STANDISH — After reaching the regional final round for the first time in more than 20 years, Lisbon High School’s softball team was taking Tuesday’s loss to No. 1 Madison — a 12-0 setback to the Bulldogs — in stride.

Coach Terri Tlumac chalked it up as a learning experience.

“We can learn everything,” Tlumac said. “Everything from today we can take with us to years ahead. Looking back, I’m nothing but proud of the team we are. I don’t lose anybody, so this is a great experience for them to come to the big stage and work hard. Yes, it wasn’t perfect, but we got here.”

“We were pretty excited (getting here),” Lisbon catcher Jasmin Le said. “It’s a big step for Lisbon and we just played our hardest. I think we’ll know how the playoffs feel and we’ll be able to learn from that.”

The sixth-seeded Greyhounds (12-7) learned quickly that the Madison (19-0) lineup was a tough one to get through.

Lisbon hurler Alyssa Hall earned two quick outs in the air before walking Madeline Wood in the three spot. Cleanup hitter Aly LeBlanc, who stroked three doubles (two RBIs) and scored a run on the evening for Madison, made Hall pay with an RBI double that nearly left the yard.

Hall, who went the distance in the circle, was hurt by a pair of walks in the second inning that eventually led to a 2-0 scoreline. In all, seven ground balls or bunts in the infield resulted in base hits and led directly to four runs.

“Madison is a dominant team,” Tlumac said. “They’re always good hitters, strong in the field. They have an all-around good club — from one through nine, pitching to fielding. They’re well coached and they do a great job every time they play.”

The Lisbon defense helped Hall in the third frame, erasing two base hits with a pair of throw-outs at home that kept Madison off the board, if only for one inning. The Greyhounds’ righty battled her way through the fourth and fifth innings and left Lisbon within striking distance at 6-0, but an explosion of runs in the sixth ended the game.

In the first at-bat, Wood hit a long fly ball into center field that bounced out of Alexandra Sult’s glove n a lunging effort to spark the damage. From there, base knocks from Leblanc, Erin Whalen, Sydney Leblanc, Aishah Malloy and Whitney Bess all turned into runs scored.

Three errors moved Madison batters around the bases quickly and set off the 12-run mercy rule after nine Bulldogs had been up to the plate in the inning.

“Their pitching’s really great and they hit the ball,” Le said.

Minimal chances

Lisbon’s best chance at the plate came in the top of the first inning, where they earned two walks and had the bases loaded. Kipri Steele trotted down to first after five pitches in the leadoff spot and Morgan Fenderson singled from the three-hole to reach herself (Steele was thrown out at second on the play).

Mallory Fairbanks was hit by a pitch before Jasmin Le came up and loaded the bases with an infield grounder. Wood erased it all on one pitch in the next at-bat that ended in the inning.

After that, the Madison starter settled in comfortably, facing no more than four batters in each of the next five frames and striking out four. Brittany Norman (two singles), Le, and Sult notched base hits for Lisbon, but they all came in the middle of Wood’s quick innings.

It was a sudden and unwanted change of pace for Lisbon, which used upsets of No. 3 Carrabec and No. 2 Telstarto reach the regional final.

“Coming into this, we had two really successful playoff games,” Tlumac said. “The girls were hitting the ball well. As a team, our errors were very minimal, so coming into this we were very positive and hopeful that we could continue on this roll.

“I think that we surprised a lot of people,” Tlumac added. “I think that at times we surprised ourselves and I think, in the end, the girls put their best foot forward at all times and I can’t ask for anything more as a coach than that.’

Madison will face Bucksport in the Class C state championship game Saturday at St. Joseph’s College at 12:30 p.m.