Concord National LL Softball to play in second game of NE Regional on Tuesday after loss to Guilford, Connecticut

Last year, Concord National Youth Softball made New Hampshire’s inaugural appearance in the Little League Softball New England Region Tournament with modest goals, simply making it through one game and one inning at a time.

Concord opened this year’s regional tournament by making it through all six innings, something that Concord was not able to do last year, but ran into a hot Guilford, Conn., pitching staff to drop its opener, 9-0, on Sunday evening in Bristol, Conn.

Concord had a rough outing last year in its first regional appearance, and went back out this year with more experience under its belt to do its best.

Sunday’s game was the only one to go a full six innings on the day, and was a testament to the perseverance and will to win by Concord, which was a good first taste of action, according to head coach Tim LaTorra.

“A lot of the girls are returning and know what to expect, and the new girls that are playing on the team this year have a lot of experience playing. Watching them all kind of grow together has been pretty awesome to see,” LaTorra said after last week’s state championship.

“So we said, last year, ‘I guess we were in over our heads.’ We’re going to keep our same mindset of trying to win the day, be the best version of ourselves and keep the same philosophy: Let the result speak for itself.”

Guilford starter Maeve Eagleson struck out 10 Concord batters and walked just two in four innings. The Connecticut state champions plated single runs in the first and third innings to take a 2-0 lead, but the turning point in the game came in the fourth.

Concord leadoff hitter Hannah Blodgett was hit by a pitch, and Taylor LaTorra hit a single up the first-base line, putting two runners on with no outs.

Both runners advanced into scoring position on steals, but Eagleson struck out the next three batters to end the inning. Guilford then plated five runs in the bottom of the fourth to break the game open. Leah Michalowski continued Connecticut’s domination in the circle, striking out six batters, walking one and allowing no hits in two innings of relief.

Guilford’s pitching was strong throughout its season, and Eagleson finished with 40-pitch counts in many games, so the Concord team was happy with its ability to push their pitchers deep into their counts.

Guilford was sharp on the basepaths, stealing eight bases total, making the most of its opportunities against a Concord defense that committed only one error. Blair Huntington walked twice and Aylah Barton also drew a walk to reach base for Concord.

Taylor LaTorra pitched well early on, allowing four hits and four walks with a strikeout in three-plus innings before Barton pitched the last two in relief, allowing just one hit while walking three and striking out one.

Focusing on the positives will be essential for Concord’s next game on Tuesday morning. The support for the team has held strong, too, as many flocked to Buffalo Wild Wings and T-Bones in Concord to watch the games.

“There are games all day. We’ll sit tonight. We’ll watch at least the beginning part of the night game. The team we play plays at 7 tonight, so watch the beginning of that, get an idea of what each team has, but then wake up tomorrow morning early, get ready to play at 10,” LaTorra said on Monday morning.

Concord will play the loser of St. Albans, Vt. vs. Buxton, Maine, in an elimination game on Tuesday morning at 10 a.m., and the game will be available for streaming on ESPN+. The outcome of the Vermont-Maine game was not available at press time.