NH Legion

From what im hearing it could be an interesting summer. I've heard that the numbers for tryouts for multiple teams were down this year. I also heard that Jutras folded. Is this true? They have been around for quite awhile and that would be very surprising to me. If the numbers were low i wonder if more kids are going to play AAU or Showcase teams rather than sticking with their town legion team.

I see no Jutras on the NH website:

 

http://www.newhampshireamericanlegionbaseball.com/

 

There are less teams than last year as each district team now plays each other twice instead of being separated into subdivisions. JR Legion team numbers seem to be up though.

 

Cannot speak for other posts, but in Nashua I hear Nashua North's 3 Varsity pitchers are all playing showcase ball (I believe NEB).  South's Penkala is just working out, while Gouviea and JJ Dunn are playing.  All 3 BG Varsity starters are on the team (Morais, Lunn, Ferlan).

 

I concur an "interesting" summer for sure. There's other posts within other HSBBW forums indicating a nationwide trend downwards for Legion ball.  Could also be slightly hurt by the you cannot return from college and be on a team unless you were already on the team and still had age eligibility left.  I believe the same phenomena exists for Senior Babe Ruth in NH where there's only the Southern and Seacoast Leagues remaining. Nashua's down to 2 teams (partially because of the JR Legion program).

Correct, Jutras will not be fielding a team this year. District A will play a 16-game schedule and District B will play an 18 game schedule.

I would think that Londonderry should be very solid coming off their nice high school season. They have added Moloney, he has not played in a couple years, who with Corey, Del Signore and Keith Simpson should provide some solid pitching. Spaulding always puts a solid product out there as does Portsmouth. I do not know much else about the seacoast teams but for the most part they always compete. As JohnF said Nashua is missing some arms but has plenty within the 3 schools they draw from to keep them in games, Derry has some pitching that should keep them in games as well. Salem has lost some key players from last years team but added a number of Timberlane and Pelham players that could contribute to the team. 

 

IMO, the biggest thing for teams will be the adjustment back to wood after a season of metal bats both offensively and defensively. I know that kids swing with wood all the time but it will take some time to get used to it again. Legion is always intersting because you never know who you have coming back as 19yr olds, which high school kids tryout or choose AAU, and how many schools combine into one team. There are lots of high schools in NH but 20? legion teams so certain teams can take as many schools until they reach 5000 for total enrollment.

  

 

Great Points ABC and John. In my mind Londonderry has to be the team to beat, it seems as though they will pretty much have their whole HS team together this summer. In my mind this is also a key reason why they do so well every year. It seems the teams that play together in the spring, summer and fall seem to have more success than teams that dont. Its too bad more teams dont try to do this in general.

 

Portsmouth is always a solid team and always seems to be able to win games. I believe they play together consistently as well. You would think that since all of those Nashua arms are committed maybe they would want to come in and take a Legion Championship rather than paying a good chunk of change for the Showcase teams. That would be a rather deadly pitching staff if you add Robert and McCarthy to it. Probably the deepest in the state in my mind. Have to agree with ABC as well that it will definitely be an adjustment for these teams going back to swinging wood. Definitely puts a lot more emphasis on the defensive game. Should be a great summer!

I would think defending champs Concord would be pretty decent again.  They did lose a couple of pitchers from last summer, but Partidge certainly stepped up during the season and I would think he would step into a pretty big role on that team. 

9and7...absolutely, my apologies for even forgetting concord in prior posts. They also have to be the team to beat, especially since they are the returning state champs. Partridge will definitely be there helping them this summer. Do we know if they have any of their 19 year olds coming back? Dionne? Emmerson? If so i would think they would be as tough if not tougher from last year.

No apologies necessary.  My son doesn't play on that team but I do know a lot of the kids that do.  According to the roster I saw both Dionne and Emerson are listed.  I could not for sure if that is accurate or not.  They did lose Drouin and Bonifant, two pitchers who got a lot of innings last year.  

Moneyball:  about committed players, my son was in that situation, and the school he committed to set him up with a summer travel based out of Brooklyn , NY, host family and the whole nine yards.  

 

He was set to play for the Plymouth team.

This one is difficult to predict at this point.  Do we even know all the rosters?  The usual suspects of Concord/Portsmouth/Londonderry/Nashua will be in the mix. Let's not forget Exeter! 

