RallyNorth.net

Lack of the big hit costs Blue Devils

Sunday, June, 15 By Hector Longo
Staff writer

At some point to win a championship, you just have to hit.

"We didn't," lamented Salem High baseball coach Dan Keleher after his club endured and rallied all afternoon, only to fall short in the Class L title game, 4-3, against Goffstown. "All day, it was like we were one hit away. And it just never came."

Seeded first, Salem walked a tightrope all game. The Blue Devils were outhit 12-4, but somehow hung around.

Salem pitchers Larry Weymouth (5<1/3> innings, 2 earned runs, 3 ks) and Matt Hardy stepped in and wriggled out of trouble all night, stranding 11 Grizzlies on the base paths.

Still, the Blue Devils found themselves in a 3-0 hole after 3<1/2> innings.

Joe O'Dell led off the fourth with a single, breaking the ice with the first hit off Goffstown starter Tom MacDonald.

Kyle Johnson was then plunked and Weymouth walked to load the bases with no outs.

A popup and a strikeout had MacDonald thinking escape, but Brad White delivered his second straight gigantic pinch-hit of the tourney, a two-run single to right, slicing things to 3-2.

That would be Salem's final big hit of the year.

Weymouth led off the Salem sixth with a free pass and moved up on Greg Bates' bunt hit. A running error cost the Blue Devils a crucial out, but the equalizer still came via a Goffstown gift.

Hardy walked and Greg Gardner took one off the backside to load the bases. Ninth hitter Josh Jones picked up the game-tying RBI with a walk. Again, the big hit was nowhere to be found as reliever Eric Badasarian ended the frame with two strikeouts.

Kory Kiro's giant two-out RBI hit in the top of the seventh had the Grizzlies thinking state title, but Salem had one final gasp in the bottom of the frame.

O'Dell and Johnson walked and, with one out, moved to second and third on a wild pitch.

Again, Badasarian had the answer, inducing a popout and, after hitting Hardy to load the bases, a strikeout to end it.

"Just at the time you didn't think their pitchers would be able to make a big pitch, they did," said Keleher. "Runners in scoring position with less than two outs in the seventh, we had the chance to do it. We just didn't."

Salem finishes the year at 19-5, as do the Grizzlies, who pick up the school's first boys Class L title in any sport since moving up a notch to this top level six years ago.