MANCHESTER – Concord Post 21 didn’t have any answers in its loss to Merrimack on Friday, but it aced its second test of the New Hampshire American Legion senior tournament on Saturday in a 12-0 shelling of Nashua Post 124.
Concord snapped out of its funk in the first inning, plating four runs on two outs to begin its run to a rout.
Eric Sullivan slapped a hit to shallow center for an RBI single for the first run. With the bases loaded, Jacob Kelly sliced a pitch to right for a three-RBI double, one that sent a Nashua outfielder running to retrieve the ball on the quick-skipping turf at Gill Stadium.
Eight more runs in the third inning and five clean frames on defense delivered the win for Concord via the 10-run mercy rule.
“I’m just really pleased with how we bounced back swinging the bats, tacked up some runs,” Post 21 coach Matt Skoby said. “We had two hits and 13 strikeouts (on Friday). For a team that averaged eight runs a game all summer, we were really frustrated one through nine. We put together a couple of good swings but for the most part really struggled.”
Concord (15-2) was 14-1 in Legion play this summer, earning them the No. 1 seed in District A. Post 21 saw its 12-game win streak snapped by Merrimack in a 3-0 loss on Friday.
Skoby said that Friday’s loss may have provided a wake-up call.
“It’s hard to keep the egos in check when you go 22-2 all summer,” Skoby said, including games outside of Legion play. “I think it was good – not good, but in a way – to provide a spark and intensity in this game.”
That opening-round loss forced Skoby to use D-I first-team All-State pitcher Griffin Gilbert on Saturday, a day earlier than he wanted to, with Post 21 facing elimination.
Gilbert threw 4⅓ innings of one-hit ball with five strikeouts and one walk. He used to 57 pitches to keep Nashua (11-7) at bay.
“He struggled a little bit in that first inning to get command. He was up to 24 pitches in that first inning,” Skoby said, “but he settled in and did a great job like he has all summer. We were able to keep him under 60, so if we make it to Tuesday he will be available.”
Gilbert’s teammates had his back in the batter’s box. Post 21 turned a 4-0 lead into a 12-0 advantage in the third inning. Ryan Tessier, Kurtis Stadnicki and Kelly all swatted two-run singles.
Concord’s power at the plate didn’t surprise Nashua manager Tim Lunn, who said his team needed to play a perfect game to compete with Post 21.
“You know coming in that their lineup is solid,” he said. “They made our pitchers pay for falling behind. You can’t fall behind against good hitters like that because they know what’s coming and they’re able to put good swings on the bat.”
Skoby hopes the momentum carries into Sunday when Concord plays Derry at 2 p.m. Sullivan will be on the mound for Post 21.
“He’s done a great job for us all summer. I have a lot of confidence in him, so I’m excited,” Skoby said. “I think we’re in a good position with a lot of arms left, so I think we’ll be all right.”
Laconia could only muster one hit against defending state champion Rochester in the tournament opener on Friday, and head coach Joe Dee hoped for some more pop out of his lineup on Saturday.
He got his wish.
Laconia Post 1 scored four runs in the first inning and didn’t give up any ground on its way to a 10-6 win over Weare Post 65. The win keeps Laconia’s title hopes alive after taking a 3-0 loss against Rochester to open the double-elimination tournament.
Laconia plays either Lebanon or Merrimack on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. at Gill Stadium in Manchester.
The first-inning flurry gave Laconia (7-10) a boost after struggling at the plate on Friday.
“It was nice and gave us a lot of confidence going into the rest of the game,” Dee said. “The kids were ready. We had our backs against the wall and had nothing to lose, so we played loose and got some hits when we needed it.”
Belmont graduate and 2017 D-III Player of the Year Cole Contigiani dealt 101 pitches over five frames. He scattered five hits for three runs with three walks and one strikeout.
Laconia commanded a 7-1 lead going into the fifth. Weare plated two runs in the frame, plus one in the sixth and two more in the seventh. But as Weare tried to climb back in, Laconia had an answer every time with one run in the fifth and two in the sixth.
“The biggest thing I was happy with is every time they scored, we came back and scored,” Dee said. “That’s been an issue for us all year where the other team will score and we’re like, ‘Here it goes again.’ Today we had a different mentality. We came out and made things happen.”
It’s the end of the road for Weare (6-11), which suffered an 8-7 loss to Derry in Friday’s opener.
“It came down to pitching and we just didn’t have enough,” Weare coach Dennis Pelletier said. “We basically had one solid pitcher (and we used him yesterday when we were up 5-2, which didn’t work out for us, and then we lost him for today.”
It was Laconia’s first win over Weare this season after taking three losses during the regular season.
Weare graduated from a junior to senior Legion program this year and drew players from Goffstown after their Legion squad dissolved last summer.
Pelletier is optimistic about the future of Post 65.
“It came together well,” he said. “We had enough people come out and enough people interested that we may have a junior Legion team next year. Things are definitely on the up and up. Hopefully the Goffstown kids we got to play with us can spread the word and get more guys interested.”
(Nick Stoico can be reached at nstoico@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @NickStoico.)