No. 2 North Linn sweeps No. 6 Lisbon in Tri-Rivers Conference showdown

LISBON - It was a night that promised to shake up the Tri-Rivers Conference standings.

No. 6 Lisbon (11-3) hosted No. 2 North Linn (20-1) Monday in a doubleheader, pitting the two teams atop the conference standings - and some of the best in the state in Class 1A - against each other.

Yet it was all North Linn at Lisbon City Park. The Lynx convincingly won game one 6-2 and survived a late-game scare in game two, 6-5, to sweep the Lions.

'We put it where we needed to, we put it in play, and we put the pressure on the defense,” North Linn pitcher Jake Hilmer said. 'Ultimately that's what got us the wins.”

The Lynx got the bats going right away when junior Brad Pflughaupt hit an RBI single to score Hilmer in the first inning. Pflughaupt struck again in the third inning, hitting an RBI triple to deep right field, and then taking home on a wild pitch, giving North Linn a 3-0 lead.

Lisbon got on the board in the fifth inning, but the Lynx fired back in the top of the seventh, adding three runs.

'We don't hit a lot of gaps, we don't hit a lot of home runs, but that's what we are,” North Linn Coach Travis Griffith said. 'We're a defensive, pitching team. Normally for us, three, four, five runs is going to be enough. But I thought we did do a good job of squaring up in that first game.”

Game two was much tighter. Bouncing back and forth, Lisbon pulled ahead in the fifth inning, 4-3, taking its first lead of the night. Then, sophomore Brady Henderson hit an RBI single.

Yet Lisbon pushed back in the bottom of the seventh, putting runners on second and third with no outs. It was then, though, that the Lynx's defensive strength came out, quickly garnering three outs to end the game, giving them the 6-5 win and the sweep.

'We got on them, we got back in and didn't put our heads down, showed some mental toughness, and we refocused the next inning and got that lead right back,” Griffith said.

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