The Londonderry 10-U all-star baseball squad closed out its exceptional 2017 summer in great fashion recently, coming back to its home diamond and playing extremely well in its own invitational tournament.
After winning the state title and then placing second at the regionals in Massachusetts, the locals finished up their summer campaign by going 5-2 in their own invitational tourney on the Londonderry Athletic Field Association fields during the final days of July.
The local crew – which completed its campaign having won 21 of its 25 games – was narrowly bested by the Seacoast entry by a single run in the title contest of the season-ending home tournament.
The successful local squad, which was led by head coach A.J. Marsh and his assistants Dave Hamilton and Brian Belanger, included players Devin Boles, Carter Browning, Ryan Williams, Brady Gillis, Jayden Hamilton, Boden Belanger, Ryan Perry, Jonathan Wilson, Frankie Jarek, Zach Mantegari, Casey Marsh, and Cole Metivier.
In the team’s Londonderry tourney-opening 24-5 pounding of Nashua, which only went four innings thanks to the mercy rule, the host team had some six runs batted in by Hamilton in the blowout. He drove in runs on a double in the second, a single in the third, and a home run in the fourth.
All in all, the winning side thumped out 19 hits with Boles, Hamilton, Belanger, Gillis, and Metivier each collecting multiple safeties. Williams and Mantegari combined on a strong pitching performance.
The next day the locals were bested by the Seacoast entry by a 2-1 score in game one on a double-header day for the hosts. Gillis and Hamilton pitched well for the locals, combining for six strikeouts.
But later in the day the locals came out on the up side of a 6-4 score against Exeter, with the winning side smacking out eight hits with Gillis and Belanger each collecting two. Hurlers Marsh, Perry, and Gillis combined to strike out 10 batters in the effort.
The local crew then went on to outscore its next three opponents by a total margin of 32-6, hammering Hudson by a 9-2 score, Nashua by a 13-3 tally, and then Dover by a 10-1 score to get to the championship round.
Hamilton and Gillis starred on the pitchers’ mound in the hammering of Hudson, with Mantegari and Belanger each smacking out two hits.
Londonderry only required four innings to bag the 10-run knocking of Nashua, in which Hamilton, Gillis, and Mantegari each laced multiple hits, with Perry and Browning handling the mound-work well.
In the semifinal-round dumping of Dover, the locals’ offense thumped out some 14 hits with Mantegari, Belanger, Hamilton, and Gillis each collecting multiple hits. Pitchers Marsh, Gillis, and Hamilton combined for eight strikeouts in the success.
In the 8-7 loss to the Seacoast side on Friday, July 28, the score was knotted up at 7-7 rolling into the bottom half of the fifth frame, with the visitors squeaking out the tourney-ending win.
Gillis and Casey Marsh each drove in two runs to lead the Londonderry bunch, with Perry, Hamilton, and Gillis handling the pitching work ably.
In going 21-4 during the busy summer, the local team squad scored 251 runs while only allowing 76. Over three summers as 8-U, 9-U, and 10-U teams, this talented group won two state titles and posted a 55-20 overall record, scoring some 749 total runs in the process.