily Jones without throwing a single pitch outside of the strike zone. It was her 15th strikeout for the game, and more importantly, it was the final one.
The Lisbon Lions, in their 52nd year of being coached by Bob Bunting, found themselves in the championship the following evening, against Newell-Fonda, the top seed in 1A.
And for tonight, that was enough.
Lions clear pesky hurdle
Trent Bowman
July 29, 2021