Londonderry 11-U All-Stars Bag 2018 State Championship

It would appear that doing so much winning over a number of years has only made one Londonderry all-star youth baseball squad hungry for more successes.

The talented all-star troop advanced to the Cal Ripken regional championships as a 9-U entity during the summer of 2016 and then again as a 10-U crew last summer, falling just short of winning crowns both times. But now this summer that skilled squad is headed back to the regionals once again as an 11-U contingent, and this time the locals hope to hoist the biggest hardware overhead after getting to the semifinals and then the finals respectively during those previous two tries.

The team qualified as the top seed from the Eastern part of New Hampshire several weeks ago by taking the area title on their home field. And there was drama at the state championships recently at the double-elimination New Hampshire championships at Roger Allen Park in Rochester.

The locals had to find a way to rise back up out of the loser’s bracket – just like earlier in the area tourney on the Londonderry Athletic Field Association diamond – and knock off the tough Seacoast squad twice in consecutive games in championship-level action. And Coach A.J. Marsh’s machine accomplished just that in becoming the state champs and advancing to the regionals for a third straight year. This year the regionals will be played in Dover.

“It’s been really fun to watch the way they dug in to win two elimination games in both the area and state tournaments,” said Marsh. “They truly deserve to be going to the regionals as N.H. champs.”

At the states, the locals started out with wins over Merrimack (11-1 in four innings) and Dover (5-2 in extra innings) on Saturday, July 7 and Sunday, July 8.

The Londonderry side had to go to extra frames in a second straight game on Tuesday, July 10 against that Seacoast side which has become a rival through many great battles. But this time the local squad saw itself slide into the tournament’s loser’s bracket thanks to a tough, 8-7 loss to them in 10 innings.

“This was a heart-breaker, but it was such a great game. It really could have gone either way,” said team press liaison Natalie Cook.

Londonderry came out strong and scored three times early, in part due to some Seacoast fielding miscues. But as the contest reached the bottom half of the third inning play had to be suspended due to lightning in the area. The game resumed after a break of approximately an hour, and Seacoast used the rest to rally itself and it knotted the score at 3-3 quickly.

The game was later tied up at 7-7 with the local crew batting in the bottom of the 10th when opposing batter Murphy Wall singled on a 1-2 count to plate the deciding run.

Londonderry was held to just four hits in the hard-fought battle with Seacoast managing eight.

Facing removal from the double-elimination tourney but still undeterred, the Londonderry crew battled its way to a 3-2 win over Dover in the loser’s bracket final on Wednesday, July 11, with Jayden Hamilton giving his squad some strong pitching and Zach Mantegari’s two key hits.

The local boys scored twice in the second frame on a hit by Jonathan Wilson and a fielder’s choice off of Mantegari’s bat.

Dover scored twice in the fourth to knot the score at 2-2, but Londonderry bagged the winning run in the bottom of the fifth when Hamilton laced a double to right field to plate Brady Gillis.

Ryan Perry then took over in relief on the hill and helped his side preserve the slim victory.

Just as had been the case back in the area tourney in Londonderry weeks earlier, the local team was faced with besting undefeated Seacoast twice in the championship round in order to bag the New Hampshire title. And as was the case at the earlier event, Londonderry was up to the challenge.

The first game began late on Thursday, July 13, and the locals squeaked out a 7-6 success in seven innings.

Londonderry led 2-0 early, saw its opponent tie the tally at 2-2, and then watched Seacoast snare a 5-2 advantage in the bottom of the second. But coach Marsh’s mob knotted the score at 5-5 in the top half of the third.

The local side vaulted into the lead by scoring once in the top of the fourth, but Seacoast got that marker back in the bottom of the fifth to make it a 6-6 contest.

But Londonderry bagged what would prove to be the winning run in the top half of the seventh when Hamilton came up big with the stick once again, singling in Mantegari from third base.

Seacoast wound up knocking a dozen hits to Londonderry’s five, but the scoreboard told the bigger story.

Ryan Williams, Casey Marsh, and Gillis handled the pitching for the winning side, and Hamilton and Jonathan Wilson each smacked multiple hits in the successful effort.

And with all of the proverbial marbles up for grabs in the title game later that evening, Londonderry leaped out to a substantial lead but had to hang on tight for a 9-7 victory which got it the state crown.

A six-run second frame put the local team in great shape, but Seacoast refused to go away and made things a bit more interesting than coach Marsh and his mob would have liked.

Wilson, Carter Browning, and Gillis all saw important mound duty, and Cole Metivier, Wilson, Devin Boles, Hamilton, and Browning all bashed important hits.

Along with the fine contributions of the aforementioned players, the state champs had Boden Belanger chip in with some strong efforts in a tournament none will soon forget.

The regionals start this Friday in Dover.