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2012 D1 Baseball Playoffs

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bball4life
BHS Bulldog Dad
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NH12345
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Post  NHSports11 Wed May 30, 2012 3:46 pm

The bracket has been released finally. I would have done this sooner but I had no idea how the four way tie in the middle of the pack would play out. So now that we have the 8 match-ups for tomorrow who do you guys have?

These are my predictions:

(1) Concord over (16) Nashua South - The bats will come alive and Eddie Dionne will shut down South.
(2) Nashua North over (15) Dover - Mellin throwing, no chance of Dover winning.
(3) Merrimack over (14) Alvirne - Hudon, player of the year in D1, will dominate the young Broncos.
(13) Salem over Manchester Memorial - Dan Peters will carry this team into the second round, with solid hitting behind him. Big upset in Manchester.
(5) Timberlane over (12) Pinkerton - Solid, fundamental baseball prevails.
(6) Exeter over (11) Spaulding - Ethan Joyce will hold off the quick Spaulding team on the hill and carry Exeter into round two.
(7) BG over (10)Winnacunnet - Joe McCarthy, headed to East Regional Champion SNHU next year, will have to shut down a strong, solid lineup to secure the win.
(9) Trinity over (Cool Londonderry - Trinity's pitching depth is deeper than any other team in D1 besides Merrimack and North. They may not have a strong offense, but their arms will carry them into round 2.

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Post  nhball9 Wed May 30, 2012 8:00 pm

Some definite upset flavor there. Here are some more realistic predictions:)
(1) Concord over South- this will be closer than you think but Concord should win at home.
North over Dover- Agree with no chance of Dover winning.
Merrimack over Alvirne- Not close, Merrimack doesn't boast a strong offense but that pitching and defense is solid.
Memorial over Salem- Memorial is a similar team to Merrimack. They don't rely on offense and Salem does. Not much pitching for the Blue Devils.
Pinkerton over Timberlane- Pinkerton has done well lately and Timberlane is the most overrated team in the tournament.
Spaulding over Exeter- Spaulding's situational baseball and speed beats the overconfident Exeter team.
Bg over Winnacunnet- Winnacunnet can't hit a pitcher like McCarthy, and they don't have any pitching to speak of.
Londonderry over Trinity- Not sure where you get Trinity has pitching depth, but they don't have any offense to speak of. Londonderry has both.

I'm the least certain about the Concord vs South game actually. This has the makings of the right kind of pitcher going against a #1 team.

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Post  Bert54the1 Wed May 30, 2012 8:24 pm

#1. Concord over 16. South. Even if South gets a game on the hill, Concord will find a way.
#2. North with Mellin on the bump over #15 Dover. North beat Dover 1-0. A Dover runner was thrown out at the plate on a great throw from center and North scored on a 1st and 3rd. But that was the regular season.
#3 Merrimack over #14 Alvirne. 1-0 game in the regular season. See above.
#13 Salem upsets Memorial. It was a 2-0 Memorial victory during season. It reverses here.
#5 Timberlane over Pinkerton. Timby was a 4-0 winner on opening day. They will find a way.
#11 Spaulding over #6 Exeter. This is a go figure game. Two teams going in opposite directions. How can anyone go against Exeter. They look like a lock...playing well winners of 5 out of last 6 while Spaulding has lost 5 out of 6. Go figure.
#7 BG over #10 Winny. Joe Mac.
#8 Londonderry over #9 Trinity. Lancers finish the season winning 8 out of 11 including 8-1 @ Trinity. They have some strong pitching as well.

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Post  JAF Wed May 30, 2012 9:36 pm

That 4 team 9-9 tie was broken by two teams being 2-1 vs. the others and two being 1-2. The two 2-1 teams played each other and the winner was 9 seed. Same for the two 1-2 teams which became 11th/12th seed.

Concord over South, but South's lefty could give their batters fits
North over Dover, but if the Dover Soph lefty is on, it could be a long day for North
Merry over Alvirne, although Alvirne could throw a scare here.
Memorial over Salem, the Memorial pitching and defense carry the day
Timby over Pinky, last year was no fluke
Spaulding over Exeter, suicide squeeze wins it.
BG over Winni, although I suspect it'll be than the 11-1 last week
Londonderry over Trinity, Trinity just doesn't score enough runs

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Post  FullCount Wed May 30, 2012 11:04 pm

Here's my take...... it's been said by many this season that there is alot of parity in D1 this year so it will be interesting

Concord over South
North over Dover - Dover will give North a great game
Merrimack over Alvirne
Salem over Memorial - Salem's pitching wll be the difference
Timberlane over Pinkerton - will be a close one
Spaulding over Exeter
BG over Winni - GNG would definitely go this way alien
Trinity over Londonderry

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Post  NH12345 Thu May 31, 2012 12:40 pm

I have seen a lot of teams play this spring and here is what I am predicting for the Tournament.

