Concord Post 21 can still defend its American Legion Senior State Tournament title, but it will be a hard road to get there.

Post 21 split its Sunday contests, dropping an early afternoon contest to Portsmouth, 5-4, but kept its tourney hopes alive with a 9-3 win over Lebanon in the nightcap at Nashua’s Holman Stadium.

Concord and Portsmouth Post 6 traded leads, with Post 21 leading 2-1 through two innings thanks to a two-run double by Cam McGonigle (2-for-4) after Portsmouth scored the game’s opening run. 

Post 6 led 4-3 through five innings, but Brooks Craigue drove home Matt Drewes on a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the sixth for the tie before Portsmouth scored the game-winning run on a single in the top of the seventh.

Nate Innerfield (2-for-4), Brooks Craigue (run, hit), Zanis Lauris (run, hit), Trevor Craigue (hit), Mitch Coffey (hit) and Armen Laylagian (run, hit by three pitches) also contributed to the offense.

Simon Keary went 5.1 innings as the starting pitcher, allowing four runs, five hits and three walks while striking out two. Brooks Craigue was the losing pitcher over the 1.2 innings, allowing one run on three hits, striking out three.

Concord led 1-0 through the first inning and 2-1 through five innings before exploding for five runs in the top of the seventh to lock up the evening’s 9-3 win over Lebanon Post 22.

Post 21 took advantage of four singles, two walks and a hit by pitch to send Post 22 packing from the tournament.

McGonigle (two runs, three hits allowed in two innings) and Innerfield (one run, three hits, four strikeouts in five innings) combined for the victory on the mound.

McGonigle was also a force at the plate, hitting 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run. Coffey (2-for-3, triple, two runs), Trevor Craigue (1-for-3, three RBI, two runs), Dawson Fancher (1-for-2, double, walk, run) and Dan Revellese (2-for-4, RBI, run) were the other offensive leaders for Concord.

As expected, Concord is the only District A team remaining, with District B top seed Nashua, No. 2 seed Portsmouth and No. 4 seed Salem also in the final four. Post 21 needed to win a rematch with Salem on Monday (Post 21 won 12-2 in five innings on Saturday) and then another rematch with Portsmouth later in the evening just to make it to Tuesday’s championship. Results of Monday’s evening games were not available at press time.

Defending its crown will require Concord to win four games in two days. Whichever team makes its way out of the loser’s bracket will need to defeat Nashua twice in the championship round, due to the double-elimination style of the tournament. 

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