LISBON — Coach Jim Lunney had his newspaper headline picked out well before the end of Telstar’s 12-3 victory over Lisbon on Monday. 

“Howard’s double clears the bases; Johnson drives her in,” Lunney said. 

That is what he told Becca Howard during a stoppage of play with no outs and the bases loaded in the top of the sixth inning of a 3-3 game. His predicted headline almost came to fruition, but Howard opted to run 90 feet further around the infield. 

Howard belted a 1-0 offering to deep left off Lisbon pitcher Kaitlyn Hill for a bases-clearing triple, scoring Katie Merrill, Ashley Savage and Sadie Ellsworth as part of a five-run sixth inning. Tehya Johnson — the second part of Lunney’s headline — drove in Howard with an RBI groundout. 

“I just knew I had to do something and not let the strikes go by me,” Howard said. “I tried to keep my head down and pull the ball through.” 

Howard wasn’t satisfied with just the one triple. She did it again in the seventh with a drive to left field, bringing in Savage and Ellsworth once again. Howard finished 3-for-5 with two triples, five RBIs and three runs scored as the Rebels (9-2) scored nine unanswered runs in the final two innings. 

“We always try to play in the moment and she delivered,” Lunney said. “An inning later she delivered again. Those are big hits. You have to have your people step up and she stepped up today.” 

All nine Telstar batters reached base and six recorded at least one hit. Over the final three innings, the Rebels scored 11 runs on eight hits, leaving four runners on base. In the first four frames, Telstar plated just one run on one hit while stranding seven. 

“We hit the ball with runners on in the last few innings and that was huge,” Lunney said. “Early on we couldn’t get that big hit. We got the runners on, but we just couldn’t drive them in. But they’re a good team. That’s a good pitcher.”

The Rebels scored the first run of the game in the top half of the first thanks in part to two Lisbon errors. Savage reached base via an error at second base and touched home on an overthrown ball to the outfield. 

“We beat ourselves,” Lisbon coach Terri Tlumac said. “We self destruct. We can’t stop the bleeding. Costly errors at the wrong time.”

That was just the beginning of Lisbon’s fielding woes. The Greyhounds (5-5) committed seven errors in the game, almost all of them resulting in Telstar runs. Two errors in the fifth — one with two outs — spotted Telstar two runs to take a 3-2 lead. 

“We always talk about next pitch or next ball hit to you, you can’t live in the past. You have to move forward to the next ball that’s coming at you,” Tlumac said. “You can’t fix what already happened. You can only move forward.

Despite the mishaps, Lisbon and Telstar were all square through five innings. The Greyhounds took a 2-1 lead off an RBI single by Jasmin Le to score Ali Sult, who led off the inning with a double. Monica Austin scored on a throwing error on Le’s single. 

The Greyhounds tied the game at 3 in the fifth before Telstar’s bats came alive over the final two innings. 

The Rebels had golden opportunities to score in both the second and third innings, but came away empty-handed. In the second, Telstar put runners on second and third with one out and couldn’t score. In the third, the Rebels loaded the bases with one out, but again couldn’t get the timely hit. 

Howard’s bases-clearing triple erased that frustration and opened the flood gates. The Rebels brought 10 batters to the plate in the sixth inning with four collecting hits. Telstar had two combined hits through the first five innings. 

“We were getting a little anxious with such a close game and this game is worth a lot of heal points for us,” Howard said. “We knew that we needed to win today. I think once I did that the hopes got up and everyone started playing with a higher energy level.” 

The late offensive surge was exactly what Telstar pitcher Olivia York wanted to see. She retired the final seven batters she faced to pick up her second win in as many games. York scattered six hits over seven innings, striking out nine and walking two. She also went 2-for-3 with a double and three RBIs at the plate. 

Hill went the distance for the Greyhounds. She allowed nine hits while striking out seven and walking four. 

Sult and Austin each collected two hits. 

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