 

If all is true about what we hear about Nashua, they would be my early pick. With that pitching staff.  Anyone know if Fortin is playing? Still, until we get all the information about who's coming back from college, which  towns will merge, and which kids will bypass the season, anything can happen. Should be interesting.

Which truth are you looking for about Nashua?  There's the 3 BG varsity starters, Jake Burbank, and the 2 South starters.  From North there's Ricky Constant.  Not sure who else is on the team that pitches.  AFAIK they have no one 'back' from college. 

 

Fortin is playing in NYC.

 

Two things about Legion that you have to consider - 9 inning games and wood bats.  So either you have a dominant pitcher who is efficient or you have defense that makes the plays and pitchers willing to pitch to contact rather than blowing gas the whole game.  These kids throw 100+ in 7 innings - so what does 9 bring?

 

I agree it'll be a very interesting summer.

Good points John, wooden bats always favor the pitching, also it will tell you on the offense side who can hit and who can't, there are no dup base hits with wood.  And the smaller kids aren't going to jack any.    

 

Three summers ago in NYC son was pitching wood bat tournament, jammed the batter inside, broke the bat, came back at him, hit him in his non throwing forearm,  seventeen stitches.  

This Jutras thing depresses me.  While there are still towns out there where just making a legion baseball team is considered an accomplishment, knowing there are any teams that can't get more than seven players to show up for their tryout is sad.  The Jutras team has been around a long time and has always had pretty good tradition.  Hopefully the players will show up next year and get that team back to where it once was.

Derry- 5-0 so far with wins against Exeter, Milford, Dover,Londonderry & Nashua. Pitching has been great along with some timely hitting

More than half way through the season now. Rochester is leading the way in District B and Concord is leading the way in District A. No real surprises from those 2 teams. Bigger surprises are Derry also essentially  tied with Rochester and Exeter (D1 Champs) and Portsmouth being at the bottom of District B. Looks like there have been a lot of rain outs with this wet summer so the next week and a half should be a fun one!

 

It's certainly been wacky weather that has impacted things so far.  Teams' pitching depth will be sorely tested thru July 20/21 (last weekend of regular season games).

 

Figuring out tiebreakers may break the computer too as there's a plethora of teams stuck in the middle of the standings.

 

In District A it seems 5 perhaps 6 teams will be in the hunt.  Keene has a boatload of makeups to play - only 5 games played with 11 to go and 2 doubleheaders in 1 week - ouch!

 

In District B it seems there are still 7 of 10 teams "in the hunt" each having 7-9 games left.  Not so surprised about Derry... Portsmouth is disappointing since I read they have 5 "college age" players on the team... Figured they'd do better - lots of close games with 2 "bad" losses. Exeter HS may have been the champs in NHIAA, but they were also a what 11 seed?  That won't happen in Legion as only 4 from each District make it.  Nashua had a week losing 3 at home to Dover, Derry, and Exeter, but then turned it around on the road against the same teams... 

Portsmouth played without Ben Gareau and Dillon Crosby for 5 of their first 7 losses and have won 3 of 5 since they've come back, not to mention Connor McCauley has had knee issues and hasn't been able to catch. They won't make states but now that they're at full strength they'll be a force to be reckoned with. Also Lucas Hartmann (younger brother of Keene State SS Billy Hartmann) has improved greatly over the past 6 or 7 games and has emerged as a top player for them.

 

Tough to deal with absences especially to pitcher/catcher in a season where you need as much pitching as possible - those 9 inning games are tough.  Portsmouth had a young lefty go in their 2nd game vs. Nashua who threw the ball well - victim of some errors early and a long ball late perhaps when he got tired.  My son was the Nashua pitcher...

 

We're down to the last week and it'll be a wild finish - lots of tired arms by the end of the week.  Concord seems to have wrapped up District A and the pole position in the state tourney which they are hosting - although they've got a lot of games this week.  I'd say based on high school districts that district is a little easier.  Although Sweeney and Post 79 are Manchester combined schools - the Manch teams didn't do so well in D1/NHIAA this year - so could be a down year.  Keene is going through a rough spell in baseball and Merrimack didn't have their top players from HS playing - so it seems to have been an easier road.