#1 Concord sneaks out a close game against #16 South. Concord is an extremely talented team and I think Dionne will be too much to overcome on the mound. Offensively, McIntyre is one of the most talented players I have seen play in NH. With Cannon and Dionne batting ahead of him in the order he should have at least one chance to do damage at the plate, and that is all he will need. South will battle this game though. They have two premier pitchers in Maloney and Christie and offensively Buckley and Nick Reed can really swing the stick. I am predicting South to lose a tough hard fought battle at Memorial Field. 4-2 Concord.

#2 North wins a close one against #15 Dover. I have seen the Lupi pitch twice this season and I am extremely impressed. Last time these two met Lupi lost a 1-0 game to Mellin and the Titans on a 1st and 3rd situation that I am sure the Dover coach has fixed. North will pull this game off, because they have the better offense lead by Tarantino and Fortin. Mellin will continue to dominate 4-0 North.

#3 Merrimack easily over #14 Alvirne. Player of the Year Tom Hudon on the mound will be way too much for the Alvirne. If Merrimack has a good offensive showing this game could be over early. 8-0 Merrimack.

#13 Salem over #4 Memorial. Here is the upset everyone is talking about. Salem is a very good #13 seed. Bouvier is back in the line up and he is absolutely crushing the ball. If Peters can keep the ball low and keep hitters off balance I think Memorial will have a tough day. 6-5 Salem in 7 innings.

#5 Timberlane over #12 Pinkerton. No #12 over #5 magic here. Pinkerton is a slumping team, but things change if Viehoff shows up ready to go. Timby's sophomore Damphousse has been solid all year, if he plays up to par he should be able to hold the Pinkerton offense in check. This will be a close game that will come down to the team that performs in the clutch. Timberlane has been playing small ball all year and they will be able to keep it going into the quarterfinals. 3-2 Timberlane.

#7 BG over #10 Winnacunnet. Joe McCarthy is ready to go. There will be no doubt today that he is one of the most dominating pitchers in the state. If he can get some offensive from McQuarrie and Abelliera it could be an easy win. 3-0 BG.

#8 Londonderry over #9 Trinity. Trinity's offense is lacking too much to keep up with Kinnon or Moloney. Although I think Beaudet and Carmen are a great one two punch for Trinity, their coaching staff seems to think differently and they have not thrown Beaudet since April. 9-2 Londonderry.

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Post  DBack Thu May 31, 2012 5:00 pm

(1) Concord over (16) Nashua South -Dionne probably too much for South, but don’t discount Ted Christie if he gets the ball. Concord earned the one seed and should get it done.
(2) Nashua North over (15) Dover – I saw Jake Mellin pitch last week against South. He was dominating. Just too much for Dover.
(3) Merrimack over (14) Alvirne - This is Hudon’s year. Did I hear he threw four shutouts this year? This one isn’t even fair to Alvirne. One run might do it.
(4) Manchester Memorial over (13) Salem– Everyone says look out for Salem. Not buying it. Salem had a nice finish but Memorial did it all year. Go with Memorial.
(5) Timberlane over (12) Pinkerton – Maybe it’s just me but I didn’t have faith that Timberlane would put together the season they did. Damphousse is a nice player but also credit the coaching staff and the entire roster for putting together a very nice season. They get my respect here and beat Pinkerton as easy as they did on opening day.
(6) Exeter over (11) Spaulding – Exeter also had a terriffic season finishing strong with big wins over North and BG. Too much for Spaulding.
(7) BG over (10)Winnacunnet – Winnacunnet at times can light it up offensively. Unfortunately they’ve had just as many where they’ve given up bunches as well. Today, one run might be too many with McCarthy going. Winnacunnet got the worst draw on the board. They have no chance.
(8 Londonderry over (9) Trinity – Maybe Trinity does have a “deep” pitching staff. Unfortunately for them, depth won’t mean too much in a one-and-done playoff format if you can’t match the ace of the other team. Moloney went toe-to-toe with Hudon a few weeks ago and he was just as impressive as the player of the year. He’s been dominating all year. No reason to think he won’t continue today.
Wow. Almost game time. Good luck to all the teams!!!

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Post  JAF Thu May 31, 2012 10:18 pm

Scores
Concord 7 South 3
Trinity 4 Londonderry 2
Timberlane 11 Pinkerton 5
Merrimack 1 Alvirne 0 (10 innings)
Exeter 2 Spaulding 1
BG 2 Winnacunnet 1
North 4 Dover 3 (escaped an almost meltdown in top 7 - errors led to 3 runs, tying run on 2nd)
Memorial 2 Salem 1


Concord v. Trinity
North v. BG
Merrimack v. Exeter
Memorialv. Timberlane



Last edited by JAF on Thu May 31, 2012 11:35 pm; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : Got Mem/Salem score)

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Post  SeacoastDad Thu May 31, 2012 11:07 pm

No real upsets, but a lot of close games: all 4 games in the bottom bracket were 1-run games, plus one in the top bracket. Looks to be a real competitive tournament.


