Some losses are best left in the past. But the Bishop Brady baseball team didn’t want to forget its 17-run defeat to Campbell on Monday.
“We talked about it at practice,” Brady Coach Skip Foy said. “I was embarrassed by it and so were the kids. We just didn’t show up.”
The Green Giants used the bad loss as motivation, showed up to Rollins Park on Wednesday ready to play and came away with an 11-1 win against Hopkinton (4-6).
“We’ve been waiting all year to break out the bats,” Foy said. “We worked really hard on school vacation week, we’ve been working with a pitching machine, and it showed up today.”
It did, however, take the Giants (5-5) three-plus innings to break out those bats. The Hawks actually struck first when Josh Angell doubled and then came home on a ground ball from Kenny Andrew in the top of the fourth. But the lead didn’t last long.
Brady’s Max Lamora (2-for-4, two runs), Alex Andrews and Adam Kalil (2-for-2, RBI, walk, hit by pitch) opened the bottom of the fourth with three straight singles, Kalil’s hit driving in Lamora. Alex Gamache, the No. 9 hitter, followed with an RBI single of his own and then Tom Blandini delivered a two-run triple to right center off Hopkinton starter Ben McManus.
“When Tommy hit that booming triple it really got everybody going,” Foy said. “And the lower part of the order came through with some big hits, too.”
Brady pushed the lead to 5-1 when Blandini scored on a sacrifice fly from Mario Fusco.
“We played some pretty good ball and did some nice things early, Kolin LePage had a couple really nice catches in right field, but then McManus got a little wild in the strike zone and they started to hit the ball,” Hopkinton Coach Dave Chase said. “And then everything we did seemed to backfire and everything they did went well.”
Blandini also had something to do with that. He was a little off his pitching game in the first few innings, but he found his groove eventually and finished with five strikeouts and three walks over six innings of work while giving up five hits and one run.
“Once Tommy settles in, he’s tough,” Foy said.
The Giants added two more runs in the fifth on a two-run double from Ian MacDonald. And they ended it early with four in the sixth, which invoked the 10-run rule. The first two runs of the sixth came home on a two-run triple from JP Nemcovich (2-for-4) and the final run came home on an error.
“Hopkinton is a good program, I have a lot of respect for them, so this is a good win for us,” Foy said.
“We’re not as bad as our record,” Chase said. “I think seven wins will get us into the playoffs, and eight wins will solidify that, and then anything can happen in those playoffs because we have pitching, we have five guys who can pitch. We just need to score runs.”
From coaches’ reports
Salem 4, Concord 0
Key players: Concord – Matt LaTourette (2 hits), Jacob Kelly (hit), Sean Fallon (hit)
Highlights/key moments: Salem scored four runs in the sixth inning to break a scoreless tie and held off the Tide for the remainder of the game.
Coach’s quote: “Noah Wachter pitched great in a losing effort. We were only able to get four hits. We need to be able to do all three aspects of the game.” – Concord’s Scott Owen
Records: Concord 4-8; Salem 5-6
Pembroke 10, Plymouth 6
Key players: Pembroke – Jared Murray (2 RBI), AJ Gagnon (2 RBI), Justin Legere (2 RBI), Cole Hapgood (pitching win)
Highlights/key moments: It was a back-and-forth game for the first four innings, but the Spartans broke things open with five combined runs in the fifth and sixth innings. After losing the first eight games of the season, Pembroke has now won two of its last three.
Records: Pembroke 2-9; Plymouth 2-8
Winnisquam 7, Franklin 5
Key players: Winnisquam – Jack Decormier (2 doubles, 6 RBI), Mikey Lowery (3-for-4, run), Christian Serrano (2 hits, 2 runs, RBI), Devin Martinez (4 IP, 3 ER, Win)
Highlights/key moments: Winnisquam opened the game quickly with its first three runners getting on and scoring on a bases-clearing double by Decormier. Franklin made it a contest late after Winnisquam led 7-1, but it wasn’t enough to complete the comeback.
Coach’s quote: “Great win against a good team. We built a 7-1 lead into the fifth. Jack had an outstanding day at the plate with six RBI and we played error-free baseball. It took a while, but we’re at the .500 mark.” – Winnisquam’s Fred Caruso
Records: Winnisquam 5-5; Franklin 5-4
Monadnock 9, H-D 0
Key players: H-D – Kevin McCaffrey (2 hits), Devon Tarbox (hit), Garrett Miller (good defense), Dominic Downs (7 IP, 4 ER)
Highlights/key moments: Monadnock scored early and held on for a convincing win over H-D. Monadnock has won two in a row while H-D is still searching for its first win of the season.
Records: H-D 0-9; Monadnock 8-2
Kearsarge 4, Mascoma 3
Key players: Kersarge – Bo Underhill (6 IP, 2 ER, K), Brad Underhill (2 IP, 1 ER, K), Jake Vierzen (3-for-5, RBI)
Highlights/key moments: Mascoma scored in the first and second innings, but the teams played to a 2-2 tie to force extra innings. Vierzen got the eventual game-winning RBI, putting Kearsarge up 4-2 in the eighth. Mascoma was able to get one run in the bottom of the inning, but it wasn’t enough to complete the comeback.
