Derek Giusto knocks in Josh Willey with the winning run.
MONMOUTH – At 6-feet-2 inches tall, Lisbon High School senior Josh Willey isn’t a fan of the low strike.
“I was just hoping he’d pitch me a curve ball,” said Willey. “That’s all I could hit all day.”
Monmouth ace Brian Gardner delivered exactly what Willey was looking for on a 2-2 pitch, and he hammered the pitch to left field. Four batters later, Derek Giusto belted another single to left, driving Willey home with the game-winning run as Lisbon topped Monmouth 3-2 in eight innings at Chick Field Tuesday.
“My pitch was definitely a fast ball,” said Giusto. “I was looking for one of those and I was hoping to be able to do something with it. I hate going into the field knowing that all they need to do is score one to win.”
Jon Tefft pitched all eight innings for the Greyhounds on three days rest and retired three of the four hitters he faced in the bottom of the eighth to record the win. Tefft finished with two unearned runs against on six hits, striking out six and walking just one.
“The umpire was giving a lot to the outside part of the plate,” said Tefft. “I pitched it there until they started getting around on it, but even then they were almost all ground balls and the infielders took care of those.”
Tefft also provided a boost on the offensive side of the ball with a home run in the third inning. With the count 2-0, Gardner threw a high fast ball and Tefft got all of it, sending it over the left field fence.
“The left fielder got a glove on it over there,” said Lisbon coach Randy Ridley. “It was a good hit out there, but it was close.”
At the time, the four-bagger gave the Greyhounds (11-2) a 2-0 lead, and with Tefft on the mound it seemed like the game may be slipping out of reach for the Mustangs (10-5).
“Both pitchers pitched a very good game,” said Monmouth coach Keith Morang. “We had some good hits today, but we need to start putting more than one at a time together.”
In the fourth, Monmouth scored one run but had a chance to score a few more when Scott Ogden reached on a fielder’s choice, and moved to third on another fielder’s choice, putting runners at the corners with just one out.
“If we had been able to do more with that situation, I think it would have been a very different game,” said Morang.
Instead, Ogden scored on an error, but the Mustangs could manage no more. Monmouth would tie it in the sixth on a nifty double steal before Giusto’s hit in the bottom of the eighth sealed it for Lisbon.
“They handed us a bad one last year,” said Ridley. “It wasn’t even close. That’s when I realized what it would take to make this team competitive in our league. This win is a big one for us to get just a year later.”
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