When Bishop Brady last played Conant on May 27, the Orioles won a 13-4 rout. In Wednesday’s semifinal at Robbie Mills Park in Laconia, the Giants turned the tables. 

Senior pitcher Owen Thornton pitched five shutout innings, allowing just two hits and striking out seven, but he did so in just 60 pitches as No. 3. Bishop Brady (17-2) made quick work of No. 2 Conant (16-3) with a 10-0 victory that ended in five innings due to the 10-run rule.

“It was perfect,” Brady head coach Skip Foy said. “Later in the season we lost 13-4, but there was a lot of walks involved. The idea was to pound the zone. They hadn’t seen Owen though. To get out after five innings with under 75 pitches with the pitch count situation, it couldn’t have gone any more perfect.”

The Giants took a 2-0 lead in the first inning and plated five more in the third inning. Brady tacked on two more in the fourth and one in the fifth to put the 10-run rule into effect. 

Sophomore Max Guerra (3-for-4, two runs, RBI), senior Jack Speiss (2-for-4, double, two runs, RBI), sophomores Luke Bedard (2-for-3, double, RBI) and Henry Thresher (1-for-3, two RBI, run), and junior Winn Thomas (1-for-2, walk, two runs) led Brady at the plate, who collected 11 hits as a team over five innings.

The last time the Giants played in a baseball championship was in 1989 during Foy’s first stint as Bishop Brady’s head coach. After some time away, Foy returned and is currently in his 20th season with the team. Their opponents in Saturday’s championship, the No. 5 Monadnock Huskies (17-3), have won three of the last four D-III titles and are the defending champions.

“It feels good. We worked hard. We’ve been busting our butt,” Foy said. “We had it in our minds for a long time that we were good enough to not just make it, but win. At least we have a chance now. We just need to play one more good game.”

Game times for Saturday’s four NHIAA divisional baseball championships have not yet been determined.

No. 5 Monadnock 2, No. 1 Belmont 1

Belmont (16-2) took an early lead, but a two-run blast to left center from Monadnock’s Sumner Hill-Goodell (2-for-4, home run, double)  in the third inning proved to be the difference in the second D-III semifinal at Robbie Mills Field in Laconia.

Senior Owen Waldron reached base on an error, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a passed ball to put Belmont up 1-0 in the bottom of the first.

The Raiders had a little bit of a rally in the seventh inning when senior Anakin Underhill drew a walk with one out. Senior Jaxson Embree (2-for-4) reached on an error and junior Wyatt Divers reached on a fielder’s choice, but the Huskies threw Underhill out at third for the second out.

Sophomore Wyatt Bamford grounded out to second to for the final out of the game.

Kaden Smith went the distance on the mound for the Huskies, striking out five, walking two, and allowing six hits and a run.

Divers started for Belmont allowing two runs and four hits in four innings, striking out three and walking three.

Underhill relieved Divers and pitched three hitless, shutout innings, striking out four and walking five. Underhill worked his way out of a seventh-inning, bases-loaded jam after walking three Monadnock batters. 

Sophomore Max Ryder (1-for-2, walk) had Belmont’s other hit.

(Michael McMahon of the Keene Sentinel contributed to this report)