 

District B is a dog fight where 8 of the 10 teams are NHIAA/D1 schools that can draw from some of the lower division teams as well, so it would seem to reason they are deeper/stronger.  Hudson & Dover play 2 in Dover today that will go a long way to deciding which could make playoffs. A split won't hurt, but won't help either.  Nashua finally lost after ripping off 7 straight.  They finish with 2 vs. Milford and 2 vs. Hudson plus 1 vs. a Londonderry team that will be playing for their 8th straight day.  Rochester seems to have hit a bump in the road too, but Derry continues to play strong.  Looks like Salem tailed off a bit and while they probably won't make playoffs, they do have less games to play this week and could cause a problem for a team fighting for a playoff spot.

Anyone heard the word on Post 79's appeal?  Will they have to forfeit all games from this season for using an.illegal player?

That's what I heard.  They are allowing them to play out their games, but their games won't count when seeding teams.  Kind of strange.

 

District A is crazy right now with tomorrow's Goffstown v. Sweeney more or less finishing out the standings.

 

District A is Rochester at 1 (they beat Derry twice), Derry at 2, and Londonderry/Nashua at 3 or 4 depending on how Londonderry does at Rochester and how both do with their game against Milford.

What' the story behind the illegal player?  Was he impact player??

Here is the only info I have seen:

 

http://www.unionleader.com/art...7/SPORTS01/130719380

Brackets are almost set. . . District A is locked in with:

1. Concord

2. Goffstown

3. Lebanon

4. Laconia

 

District B

1. Rochester

2. Derry

3 and 4 Nashua and Londonderry have clinched playoffs.  The final seeds are going to be determined today and tomorrow depending on the outcome of Nashua and Londonderry's games with Milford.

 

The match-up I am hoping to see is Londonderry v. Concord.  If Londonderry drops to the 4 seed I think this could be the best game of the first round or even the whole tournament.  Moloney v. Dionne and both teams with some good bats, it will be fun to watch.  I am excited to be up there all weekend.  I love this tournament.

For those of you that have not made it up to Concord yet I strongly suggest the trip.  I spent the whole day up there yesterday watching some very good baseball.  I have to say the best game of the day was Londonderry v. Concord.  Gates and Del Signore were better than advertised.  It was an intense, on edge game the entire time.  

It is great baseball, great venue and Concord Legion is doing a great job hosting the event.  I am interested to see how today shakes out especially with Rochester and Lebanon having a day off yesterday.

Rochester, Laconia, Nashua. All have one loss, who wins?

Whomever has pitching left!!!  Interesting the tourney started with Rochester beating Laconia in game 1 and they get to battle for the right to play Nashua in the 7PM championship game.

 

Games I've seen have been hard and tough fought, even though there's been some pitching and fielding woes. The players have "left it on the field". The two teams I thought would battle in the end were swept away in one day by the rained changed format which required two games in a day for loser's bracket teams.  So far not one team has been able to grab two wins in a day a trend which if it continues means Nashua will win (technically yes, Laconia finished their win over Concord on Monday, but let's face it for all intents the game was won Sunday evening).

 

Personally, I just hope all the parent observers can keep this final day in perspective. If you still think you can play there's over 38 leagues that look for players... If you wanted to coach, you'd be down on the field already... If you want to umpire, there's plenty of youth leagues where you can get your feet wet before attempting this level.  Enjoy this final day of the NH Legion baseball tourney!

 

Congrats to Rochester for pulling off the 6-3 and 4-3 victories tonight.  Good luck in Regionals.

I'd like to hear your thoughts and experiences relative to the competitiveness of Jr. legion here in NH. 

Also, I know the the age is 13-17 for Jr. But id like to know what ages are actually playing jr.legion . I suspect that most of the strong 16's and 17's are playing sr legion and 13's are not quite read, leaving 14's and 15's  This coupled with the dilution caused by travel/ aau teams leaves me thinking that there could be a broad range of competitiveness depending on the age mix and travel player mix.

Thoughts?

I would say broad range of competitiveness is a good description.  My younger son played junior last year and I would say it was ok.  Not great but not awful either, though there were some individual tough nights.  I'm not sure where you are but I heard a rumor that Concord was not doing junior this year, after a couple of pretty strong seasons for their junior team.

 

Husky88: You are right about dilution due to AAU and Showcase teams; however, my experience is Jr Legion is very much alike D1/D2 JV Baseball.  Yes, there are some bad teams, but there is good competition from the top teams especially from baseball rich areas (eg. the ones with better talent historically).

 

The competition is generally better than Babe Ruth/Wood Bat summer league, but not always quite at the level of the "better" AAU teams.  It's a perspective kind of thing. If you're used to winning at AAU and AAU Tournaments, then you'll be frustrated.  Since JR Legion is wood bat there is a great equalizer for hitting.  In the end as always, it's all about pitching, pitching depth, and of course the ability to actually make the right play in the field.

