Lisbon did it all during a doubleheader sweep of Bellevue Marquette on Tuesday, June 16, at Bunting Field.
The Lions hit, tallying 12 hits during a 9-1, 5-inning win in the opener, and 10 hits during an 11-0, 4-inning win in the nightcap.
The Lions pitched, with Kyla Kahl tossing a 2-hitter in the opener and striking out five, and Emma Pleasant also holding the Defenders to just two hits and striking out five.
But most impressively, the Lions played defense, turning hard-hit balls into outs in both games.
“Our bats were really good, our defense was solid, and our pitching was amazing,” Lisbon coach Abbey Shultz said. “We played well tonight.”
Shultz shouted out Kamryn Kahl in the postgame huddle. The senior shortstop was like a Shop-Vac in the field. She had eight assists on putouts to first baseman Alexa Roos.
“Obviously, my glove was hot,” Kamryn Kahl said. “For coach to say that was a huge compliment. It shows the work I’ve put in.”
The Lions used a big first inning in both games. In the opener, they scored four runs on five hits — singles by Alexis Jensen, Kamryn Kahl, Pleasant, Roos and Kyla Kahl.
“It is definitely a great start and it is a great motivator,” Kamryn Kahl said. “It just proves that if we can do it once, we can continue to do it the rest of the game.”
“Any inning, any number of outs, and we were hitting and nothing was stopping us,” Shultz said.
Pleasant finished the opener 3-for-3 with a double and 2 RBIs. Jensen, Kamryn Kahl and Kyla Kahl each hit 2-for-3.
Then the Lions came out even hotter at the plate in the second game, scoring five runs in the first, and six in the second.
Pleasant and Sydney Techau hit triples. Kamryn Kahl, Roos, Kyla Kahl and Techau each had two hits.
“It just means we know how to hit the ball,” Pleasant said. “We just keep going, no matter how big the lead is. We’re still going to play just as hard.”
The sweep helped improve the Lions to 10-3 in the Tri-Rivers East and put them two games up on both Marquette and Calamus-Wheatland.
It was also a bounce-back after losing Monday, June 15, against Anamosa, 7-2.
Shea Benhart had a home run and Roos hit 2-for-3 in the loss.
A doubleheader at Davenport West on Wednesday, June 17, was canceled, so the Lions wrapped up their week with a loss to No. 6 (1A) Edgewood-Colesburg on Thursday, June 18.
Lisbon lost 9-5, and the second game was rained out and moved to July 2.
The Lions had 10 hits, with Jensen and Roos each hitting 3-for-4. Benhart had a double and a triple.
Lisbon, which dropped out of the 2A rankings earlier in the day, is 12-8 overall.
“Going into each game we can’t think about ranking, or class, or seed, or record,” Kamryn Kahl said. “We just have to know ourselves and what we are capable of.”
GAME 1
Marquette 001 00 — 1 2 3
Lisbon 422 1x — 9 12 2
Cydney Tath and Amber Kremer; Kyla Kahl and Shea Benhart. W – Kahl. L – Tath. 2B – Emma Pleasant (L).
GAME 2
Marquette 000 0 — 0 2 2
Lisbon 560 x — 11 10 0
Paige Barsema and Amber Kramer; Emma Pleasant and Ayla Blanchard. W – Pleasant. L – Barsema. 2B – Amber Kramer (BM). 3B – Emma Pleasant (L), Sydney Techau (L).