Last edited by SeacoastDad on Thu May 31, 2012 11:25 pm; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : Updated after the last game of the day was reported.)

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Post  NH12345 Fri Jun 01, 2012 12:23 pm

A lot of great games yesterday. Saturday should be another fun day of baseball. Anyone got any predictions? I am going to go first.

Concord over Trinity. Concord coach pulled Dionne before that magic 5th innings which means he will have Dionne for at least an inning on Saturday. It was a great coaching move that should help Concord. Concord is going to be tough to beat they play very well especially at Memorial Field. I am not sure who Trinity's number 2 pitcher is, but if they decide to finally throw Beaudet it could be a good game, Trinity coach has not thrown him since April Vacation, either way they are a scrappy group of ball players. I don't think Trinity has enough offense to hang with Concord. 6-2 Concord.

Merrimack continues to win. Merrimack's offense has yet to wake up, but their pitching and defense has been solid. Merrimack's Wojak/Michaud vs. Exeter's Clark will be a great match up to watch. This will be another close one down the stretch, but I think Wojak and Michaud pitching for Merrimack will be enough to hold the Exeter bats at bay. Merrimack 2-1.

Timberlane over Memorial. Timby just does not make mistakes. They consistently do things right. I think D1 Coach of the Year Abood will have his boys ready to go, the questions will be whether Timby can get a solid performance out of their number 2 pitcher. Even though everything leads towards a Memorial win, my gut is telling me to pick Timberlane. 5-3 Timberlane over Memorial at Gill.

GAME OF THE NIGHT THE BATTLE FOR NASHUA!! I love when rivals meet in the playoffs. Here is the upset. . . BG over Nashua North. It is going to be a pitching duel down the stretch. North's McCarthy is solid and Morias for BG has had an unbelievable season. Not only is it two good pitchers going at each other, but I think it is the match up of the best catchers in the state in Fortin for North and McQuarrie for BG. This game has all the potential to be an instant classic. It is going come down to which team can perform in the clutch. I am predicting BG over North 3-2 in extra innings.

I love playoff baseball!!

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Post  DBack Fri Jun 01, 2012 5:51 pm

Now I'm addicted to this. This is my take on round 1 of the playoffs. From what I've read, what I've heard, and what I've seen. Enjoy:

BG-2 Winnacunnet-1: Good pitchers pitch great when they have their best stuff…..but Great pitchers pitch good when they don’t. Joe McCarthy is a great picher. We know Winnacunnet has an offense and they proved it by getting 8 hits off McCarthy. What sets this guy apart is the way he bared down and got the big out when he needed it. He also helped himself with a home run and Matt Morais came up big with an RBI double that proved to be the difference maker.

Memorial-2 Salem-1: This was a late game. I wish someone could recap it for me. Thanks

Concord-7 South-3: I think Maloney wants that first inning over again. Take that inning away and the 16 seed has a chance at an upset. Unfortunately you can’t spot a team like Concord five runs in the 1st inning and expect to win. Give him credit for putting it behind him and pitching well the rest of the way. Concord is just too tough.

Merrimack-1 - Alvirne-0: I thought this would be a low scoring game but not this low. I did say that one run for Merrimack might be enough but didn't actually think it would happen. In extra innings no less. Give Corey Landry of Alvirne a lot of credit for pitching a great game against the player of the year in Hudon. We all knew Hudon would be great but Landry matched him. That had to be tough on the Alvirne kids to play so well only to lose by a wild pitch in the 10th inning. Merrimack is going to need to figure out how to score runs if they plan on going further and giving Hudon another opportunity to pitch in this tournament.

Trinity-4 Londonderry-2: This is the one game I got wrong. Trinity pitched extremely well and made the plays in the field. They didn’t exactly crush the ball but did enough against Moloney to win the game. Giampetruzzi was great and Currier came in and closed it. He actually got Kinnon, who represented the winning run, to fly out deep to end it. With first base open no less. Trinity made the most of Londonderry’s mistakes. As much as I probably didn’t respect Timberlane enough this year,(until now) I think I respected Londonderry too much. This seemed like their year. They had aces Moloney & Kinnon and they had what seemed like a great offense. I will say that fundamentally, they were probably exposed a little bit in this game. Errors both physical and mental proved costly. Moloney wasn’t at his best but the defense around him looked lost at times. Finally, can someone explain why Londonderry would sacrifice bunt, in the 6th inning, down by 4 runs? How do you give up one of your six remaining outs just to get a guy on 2nd base when you’re losing by 4? Londonderry had too much talent to end their season barely over 500 and a first round loss. I felt like their record was going allow them to sneak up on the good teams later in this tournament. Oh well. One wrong isn't bad.

