MONMOUTH

Sabrina Beck couldn’t help but watch.

Her drive toward deep left in the second inning felt good when it left the bat. As the senior catcher was supposed to be focused on running the bases, it was too tempting to keep an eye on her hit. Beck stopped watching when it landed on the other side of the left-center-field fence.

Beck’s shot doubled Monmouth’s lead Tuesday and the Mustangs’ early advantage held up in a 7-4 win over Lisbon in their Western Maine Class C softball preliminary.

Monmouth advances to Thursday’s quarterfinal at second-seeded Hall-Dale.

Down 6-1, Lisbon tried to rally but couldn’t produce the kind of momentum-swinging hit that Beck did.

“We settled in per usual,” Lisbon coach Terri Trudell said. “We battled back and battled back and chipped away. We just couldn’t get that timely hit still. In two innings, we had the bases loaded and we couldn’t get that timely hit. We couldn’t put it in play.”

Monmouth pitchers Paxton Lessard and Becki Bryant combined to hold the Greyhounds (6-11) to six hits. Lisbon also stranded 10. Olivia Harrington and Arianna Kahler each had two hits for Lisbon, while Kailyn Hill and Jasmin Le had the others.

Monmouth (11-6) got two hits from Kylie Kemp. Beck had the one hit and two RBIs, while Shannon Buzzell, Haley Fletcher and Lessard each drove in a run with a hit.

Lisbon, with only two seniors, looked nervous early and it showed in the field in the first. With the bases loaded and a routine force play at the plate, an easy grounder by Bryant was thrown away, allowing Kemp and Caroline Bonenfant to score.

Then in the second, Beck hit her two-run homer for the 4-0 lead.

Lisbon got one back when Harrington scored on a wild pitch in the third. Lisbon had the bases loaded but only got the one run.

“As funny as it sounds, I think we were just too aggressive at the plate and not being patient,” Trudell said. “We were popping up in our first six at bats.”

Monmouth made it 6-1 in the fourth when Buzzell doubled in a run.

Lisbon threatened again in the fifth. Hall singled in a run and another scored on a Monmouth error. Lessard had gone four-plus innings and did well, but the Mustangs went to Bryant to finish the game.

Bryant got a pop out to end that threat in the fifth. She allowed just one hit over the next two innings. Though Lisbon got two runners on in the sixth and two more on in the seventh, the Greyhounds scored just once.

Monmouth made it 7-3 in the sixth when Fletcher singled in a run. Lisbon got one more in the seventh when Monica Austin scored on a double steal.

Lisbon pitchers Hill and Alyssa Hall combined to scatter seven Monmouth hits.