The ride wasn’t always smooth for coach Matt Case and his 2015 Londonderry High junior varsity baseball squad this spring. But Case and his Lancers still did plenty of winning and learning and advanced the team’s players toward future play on the title-contesting LHS varsity contingent.
Case’s crew went 8-12 overall during its campaign and posted a 1-1 record in pool play during the JV tournament, with a 13-2 loss to the Dover Green Wave and a 14-5 trouncing of the Concord High Crimson Tide.
“Our team took some lumps on the road at one point,” said Case. “We had a six-game losing streak that we ended with a 9-8 win against (Manchester) Central, and toward the end of the season, after a walk-off win against Keene, we felt we were where we wanted to be. We developed into a competitive team.”
The Lancer squad’s roster included junior Bailey Hamilton (pitcher/ first baseman) and sophomores Jackson Leavitt (pitcher/third baseman), Pat Maloney (catcher/outfield/pitcher), Tom Houston (middle infielder), Ryan Pitard (catcher), Joey Davis (third baseman), Jack Cowette (first baseman), Jake Brunette (OF), Nick Daileanes (OF), Brian Frechette (OF), Ethan Cullen (OF), David Dooley (OF/P), and Samy Achab (OF/P).
The freshmen included Ricky Perry (middle infielder), Anthony Pirolli (P/1B), and Dylan Walsh (middle infielder/P), and manager Dakota Johnson.
“Once we picked our squad in March, on paper we looked very strong and we knew if we put it together for all seven innings we would be a very tough team,” said Case. “I don’t think we finished as good as we were hoping, but everyone developed in one way or another.”
When asked to think back on his squad’s best game performance of the entire spring, coach Case said, “Our top game of the season was in the final week of the regular season against Keene, when we had a walk-off win in eight innings. We went up early, and Keene battled back in the seventh. We lost a four-run lead and came back to tie it in the bottom of the seventh. In the eighth our first three hitters reached safely, which left our three hitter Jackson Leavitt to hit a single up the middle to end the game.”