NASHUA – Weare Post 65 had a lot to reflect upon after its final game at Holman Stadium on Monday evening. It wasn’t the result the club wanted, a 10-4 loss in a rematch to Nashua Post 3, and it meant a lot more than simply elimination from the American Senior Legion State Tournament.
For Weare players and coaches it meant the end of a historic run, the first state tournament where Post 65 won games and a farewell to a class of athletes who put Weare and John Stark Regional High School on the map in baseball – and athletics in general.
Weare’s big four of Brady Philibotte (3-for-4, two doubles, two runs), Nathan Innerfield (2-for-3, two runs, two RBI, walk), Austin Hazzard (1-for-4, two RBI) and Alex Moore (1-for-3, two runs) accounted for all seven of Post 65’s hits and helped Weare get back into the game after trailing 5-0 in the first inning 10-2 through four and a half.
Nashua – the top seed out of District B – had a 4-0 lead on Weare – the fourth seed out of District A – after the first inning in the previous meeting between the two teams in the tourney’s opening round.
But Post 65, hampered by a small roster and short bullpen against a team with a larger recruiting pool, wasn’t able to replicate the same magic of Weare’s 11-8 victory in the first round.
“I think if we were at full strength we had a good shot at winning,” Weare head coach Dennis Pelletier said. “We took the cards we were dealt with and we did everything we could. A lot of times I was playing with smoke in mirror with some of the decisions I had to make, and it finally caught up to us today. To go at (Nashua) without full strength is not an easy task. They gutted it out.”
Hayden Nunley pitched well over 3.2 innings, allowing two runs on five hits, and Hayden Pond – a freshman who hadn’t thrown a single pitch at the Legion or high school varsity level in his life – pitched well over the final 2.1 innings, allowing just two hits.
Jake O’Connor (3-for-4, double, two runs), Luke Anderson (2-for-4, three RBI, run) and Dominic Monico (2-for-4, two runs, two RBI) helped Nashua build an early lead, while Padraig Mac Seain (three runs, five hits, two walks allowed in five innings while striking out seven) and Brady Sullivan (four strikeouts, one walk, one run and two hits allowed on nine batters faced) were sharp on the mound for Post 3.
Moore plays for St. Joseph’s College in Maine, and Philibotte and Hazzard play for New England College. All three will age out of eligibility for Legion ball. Innerfield is a recent graduate from John Stark and will play for Endicott College starting next year, and Pelletier knows that options for players expand at that level.
Those four, along with recently graduated John Stark catcher Noah Brent, form the core group of players that Pelletier has coached for many years and led John Stark to the school’s first baseball state championship in 2021.
“I was saying to them how it’s just incredible that when I first set foot living in Weare my neighbor said to me ‘Welcome to Weare. There’s a lot of good people here, but sports suck,’” Pelletier recalled.
Pelletier grew up in Nashua and played Legion baseball for Post 3 at Holman Stadium. He took over the head coaching job at John Stark in 2014.
“It’s gone above and beyond my wildest expectations,” Pelletier said. “Prior to 2014 they couldn’t even find the year they had last made the playoffs. We’ve made the playoffs every year since.”
Pelletier and his players also started the Legion team at Post 65, first at the junior level, then at the senior level, qualifying for the state tournament in three out of four years, although this is the first one that Weare has achieved victories.
“That win on Friday night will never leave my memory,” Pelletier said. “They’re like sons to me, they’ve been with me this whole stretch. It’s going to be difficult to not be coaching them next year. That was the main reason I coached this year, was to be back with them for one more run. And we put together a hell of a run.”