By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

LISBON FALLS – As the sound of each pitch echoed toward the Lisbon dugout, Bree Loon hinted at what was to come for the Greyhounds on Thursday.

With every offering from the Jay lefty came a distinct “pop” as it snapped its way into the glove of catcher Sara Fetterhoff.

That was the most noise the Greyhounds heard at the plate all day as Loon pitched Jay to a 5-1 win.

Loon struckout 18 batters, including nine straight at one point. Last year’s MVC Player of the Year showed no signs of early season rust with her second straight dominating performance in as many days.

“I’ve been working really hard all winter to make sure I was ready for the beginning of the season,” said Loon.

She had one-hit Livermore Falls Wednesday while striking out 16. Lisbon managed three hits but could muster little else offensively. Loon only faced 24 batters overall.

“I’m feeling pretty strong,” said Loon. “I’ve got a good team behind me this year. I’m feeling confident right now.”

Lisbon got a bloop double from Soleil Mathieu, a triple from Nicky Strople and a single from Belle Mathieu. Many of the other Greyhounds flailed helplessly against Loon’s pitches.

Lisbon coach Mike Fortier says his club had “too many” strikeouts and didn’t show enough discipline at the plate.

“She’s going to move the ball around, and she’s going to force you to chase things she wants you to hit,” said Fortier. “She’s going to get ahead of you. You’ve got to try to put the ball in play and not swing from your heels and try to crush the ball. You’ve got to put the ball in play and force them to make the plays in the field.”

Though Jen Hogan pitched a nice game for the Greyhounds, allowing just six hits, the Tigers still managed to execute well offensively. Kaylie DeMillo had three hits and scored two runs while Fetterhoff, Felicia Floyd and Natasha Herbert each had hits.

“We hit the ball hard,” said Jay coach Robin Roberts. “We had some nice balls in the outfield. They were catchable, but I was happy they hit the ball hard.”

The Tigers (2-0) were also able to take advantage of Lisbon mistakes. The Greyhounds (0-1) made seven errors leading to all five Jay runs.

“It seemed like we made the error and that person came around and scored,” said Fortier. “At least they were correctable errors that we can fix.”

DeMillo turned leadoff singles in the first and third innings into a 2-0 lead. She scored on an error on a Fetterhoff grounder in the first. She scored the second run trying for third on a Lindsey McDonald ground out. The throw to third was errant, allowing DeMillo to score.

Jay loaded the bases in the fourth on a walk and two errors. Castonguay scored on a Herbert ground out. Lisbon’s only run came in the fifth. Strople tripled to right and scored on a ground out by Emily Moore.

The Tigers added two more runs in the sixth. Herbert singled in Castonguay, and a Tiffany Couture flyout scored Floyd.

“We’ve started well,” said Roberts, whose team beat Livermore Falls 7-0 Wednesday. “We’ve got a lot of young kids. We’ve only got three seniors. We start five sophomores and freshmen out there.”