DOVER – The four runs Dover plated early on won’t keep Concord catcher Kurtis Stadnicki up at night. The next barrage of runs in the sixth that ultimately put the contest out of reach won’t have him tossing and turning either. But the bevy of runners the Tide stranded on base in its biggest game of the year is sure to run through Stadnicki’s mind when his head hits the pillow.
“Obviously a loss is a loss,” Stadnicki said. “But having those guys on base, you can say ‘What if this happened? Or what if that happened?’ You kind of lose sleep at night basically because of that.”
In a postseason game where No. 6 Concord needed every run it could get, the Tide left 12 runners on base and had its season put to bed by No. 3 Dover, 8-3, during a Division I quarterfinal contest at Dunaway Field in Dover.
After topping No. 11 Nashua North in the opening round for its first tournament win since 2013, Concord simply ran out of postseason magic on Saturday. The Tide trailed by three runs for much of the afternoon, but failed to deliver each time it threatened Dover starter Griffin Young.
While the Green Wave was busy through the first three innings building on an early lead, Concord kept coming up short. The Tide left five on through three, including a back-breaking third frame where the first two batters reached safely, only to have Young set down the next three in order.
Young wasn’t overly dominant, but he did limit Concord to six hits over six innings to pick up the win for Dover (16-4), who will take on No. 2 Bedford in the semifinals on Wednesday at Holman Stadium in Nashua.
“We had our opportunities and we didn’t get the clutch hits that we needed to and they did. That was really the difference in the game,” said Concord Coach Scott Owen, whose team’s season came to a close at 13-7. “I thought our kids did a real good job of our approach with (Young). He pounds the strike zone and we got pitches to hit and we hit them hard. But he made pitches when he needed to.”
It was a different story for Concord starter Noah Wachter.
The southpaw was one of the biggest components to Concord’s success this season, but issues with control poked its ugly head in early on Saturday for the senior. Wachter issued three walks in two-plus innings of work, with all three runners eventually coming around to score. Teammate Jake Kelly kept the Tide in it with a few innings of relief. But even Kelly wasn’t as sharp as he’s been in past outings.
“It’s the same with everybody: you can’t give up free passes,” Owen said. “When you give up free passes and they get a hit, it just exemplifies it. You have to be able to pound the strike zone. Jake kept us in the game, but he struggled with his command too, and that’s uncharacteristic of both of them.”
Having the best view of Wachter’s outing, Stadnicki offered his take on his teammate’s performance.
“It’s been a long season and he’s had a lot of good starts,” the catcher said. “I don’t know. It just came down to he threw his best pitches and they were just taking advantage of it. They capitalized on his mistakes basically.”
Down by three entering the sixth inning is where the wheels fell off for Concord. Dover tacked on four insurance runs on four walks, two hits, a sacrifice fly and a balk to dampen the Tide’s comeback chances.
Still, Concord went down swinging. Zach Miles and Stadnicki both reached to kick off the seventh and Christian McClellan drove home a pair with a single to left field to make it 8-3 before Steve Constas shut things down for the Green Wave.
“We had six seniors and five of them were with us as sophomores,” Owen said. “They took their lumps for two years and they are the reason we are where we are this year. Those six seniors, they paved the road for the younger guys and hopefully we can continue and they can learn from this. We got some playoff experience, but obviously we were hoping to go further.”
(Jay McAree can be reached at 369-3371, jmcaree@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @JayMcAree.)
No. 3 Windham 7, No. 6 John Stark 3
Key players: Stark – Jeremy Aubin (2-for-2, double, 2 runs, 2 BB), Brett Patnode (hit), Derek Goldrick (hit), Adam Tower (hit)
Highlights/key moments: The Generals stayed close for most of this one, trailing by just one, 3-2, going into the bottom of the sixth. That’s when Windham plated four to take control, but Stark did rally for one run in the seventh before the Jaguars closed the door.
Coach’s quote: “We competed very hard today and gave ourselves a chance being in a tight game late. Unfortunately it didn’t break our way but our guys had a great season. We’ve got a young team and we will contend again next season.” – Stark’s Dennis Pelletier
Records: John Stark 11-7; Windham 14-3
No. 2 Belmont 3, No. 7 Mascenic 0
Key players: Belmont – Cole Contigiani (7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 7 K; RBI); Chris Marden (3-for-4, run scored), Corey Derosier (2 hits, run scored), Kyle Minery (RBI)
Highlights/key moments: Riding high off his Division III Player of the Year selection, Contigiani completely stymied the Vikings in a complete-game effort. Belmont didn’t allow a runner to advance past first base until the seventh inning and used a three-run third frame to advance to Thursday’s semifinal against No. 3 Conant.
Coach’s quote: “These guys work hard for this and it’s an easy group to coach. They’re locked in.” – Belmont’s Matt LeBlanc
Records: Belmont 16-2; Mascenic 13-7
No. 5 Pittsfield 7,
No. 4 Newmarket 6
Highlights/key moments: After losing to Newmarket twice during the regular season, the Panthers won when it counted, pulling out the one-run win on the road to advance to Wednesday’s semifinals in Laconia.
Records: Pittsfield 15-4; Newmarket 13-4
No. 6 Hopkinton 3, No. 3 Groveton 2
Key players: Hopkinton – Sam Crawford (7 IP, 12 K, 2 BB, 2 H, 2 R; run), Colby Marshall (single, run), Dustin Rose (RBI single), Ben McManus (run), Tucker Windhurst (RBI single)
Highlights/key moments: The Hawks took a 2-0 lead in the first inning and added another run in the fourth and held on to upset the Eagles in the quarterfinals. The Eagles scored in the sixth on an error and had runners on second and third with two outs, but Crawford, a freshman, picked off a runner at second to get out of the jam. The Hawks play No. 2 Littleton in Wednesday’s semifinal.
