LISBON FALLS — Lisbon coach Terri Trudell has watched her team fumble through tough first innings in all five games this season, errors being the main culprit.

Entering Wednesday’s Mountain Valley Conference matchup with Oak Hill, Trudell looked for her team to start off well and gain confidence as the game moved along.

A scoreless first two, and errorless, frames had the Greyhounds coach hopeful, but the Raiders warmed up in a nine-run third, helped along by six Lisbon errors, and rolled from there to a 16-1 win.

Oak Hill improved to 3-2 with its third consecutive victory, all since pitcher Kortni Michaud returned to the lineup after the Raiders began the campaign with two losses. Michaud permitted the Greyhounds just two hits, struck out five and walked one.

At the plate, Oak Hill smacked 12 hits, three coming from lead-off hitter Kelsey Collins. And, the Raiders took advantage of eight Lisbon (1-5) errors.

“Everything was going well, and then we got into that third inning, they scored nine runs on six or seven errors, with mental mistakes continuing to kill us,” said Trudell. “If we cut down on those errors, it is a 4-1 game in the fifth inning. With such a young team, it is tough to stay in the game mentally.”

Oak Hill started slow, leaving four runners on base in the first two frames. Lisbon pitcher Kailyn Hill (five strikeouts, six walks, four hit batters) struck out the side in the second inning.

Michaud pitched out of trouble in the Lisbon first. Olivia Harrington reached on an error and Arianna Kahler singled with two outs. But, a nice play by Collins at first base ended the threat.

Oak Hill looked for a spark. With the bases loaded in the third, Kayla Veilleux dropped a bunt single, scoring Jamie Prue with the game’s first run. Sadie Goulet followed with ground-rule double to score two more runs, and Prue, Alyssa Rouleau and Michaud added an RBI each as the Raiders brought 14 hitters to the plate and scored nine runs.

“We needed one little spark, and after leaving the bases loaded three times in Monday night’s game (an 8-4 win over St. Dom’s), we needed to be better than that, get those key hits and get the runners in,” said Oak Hill coach Allyson Collins, whose Raiders host Mountain Valley on Friday. “It was an excellent effort today and was the first time we hit all through the order and had quality at-bats. The team is extremely strong, and I am very pleased with the effort.”

“I think as a team we picked it up and were sick of leaving runners on base,” said Prue, who was 2-for-5, drove in a run and scored once. “As a team we have gotten to where we thought we could be early in the season. We limited our errors, something that helped us today.”

The Greyhounds, who visit Madison on Friday, scored a run in the home half of the third. Hill walked, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Harrington, to third on a wild pitch and scored on a groundball by Chantal Bisson. Bailey Madore followed with a doubled along the left-field line, but was stranded.

Oak Hill batted around again in the fourth, adding four more runs for a 13-1 lead, and a three-spot in the fifth completed the scoring, with Michaud retiring the final seven Greyhound hitters.

Rouleau was 2-for-3 at the plate for the Raiders with three RBIs, and Grace Sabine reached base in all four of her plate appearances (2-for-2, two walks, three runs scored).

Trudell feels if her team can stay the course and cut down on the miscues, that her Greyhounds can compete and get stronger as the season progresses.

“I’m very lucky to have some leaders on this team who are positive and communicate well,” said Trudell. “The positive comments to each other are keeping us together as a team, and they come out every day ready and excited to play.”