 

As for ages - depends on the host Post. A couple years ago one Post had 4-5 of their D1 Varsity level players that were JR age appropriate playing (and winning). Last I knew Post's can dual roster 3 players - so if the SR team doesn't make playoffs and the JR team does, then the win at all costs mentality kicks in and those swing players stay with the JR team.

 

The cost and local travel is a whole lot better than AAU!  Unless you're thinking D1 college ball ability for your son, then I'm not sure what the benefit of paying thousands of dollars is.  Of course that's also a bit of 20/20 hindsight speaking, but then again I have one playing d3 collegiate baseball and another who will be next year at a d2 school. Neither was on any travel to showcase team. Save your money now, so you can go watch 'em play collegiate ball some day!

I would agree with John's post above.  I think he's correct, but I'd like to expand the last paragraph a little.  First, I think it is fantastic John's boys are playing at the next level.  It's a remarkable achievement to play college baseball at any school or at any level. 

 

If you're thinking in terms of playing college ball, I'm not sure Jr. Legion is the best approach over the long hall.  Both of mine have played a season of it in the past, and I do have one fielding offers from top D1 programs right now.  Having said that, Jr Legion is not going to get a kid exposed to many colleges, at least not in NH.  While it is certainly financially a good deal, if you want exposure and want to increase the likelihood of getting seen, high level travel ball and/or showcases is the most effective way to get that done.

No argument there 9and7dad - I did couch my comments with the d1 caveat.. JR Legion is not going to get you exposure especially in NH...  SR Legion isn't either unless your team is in the state tourney or you're already in contact with a coach and give him your schedule and hope he can some see you play.  

 

If you're good enough from 13-15, then JR legion isn't a bad option. Realistically, how many colleges are looking at 15 yr olds and under?  A chance to play against mostly 16-17 year old competition will let you know where you stand if you're good enough to make the team... 

 

Travel ball - especially showcase travel teams will get you the D1 exposure that neither JR nor SR Legion provides. There's plenty of places within parent forums that will give you all the guidance you can handle!

Agree with you John, 100%.

Thanks for the feedback. I agree that it's not about exposure at the Jr. level. To me it's about reps and AB's against strong competition. Considering that Babe Ruth is weak in NH and travel/ AAU is only weekends, Jr. legion is a good compliment to AAU once school is over.  

If you think you have a kid that may play at the college level, be it D1 through D3, don't screw around and just contact Scott Patterson at Northeast Baseball.  Nobody in New England will do a better job marketing your child than him.  My son is playing D1 ball because of Scott as are dozens of others...He's the real deal.   Checkout his Alumni page...he works tirelessly for your kid...http://www.ne-baseball.com/page/show/1008656-college-commitments

Thanks for the tip.I have heard good things about him as well.

We played NEB's 13U team last year and they were not impressive at all.

I understand they are strong at the older ages (15 and up). Does Scott work with all age groups at NEB or specifically with one team? 

Don't even get distracted by their AAU teams.  Scott works with kids that are being scouted by pros or colleges.  I had the same impression when my kid was younger.  We smoked their AAU teams.  Totally different program at the u17 and up level.  He's very selective so if you don't come recommended or blow him away in a personal tryout you have little chance of being invited.  All his upper level teams go to East Cobb and attend many PG scouted tourneys.  He's the most affordable guy out there given the exposure he can deliver.

I agree with don't judge the under teams to judge the showcase team. Many organizations will take anyone at the lower levels. It helps fund the expense of the team that has to travel all over to showcases. There are parents who are deluded into thinking if their cupcake comes up through the organization they will play college ball. I've seen and heard of a lot of upset parents after 17u tryouts when its about college potential, Besides, at the lower levels the best kids don't need to pay an academy to play. They can make any team.

Northeast is a fine organization, no doubt.  So are the New England Ruffnecks.  East Cobb has a program in New England as well.  Notheast's commit list is long partially due to the sheer volume of players that are in the program.  They run several teams at the upper ages.  All three organizations play in top tourneys including PG at East Cobb.  I'm sure all work hard to get their players properly placed where they can be successful both academically and athletically.  The Ruffnecks are also part of Premier which plays in Missouri and gives good exposure more towards the Midwest if that's important to you.