Championship Saturday

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Originally posted by Granite State Baseball Association:
Strike 3 looking Londonderry Class L champs. Carollo throws an absolute Gem.

Thanks again Mike...Kasey deserves it. Congrats to the Lancers....

thanks for all the updates through the tourney. great to see the interest from everyone.

congrats to all the state champs.

Congratulations to Portsmouth on winning their 3rd consecutive Class I title with a 5-1 win over Bedford at MerchantsAuto.com Stadium. The weather was not ideal; however, it’s a great field that remained playable despite the persistent rain.

Nate Jones and Joey Maher squared off in a tense battle that was not secure until Jones got Maher swinging on an extended 8 pitch at bat to end the game with 2 runners on base. Jones was excellent all day, working out of jams in the 2nd, 5th and 7th innings. Maher matched him for most of the day with the pivotal sequence coming in the home half of the 4th. Maher registered two quick outs including a nice “snag” of a liner back up the middle off the bat of Quinn McCann. Matt Feeney and Keegan Taylor got back-to-back singles to extend the inning. #9 hitter Rob Welch fell behind 1-2 and barely fouled off what would have been strike 3. The Bedford fans will tell you that he then struck out twice on the next two pitches - sharp breaking balls from Maher – the bottom line is he ran the count full and then came up huge with a sharp single to right plating Feeney. Taylor also scored, while Welch took 3rd when the right fielder allowed the slick ball to get by him. The next pitch slipped out of Maher’s hand and Welch scored on the wild pitch to make it 4-0 Portsmouth.

Bedford battled back in the top of the 5th. Kevin White drew a one out walk before Jones K’d the next batter. With two outs, Mike Laflamme singled up the middle and Zach Husband lined a double down the right field line scoring White and advancing Laflamme to third. Matt Woodmansee followed with a walk on a 3-2 count loading the bases. Maher then grounded hard to the shortstop - the second baseman was a little late covering the bag, but got the call ending the inning with Jones holding Bedford to 1 run. A side note to this inning was a nice hustle play by the Portsmouth catcher Connor Trefethan. The first Bedford hitter of the inning reached on a high throw by the shortstop that sailed over the first baseman's reach. The ball bounced hard off of the stadium wall and Treferthan, hustling to cover, threw out the Bedford runner at second for the first out of the inning.

Mike Montville added an RBI single in the bottom of the 6th scoring Jack Gonsalves who had reached via HBP (he also scored after being hit leading of the 3rd). Bedford didn’t lay down in the 7th. Nate Harrington and Laflamme started the inning with back to back singles. With one out Jones popped off the mound to make a nice play off the slick grass to get Woodmansee at first with the runners advancing. Jones ended the game with his 6th strikeout to complete his high school career with a perfect 18-0 record.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Portsmouth is the gold standard for high school baseball in NH. They do graduate a number of seniors, including key players like Gonsalves, Jones, Montville and Aiden O’Leary, but something tells me they will be very competitive again next year. Bedford graduates (it was actually at 10 AM this morning – first in school history) four starters – Laflamme, Woodmansee, White and Jeff Gancarz; however, their pitching remains intact with Maher, Lucas Olen, Ryan Gancarz and a name to keep an eye out for next year in Ryan Mossman. I think both schools would be happy with a rematch at the “Merch” next June.

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As I mentioned in a previous post, Portsmouth is the gold standard for high school baseball in NH. They do graduate a number of seniors, including key players like Gonsalves, Jones, Montville and Aiden O’Leary, but something tells me they will be very competitive again next year. Bedford graduates (it was actually at 10 AM this morning – first in school history) four starters – Laflamme, Woodmansee, White and Jeff Gancarz; however, their pitching remains intact with Maher, Lucas Olen, Ryan Gancarz and a name to keep an eye out for next year in Ryan Mossman. I think both schools would be happy with a rematch at the “Merch” next June.

Thanks for the nice writeup. I was at the game and you captured it very well. One correction: Aidan O'Leary is a junior. Portsmouth loses three regular starters (Gonsalves, Jones, Montville) and one part-time starter (Welch).

Thanks again, and congrats to all of today's finalists.