Coach’s quote: “The kids never gave up and found a way to win. Bo got his first start on the mound and battled all game.” – Kearsarge’s Travis Pelletier
Records: Kearsarge 7-4; Mascoma 3-8
Concord 9, Nashua North 0
Key players: Concord – Justin Toler (8-2 win at No. 1), Aidan Connor (8-4 at No. 2), Adam Bryant (8-0 at No. 3), Sebastian Hart-Meyer (8-0 at No. 4), Matt Chorlian (8-2 at No. 5), Kevin Neary (8-2 at No. 6)
Highlights/key moments: The Crimson Tide won its sixth straight match in impressive fashion. After the singles sweep, all three doubles teams claimed 8-1 wins – Toler and Connor at No. 1, Hart-Meyer and Chorlian at No. 2 and Bryant and Neary at No. 3.
Coach’s quote: “North was handicapped by the absence of its No. 2 player, but even with that factored in, I think this was one of the most complete matches we’ve played all season. It will give us momentum heading into Friday’s showdown with Pinkerton.” – Concord’s Dave Page
Records: Concord 10-1; Nashua 7-3
Bishop Brady 6, Pembroke 3
Key players: Brady – Danny Bryck (8-6 win at No. 2), Jackson Bouley (8-3 at No. 3), Sam Olson (8-1 at No. 4), Harry Zha (8-6 at No. 6); Pembroke – Rupesh Gurung (8-6 win at No. 1), Marco Rinciari (8-6 win at No. 5)
Highlights/key moments: The Green Giants snapped a four-match losing streak with the win at Memorial Field. After taking a 4-2 lead in singles, Brady got doubles wins from Bouley and Olson (8-3 at No. 2) and Ethan Jalbert and Zha (8-6 at No. 3) to seal the win.
Coach’s quote: “Throughout the lineup today everyone played well. Pembroke had an injury in singles and had to adjust their lineup, but played very competitive matches.” – Brady’s Rick Skarinka
Records: Brady 3-7; Pembroke 1-9
Coe-Brown 7, Kennett 2
Key players: Coe-Brown – Brian Gordon (win at No. 1 singles), Gareth Owen (win at No. 2), Jared Carlson (win at No. 3), Tom Mellor (win at No. 4), Tyler Griffiths (win at No. 5), Tyler Holman (win at No. 6), Nick Sanderson/Don MacCallum (win at Doubles)
Highlights/key moments: The Bears earned their second straight win after dropping two of the last four.
Records: Coe-Brown 9-2; Kennett 3-8
Kearsarge 7, Littleton 2
Key players: Kearsarge – Tyler Valovic (9-7 win at No. 1 singles), Jack Van Etten (9-8 win at No. 2), Charlie O’Connor (9-8 win at No. 4), Matt Hubley (8-2 win at No. 5), Sam Williamson (8-3 win at No. 6), O’Connor/Van Etten (8-4 win at No. 2 doubles), Williamson/Sam Bourcier (8-3 win at No. 3)
Highlights/key moments: The Cougars played three very close matches at No. 1, 2 and 4 singles, with Van Etten winning a tiebreaker, 7-5, and O’Connor winning a tiebreaker of his own, 7-4. Valovic trailed 3-0 to start his match and O’Connor was down 4-1 before rallying and forcing the tiebreaker.
Coach’s quote: “Some players are getting a better sense of using the whole court . . . we’re getting there and trying to make the playoffs.” – Kearsrage’s Lynn Miller
Records: Kearsarge 8-2; Littleton 4-7
Bow 8, Monadnock 1
Key players: Bow – Brayden Binder (8-0 win at No. 1), Mike Mullen (8-3 at No. 2), Evan Alfano (8-0 at No. 3), Owen Molind (8-0 at No. 4), Jack Olson (8-0 at No. 5)
Highlights/key moments: The Falcons won all five contested singles matches and won the sixth by default. Bow’s Dillan D’Allesandro and Dalton Allaben won 8-2 at second doubles.
Records: Bow 10-1; Monadnock 2-8
John Stark 13, Timberlane 9
Key players: John Stark – Jake Blanchette (6 goals, 2 assists), Drew McQuarrie (4 goals, 2 assists), Nick Aleksonis (goal, 2 assists), Matt Bennetter (goal), Parker McQuarrie (goal), Giuseppe Brown (13 saves)
Highlights/key moments: After losing to the top two teams in Division II, Stark responded with a solid win over the Owls. Despite a slow start, the Generals are still in a playoff spot with four wins in their last six games.
Coach’s quote: “We responded well today after two very humbling losses. Hopefully we can get on a roll now.” – John Stark’s Howard Roever
Records: John Stark 4-5; Timberlane 2-8
Windham 13, Pembroke 9
Key players: Pembroke – Glenn Dion (2 goals, 3 assists), Drew Berry (2 goals), Kam Anderson (2 goals), Pat Berry (goal), Logan Young (goal), Josh Dion (goal), Eli Alexander (strong defense)
Highlights/key moments: Pembroke dug itself into a large hole by halftime, trailing 12-1 at the intermission. Looking to chip away at the lead, Pembroke slowly made its way back into the game behind solid defense, holding Windham to just a single goal in the second half, but the lead was too much to overcome.
Coach’s quote: “We keep putting ourselves in position to come from behind, but we have a lot of fight in this team. We need to come out of the gate ready to play. Defense played well (in six-on-six situations), but Windham plays a strong transition game and they got some great play from the defense and keeper. With a strong back end, it is hard to chip away at the lead.” – Pembroke’s Tim Vasconcellos
Records: Pembroke 3-5; Windham 8-2