Lebanon
The squad, made up of 13- to 17-year olds from five high schools, has been competing with few reserves and without roughly half a dozen players from another summer team, the 14U Hanover Monarchs.
That absent contingent has been practicing with Post 22, but its players are not scheduled to begin Legion ball full time until next week. On paper, it creates a squad that could contend for a title during the junior state tournament, July 28 to Aug. 1, at Portsmouth’s Leary Field.
“I look at it as if we got bolstered at the trade deadline and now we’re deeper,” said third-year coach Travis Pelletier, who played five seasons for Post 22 as a teenager. “I don’t think it’s a bad thing to create more competition and push the kids a little more to be motivated to be in the lineup.”
Only three players returned from last season’s Post 22 junior team — Woodsville High’s Zach Moore, Lebanon’s Kyle Pelletier and Kimball Union Academy’s Kyle Young. Others moved up to the organization’s senior team, which began this week 4-4, or chose other summer activities. Back in the dugout, however, is coach Pelletier, a Lebanon native who recently stepped down at Kearsarge High after six campaigns with the Cougars.
“We’ve been playing with 10, 11 kids, so it’s just a matter of figuring out where they’ve going to play,” said Pelletier, whose team is in the midst of a stretch during which it plays eight games in nine days. “Some kids are in new positions, but we’re winning while we’re learning on the fly. That’s a tribute to them wanting to come to work every day.”
Post 22’s 18-player roster includes six players from Lebanon High, seven from Hanover and one each from St. Johnsbury, Woodsville, KUA and Rivendell. Kyle Pelletier, Kobe Benoit and Trey Chickering played varsity for Lebanon this spring, giving the Legion team a core used to strong competition.
Nolan Gantrish was the starting shortstop on Hanover’s NHIAA Division II semifinalists last month, Moore was a mainstay for Woodsville and Young helped KUA reach its league title game. A newcomer to watch is Hanover outfielder Ben Williams, a lanky, rising freshman whose speed and athleticism have had local baseball enthusiasts chattering for the several years.
“We clicked right away,” said Moore, one of several junior team members who are “swing players” and also see time at the senior level. “We’re close, chemistry-wise, and we’re hitting the ball well and we have deep pitching.”
Moore follows senior team shortstop Season May and former senior pitcher Jacob Tetley as Woodsville-area players competing under the Post 22 umbrella. Because of the long rides required of some players and the number of games packed into late June and July, the coaching staff tries not to completely fill the remaining dates with practices, instead offering frequent tips and instruction during games.
“We play a lot of doubleheaders and there’s a lot of stressing things in the second game that we saw needed work during the first game,” Travis Pelletier said. “We try to get guys to jump on first-pitch strikes, and base running is key at this level. They’ve gotten away with some habits at the lower levels and they also have to learn to take advantage of chances up here.”
Said Moore: “The first couple practices and games were weird, because you didn’t even know half the players’ names. But you learn quick and whenever you’re playing with a scoreboard, everyone wants to win.”
The Post 22 juniors visit Jutras Post 43 in Manchester tonight, are at Merrimack Post 98 on Saturday and at Nashua Post 124 on Sunday.
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com or 603-727-3227.