RUMFORD — Mountain Valley senior pitcher Lindsay Marston had too much to do Thursday to let the aches of an errant pitch spoil her day.

As a batter in the bottom of the first inning, Marston took an offering off the jaw, ear and neck.

“It hurt really bad,” Marston said. “It wasn’t fun. I’ve gotten hit before, but I knew I had to keep it together. It was my senior game. I graduated (that night). I just wanted to get this win more than anything. So I just had to keep it together.”

Marston dusted herself off and continued on, throbbing pain and all.

A few innings later, Marston put her own sting on the ball with a two-run homer and helped the Falcons put the hurt to Lisbon in a 7-0 shutout win to end the regular season. In the circle, Marston finished with a three-hitter and struck out five.

“We just couldn’t get a hit,” Lisbon coach Terri Tlumac said. “We were flat today. There wasn’t a lot of excitement and not a lot of chatter. That carries through onto the field.”

Lisbon pitcher Kailyn Hill pitched a nice game, allowing six hits and just four runs through the first five innings, but she didn’t get support at the plate or in the field. Lisbon had three errors that led to runs while the offense couldn’t challenge Marston. Monica Austin, Taylor Plourde and Hill had the only hits. One of those came in the seventh with two outs.

“I just have a good support system behind me,” Marston said. “I just knew I had to keep it together for them. I tried to take my time and tried to throw strikes.”

Mountain Valley shortstop Karen Flaherty was stellar in the field and was part of a double play that nixed a Lisbon threat in the sixth. After Hill led off with a single, a grounder by Arianna Kahler was fielded by Flaherty. She threw to Sydney Petrie at first for the out and relayed the throw to Sam Higley at third to get Hill.

“We had three hits off a team that we played very well against at the start of the season” said Tlumac, whose team beat Mountain Valley 11-3 in their first meeting. “At this point of the season, you hope that you’re improving and doing things better. Unfortunately, we didn’t do that.”

It was the last regular season game for both teams, and the Falcons’ win shuffled the preliminary game pairings. Mountain Valley (7-9) moved into seventh and will likely host Mt. Abram. Lisbon (9-7) drops back to eighth and appears destined to host Maranacook.

“Our goal was to come into today and get on a roll for the prelims and on,” said Mountain Valley coach Lisa Russell, whose team got hot in the tourney last year and reached the regional semifinal before losing to Hall-Dale in extra innings. “We’re on that roll and we’re ready to go.”

The Falcons had lost three straight entering Thursday’s game. They honored seniors Marston, Higley, Adelle Oswald and Leah Perry prior to the game, played in the afternoon because of graduation Thursday night.

Mountain Valley thought it had scored in the second when Petrie doubled and tried to score on a Perry sacrifice fly. She was ruled to have left early and Lisbon escaped the threat.

In the next inning, Marston left little doubt. After Abby Mazza walked and Lisbon failed to execute a potential double play, Marston followed with a homer to left.

“I wasn’t really expecting that,” Marston said. “I just kind of swung and it was gone.”

Lisbon stayed within reach. The Falcons had just three hits through the first four innings. Third baseman Brittany Norman made a nice backhanded play at third to keep the Greyhounds close.

In the fifth, the Falcons made it 4-0 with two runs on an error following a Flaherty shallow pop that was dropped. Kelli Trenoweth and Emily Laubauskas scored.

The Falcons added three more in the seventh. Petrie scored on a wild pitch. Jordyn Turner, who had a pair of hits for the Falcons, scored on an error, and Mazza singled home a run.

kmills@sunjournal.com