Lisbon climbs past Hillcrest

LISBON — District runner-up, second in the district, district silver medal. However it is said, it just doesn’t sound as good as district champion.

Hillcrest lost the Class 1A District 6 championship game Saturday to the Lisbon Lions, 4-2. Take out the second inning and the Ravens win 2-0. Take out the unearned runs and it's a 2-2 ballgame.

After the Lions plated the four scores, Hillcrest answered in the top of the third inning with a run and added another in the fifth. Noah Miller and Luke Schrock each batted in a Ravens run.

Eli Ours pitched a complete game in his final competition as a Raven. Fellow senior London Schrock had one of the seven Hillcrest hits in the game. Ours gave up five hits and a walk. He struck out four Lions. Two of the four runs in the fateful inning were unearned. Hillcrest had three errors in the game.

Ours tried to help his cause with a 2-of-4 performance in the batter’s box. Miller also went 2-for-4 with a double. Seth Ours and Grant Bender each had a single.

Hillcrest finishes its year with a record of 14-10. Lisbon (24-13) advances to play Maquoketa Valley (22-7) for a berth in the state tournament July 26-29 in Carroll.

In a pitchers’ duel between Tony Offerman (no walks, four strikeouts) of Maquoketa Valley and Austin Hilmer (one walk, nine strikeouts) of second-ranked North Linn, both threw a complete game, both hit a batter and gave up five hits, but Offerman and the Wildcats defeated the Lynx 1-0 for the District 5 title.