SALEM, N.H. — The Lebanon Post 22 junior American Legion baseball team lost, 3-2, to Nashua Post 124 on Monday night in the state tournament semifinals at Michele Park. The result ended Lebanon’s run in the double-elimination tournament, during which it suffered an opening 11-10 loss to Hudson Post 48.
Nashua (19-1) advanced to play defending state champion Dover (20-2) in championship play Tuesday. Those two teams will represent New Hampshire in the eight-team Northeast Regional tournament Aug. 9-11 at Concord’s Memorial Field. Nashua will need to beat Dover twice Tuesday to claim the state crown.
Lebanon exited in the semifinals for the second consecutive year.
“I thought we hit the ball really well, but right at people sometimes,” said Post 22 coach Travis Pelletier, whose 8-12 team won two games at the tournament after finishing third in District A during the regular season. “We might have been a hair overanxious at the plate, but we teach the kids to be aggressive. The way we’d been hitting the ball, we didn’t want to change that approach.”
Lebanon had seven hits, two by John Hill. Standout center fielder Ben Williams, who entered having reached base safely in 12 of 15 tournament plate appearances, flied out three times and reached base on a fifth-inning error. He scored after another error on a ball hit by Sam Sacerdote, Post 22’s next batter, pulled Lebanon within 3-2.
“We had all the momentum at that point,” Pelletier said. “We were just waiting for the next big hit.”
It didn’t come. Lebanon left the bases loaded in the fifth and stranded single runners during the sixth and seventh frames against diminutive Nashua pitcher James Reel. The righthander didn’t record a strikeout, but walked only two batters. Sacerdote went the distance for Lebanon, allowing seven hits and three runs, two of them earned, while striking out five and walking none.
“Sam kept them off-balance by mixing in his curveball, which makes his fastball look better,” Pelletier said. “He was around the plate and we made a mistake or two, but overall, we had pretty good defense.”
Nashua used a single, a stolen base, a groundout and another single to take a 1-0 lead during the first inning. Post 124 played as the visitors after losing a pregame coin flip and went up, 2-0, in the third inning.
Post 22’s two errors were both by third baseman John Bucci. The second miscue, in the third inning, allowed Zachary Rioux to reach first base, from where he stole second and took third on a groundout. Christopher Keefe then hit a slow grounder between the pitcher’s mound and first base, which first baseman Casey Graham fielded.
Sacerdote didn’t cover the bag quickly enough, however, and he, Graham and second baseman Hill all arrived there together, but not in time for the third out. Rioux scored his team’s second run on the play. The deciding run came in the fifth, when No. 9 hitter Brendan Callahan singled, stole second and third and scored on a Rioux ground out to first base.
Lebanon’s first run came during the fifth. Bucci singled, took second on a Sean Maddock groundout and scored on the error that put Wiliams on first base.
Post 22’s last junior state title game appearance came in 2013, when its final loss was also to Nashua.
Notes: Rick Harvey, New Hampshire’s American Legion baseball chairman, and Post 22 baseball manager Pete St. Pierre said plans are underway to add another Post 22 team for next spring and summer. The Legion’s “prep” level squad would provide a place for players ages 13-15 to play if they’re not good enough or disinclined to play at the junior Legion level, which is open to those ages 13-17. Harvey said the prep season will run from April to July, with games only on the weekends when school is in session. The chairman added that he expects to have at least 10 such teams in the state. … Post 22 assistant coach Vince Kimball missed his team’s last two games because of conflicts with his job at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. … Lebanon pitcher and outfielder Braeden Falzarano’s father, Tad, attended the game. He is a former Lebanon High sports standout who played football at Plymouth State during the mid-1980s.
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com.