After winning the number one seed in District B with their 12-4 record, the Londonderry Junior Legion Post 27 Baseball team made it into Junior Tournament Finals by winning three of four games, but lost on Monday night to end their chances at the championship.
The team’s quest for the title started on Friday night, July 26, where they were able to come from behind twice to beat Nashua’s Coffey Post 3, 10-9, in the eighth inning.
Post 27 got off to a quick start, plating two runs in the bottom of the first, but saw the Coffey team go ahead 6-2 by the top of the third.
In the bottom of that inning, Londonderry scored another two, making it a two-run deficit after three.
In the fifth, Post 27 regained the lead, scoring four, thanks to lead off singles by Sully Daron and Jace Ruggiero and base hits by Cameron O’Donnell and Liam Parent later in the inning. The strong hitting also forced a pitching change.
Post 3 came back with one run in each of the final three innings to put them up 9-8 in the bottom of the eighth.
A lead off walk, followed by a Post 3 error and a Connor Loughlin single tied the game at nine. Brendan Fitzgerald was the final batter at the plate when Daron scored from third.
O’Donnell was the starting pitcher, throwing six innings with five strikeouts and four walks. He only gave up five hits, but they were costly, allowing seven runs, six of them being earned.
Daron came in as the reliever and earned the win, pitching two innings, allowing three hits, two runs, and two walks.
Ruggiero was 3-5 at the plate with a triple in the third to score a run. Parent had a single and a double, while Liam Killelea also had two hits in the victory.
The following day, things weren’t quite so close, as Post 27 tallied a 5-0 win over Weare’s Post 65 in seven innings.
Ruggiero was the winning pitcher, chalking up seven innings with some solid defense behind him.
Most of the game had Londonderry leading 1-0, after Graham Killelea drove in the first run of the game with a double to right field in the second.
Two runs were scored in the final two innings. B Fuller brought home O’Donnell on a single in the sixth, followed by Liam Killelea driving in Graham Killelea to make it 3-0.
The final two runs were scored with a sacrifice bunt by Fitzgerald and a passed ball, scoring Ruggiero.
The final game of the weekend notched the team’s first loss in the tourney, losing 2-9 to Post 36 of Berlin.
Daron was the losing pitcher, allowing 11 runs on nine hits, striking out three, and walking three.
Most of the damage done by Post 36 came in the first three innings, scoring two in the first, four in the second, and two more in the third.
On Monday night, July 29, Weare’s Post 65, ended Londonderry’s season and a chance at the title beating them 9-2.
Post 65 17U scored six runs in the third inning and Post 27 was never able to recover.
Joshua Tedeschi earned the win for Post 65 as the reliever, he allowed four hits and two runs, zero earned, over four and one-third innings, striking out three with no walks.
Nate Halko took the loss for Londonderry, the left-hander went three innings, giving up six runs on five hits, striking out one, and walking five. Parent and Graham Killelea came in as relievers for four innings.
Liam Killelea and Connor Loughlin each collected two hits for Londonderry hitting back-to-back in the lineup.
The Post 27 season record ended at 12-8.