FARMINGDALE — It was a cold, cloudy day for softball at Hall-Dale High School on Thursday, but the bats were hot.

The Bulldogs jumped out to an early lead and kept Lisbon in check for four innings, but the floodgates opened in the fifth. All but one batter in the order crossed the plate in the frame for the Greyhounds, whose offense exploded to secure a 19-8 Mountain Valley Conference win.

“In the fifth inning, they gained that confidence that I know they have,” Lisbon coach Terri Tlumac said. “They did what I know they can do — put the ball in play.”

The decisive frame started when Lisbon (4-1) batters Ali Sult and Alyssa Hall both singled. From there, Morgan Anderson, Kate Philbrick and Brittany Norman earned three straight walks from Hall-Dale (3-2) pitcher Amanda Benner and eventually all scored. The Greyhounds took 12-of-14 pitches for balls in the sequence and forced Benner out of the game.

“That’s something that we’ve practiced a lot,” Tlumac said of the patience at the plate. “If the girl in front of you gets walked, wait it out. Make the girl bring it to you. He had changed pitchers, so you knew that you had to see what they had.”

“It’s so important,” said Kipri Steele, who finished with four runs-batted-in on the day. “It allows you to get the runs that are essential to the win.”

Isabelle Marino replaced Benner on the hill, and the visitors didn’t waste any time getting back to work. A full-count triple from Steele cleared the bases, and Sult singled again in her second at-bat of the inning. Another triple from catcher Jasmin Le blew the game wide open, and by the time a fly-out ended the inning, Lisbon had scored nine runs.

“I think they kind of slowed down a little bit,” Steele said. “They had a lot of pitcher changes and I think we all really wanted to get the game done, to be honest. We were all cold.”

Hall-Dale’s Alisa Bonenfant started on the mound for the hosts, pitching four solid innings and holding the Greyhounds to just three runs. When she left with an injury heading into the fifth, Benner, pitching in her first varsity game, was called upon to preserve an 8-4 lead.

“She did a real good job through the first four innings,” Hall-Dale coach Stephen Acedo said of Bonenfant. “Then we had that one bad inning. Had a lot of errors and we do have a lot of young kids. Overall, I’m pretty happy with the effort the pitchers put out there since they don’t have the experience.”

Errors plagued the bulldogs throughout the game, with all five leading directly to a run scored for Lisbon.

A quick out from Marino to begin the sixth inning was promptly followed by a single from Norman and a walk from Steele. Carly Drischler smashed a two-run double into left field and Mallory Fairbanks doubled to center as the Greyhounds scored five more runs in the frame. Marino finally settled down and closed out the side with three straight fly balls in the seventh.

On the other side, Hall pitched a complete game and walked just one Bulldog en route to the win. It was a slow start, though, with Hall-Dale posting five runs in the first three innings.

Bonenfant and Emma Begin hit back-to back doubles in the bottom of the first, sparking three straight runs scored by the 2-3-4 hitters. Becca Ackerson smacked a two-out solo home run over the center-field wall in the second inning, but Hall quickly recorded a third out and settled down. In the final three innings, she earned nine outs on just 10 batters.

“She did a great job,” Tlumac said of Hall’s performance. “She’s just consistent. She just throws the ball consistently down the middle and it’s great. She’s come around. Last year, she was a back-up, and this year she’s really come through in the limelight.”

“I think we’re doing fine,” Steele said. “We lost some pretty important people last year, but our pitcher (Alyssa Hall) is really picking it up — she’s got it.”

Norman, Steele, and Drischler each reached base three times for Lisbon, while Sult made it to first on all five of her at-bats. Philbrick added a pair of RBIs from the nine spot, and Le posted two triples and two RBIs.

Begin led the way for Hall-Dale, reaching base on all four of her plate appearances and driving in a run. Marino helped herself with three RBIs.

“Most of the time, we put up eight runs and we’re going to get the win,” Acedo said. “They (Lisbon) took advantage of their hits and took advantage of our errors. You can’t do much about it. Getting them to regroup and refocus — take it as a learning experience. If they learn from it, it’s worth it.”

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