Records: Hopkinton 13-5; Groveton 14-3
The defending champ is at it again. Bishop Brady junior Sydney Herrington rolled to a pair of easy wins in the girls’ individual state singles tournament to reach the semifinals for a third straight year. Herrington was the runner-up in 2015, champ in 2016 and is the No. 1 seed in this year’s tournament.
After getting a first-round bye, Herrington blanked Cameron Cullison of Stevens, 8-0, and then claimed an 8-1 win against Bishop Guertin’s Sara Schmitt. Herrington will face another Guertin player, No. 6 Claire Reynolds, in one half of Tuesday’s semifinals. The other half will feature No. Julia Chappell, the 2015 champ and 2016 runner-up, against No. 4 Ashley Keaveney of Exeter.
On the boys’ side, Noah Sullivan of Inter-Lakes lived up to his No. 7 seed and reached the quarerfinals, but that’s where he met No. 1 Matt Lapsley from Souhegan. Lapsley, who was runner-up last year to Concord’s Justin Toler, ended Sullivan’s run with an 8-4 win.
Lapsley will face No. 3 Jacob Peress from Lebanon in one semifinal on Tuesday, while No. 2 Zack Gould of Bedford will meet the winner of the match between Pinkerton’s Sebastiano Tonini and Hanover’s Noah Borrell in the other semifinal.
Sullivan opened his day with an 8-2 win against Kearsarge’s Tucker Valovic and followed that up with an 8-1 decision against Salem’s Melham Antar to advance to the quarterfinals.
Pembroke’s Cole Sporcic beat Dover’s Dominick Frank, 8-6, in the first round before losing to No. 6 Dylan Taylor from Winnacunnet, 8-2.
Concord’s Aidan Connor gave Bedford’s Gould, the No. 2 seed, a run for his money before losing, 9-7. Connor held a 6-3 lead and had two match points at 7-6, but the Concord senior couldn’t find the finishing touch.
“It was a match worthy of a quarterfinal or semifinal,” Concord Coach Dave Page said. “Aidan should be proud of how much he has improved this season.”
Other local players who qualified for the tournament were Concord’s Adam Bryant, Bow’s Brayden Binder, Gilford’s Grant Workman and Kearsarge’s Tyler Valovic.
No. 1 Souhegan 6,
No. 9 Merrimack Valley 3
Key players: MV – Sam Hodkinson (5 IP, 4 K, 2 BB, 4 H, 3 ER), Katelyn Hill (3-for-4, triple, RBI), Miah Boucher (2-for-3), Lauren McLaughlin (2-for-3, RBI), Ann Bascom (RBI single), Alani Ramas (hit), Molly McLaughlin (hit)
Highlights/key moments: The Pride took a 2-0 lead in the third and kept it a one-run game into the fifth before top-ranked Souhegan took control.
Coach’s quote: “This team makes me proud that they call me coach. Our season theme was one team, one family, and they certainly lived up to that.” – MV’s Sam York
Records: MV 12-6; Souhegan 15-2
No. 6 Pembroke 4, No. 3 Pelham 3
Highlights/key moments: The Spartans traveled to Pelham and came home with their 10th straight win … and a spot in Tuesday’s 5 p.m. semifinal at SNHU against No. 2 Goffstown.
Records: Pembroke 14-4, Pelham 14-4
No. 1 White Mountains 12,
No. 8 Franklin 5
Key players: Franklin – Hailey Haskins (3 hits, double, walk), Anna Doherty (2 hits, home run, 3 RBI), Mackenzie Weatherbee (RBI)
Highlights/key moments: After a long bus ride north to Whitefield, the Golden Tornadoes jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. But they gave it back and then some by committing four errors in the second that led to eight runs for White Mountains, the team that beat Franklin in last year’s D-III final.
Coach’s quote: “White Mountains has had our number the last three years, knocking us out of the playoffs in the quarters in 2015 and 2017 and in the championship game last year. We seem to have one bad inning each game that does us in.” – Franklin’s Skip DuBois
Records: Franklin 12-6; White Mountains 17-1
No. 3 Campbell 5, No. 6 Belmont 0
Key players: Belmont – Julianna Estremera (6 IP, 2 H)
Highlights/key moments: Belmont committed multiple errors in the fourth inning, and allowed a walk, and the Cougars took advantage by taking the 5-0 lead they would hold until the end.
Coach’s quote: “Tough to see a great season come down to one poor inning, but that shouldn’t take anything away from these girls.” – Belmont’s Bill Clary
Records: Belmont 13-5; Campbell 15-3
No. 4 Conant 7, No. 5 Bishop Brady 4
Key players: Brady – Aniecia Vargas (3-for-4, double, 4 RBI), Cait Mallahan (2 hits), Jamie Cookingham (double), Lily Rivera (6 IP, 4 ER, 3 K)
Highlights/key moments: The Green Giants outhit Conant, but they still faced a 6-0 deficit after three innings. Vargas had a two-run single in the sixth and a two-run double in the seventh as Brady rallied late.
Coach’s quote: “A tough loss for our five seniors – Lily (Rivera), Cait (Mallahan), Maddy (Rines), Emily (Santis) and Emily (Manning). My heart goes out to them as we fell short of our goal. We had a fantastic season and I am very proud of all of our players as they battled until the very end.” – Brady’s Freddy Rivera
Records: Brady 14-5; Conant 15-4