Timberlane 11 Pinkerton 5: Not sure how they vote on coach of the year and I don’t even know the Timberlane coach, but he’s got my vote. Defensively they were tough and they obviously have the bats going. They might not have the horses that other teams have but they are fundamentally strong. This is the kind of team that nobody wants to face no matter who they have pitching. I’m a believer in Timberlane.

North-4 Dover-3 –: Never a doubt. Give the game ball to Jamerson who came in gave what he had even though he was sick. Maybe a last inning scare like that is good for North. Getting humbled a bit and still getting a win might be good for the #2 seed. Sets up a sweet matchup against BG.

Exeter-2 Spaulding-1: Wow. This one had to be the best game of the night. If the game ended in regulation, both Ethan Joyce of Exeter and Bobby Dow of Spaulding would have shutouts under their belts. (Like Hudon and Landry) Unfortunately for Dow, the game played on and Exeter made a few less mistakes in extra innings. Exeter came from behind with a walk off 2-1 win. Exeter should scare you too. Tell me what you think. Good Luck Remaining Teams!!!

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Post  JAF Fri Jun 01, 2012 6:13 pm


From NH Sports Page:

http://www.nhsportspage.com/display_full_story.php?story_id=846


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Post  BHS Bulldog Dad Fri Jun 01, 2012 6:34 pm

Does anyone know how many innings in relief Matt Wojciak pitched yesterday for Merrimack?

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Post  bball4life Fri Jun 01, 2012 7:08 pm

According to Union Leader Wojiak went 1 inning. Hudon went 9 complete and had to be pulled due to pitching rules.

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Post  JAF Fri Jun 01, 2012 11:52 pm


BG v. North is at 1PM tomorrow at Holman (got that from my son and from NHIAA website)

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Post  NHSports11 Sun Jun 03, 2012 4:37 pm

So I went 7 for 8 in my first round picks, after Salem could not manage to get guys home all night against Memorial. Merrimack and Exeter has been postponed already today, while the other three games as of right now will be played in about 40 minutes. Here are my picks for the quarterfinals:

Concord over Trinity. As mentioned before Mike Beaudet, Trinity's four year varsity ace, has not pitched since April vacation due to a multitude of things. Beaudet injured his knee throwing, leading to Coach Poisson's decision not to throw him anymore stating mechanical issues. With that being said, Currier more than likely will be on the hill today against the best offense in D1. Concord will probably go with Dillon Emerson, who has done well this year. I just don't see how Trinity could possibly win this game, seeing that they don't have the fire power at the plate that Concord does.

Timberlane over Memorial. Both teams finished the season at 13-5, with Memorial taking the higher seed due to the home/away point system. Memorial beat Timberlane 5-4 at home about half way through the year. After that loss, Timberlane only lost once more to a very good Concord team. I see this game being close again, with the only question being who makes the fewest errors and who capitalizes on the limited opportunities. I see revenge in the making today at Gill.

Nashua North over BG. This of course has the potential of an upset. BG beat North during the regular season, and could definitely do it for a second time but I don't see it happening. Whether BG throws Morais or Lunn, North can match that with McCarthy or Lipkind, who has pitched in a limited role since his injury. So the winner will come down to who hits the ball better and North right now has been able to get the runs when they need them. BG on the other hand has not had a great season at the plate. North is nowhere near the team they were last year, but if they can play solid defense without making silly errors (like the 7th inning against Dover) they should prevail.

Merrimack over Exeter. Not much to say other than the fact that over the last 80 innings (11 games) Merrimack has allowed THREE runs, which were all in one game. Woijak will be on the hill, while Exeter will mix and match after throwing their ace Ethan Joyce against Spaulding. Merrimack has had their woes offensively, but when you don't allow any runs, one run will win every game.

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Post  BHS Bulldog Dad Mon Jun 04, 2012 10:37 am

The playoffs are always exciting, since they're usually full of upsets in every division. Not this year. D4 probably has the biggest upset, with (7) Pittsfield beating (2) Colebrook in round 2. D1 is almost perfectly by the book. Just (9) Trinity over (Cool Londonderry. In D2 the the top 5 all won round 1, while 6-7-8 were upset, but (11) Kingswood and (10) Merrimack Valley lost in round 2, (9) Pembroke plays (1) St. Thomas today. (5) Bedford over (4) Goffstown in round 2 can't be considered a major upset. In D3 (12) Bow defeated (5) Newfound and (11) Sommersworth beat 6 Fall Mountain, but both went down in round 2.

I'm a little surprised, because I really thought D2 had a lot of parity this year compared to years past, and reading this blog I had the same impression of D1.

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Post  JAF Mon Jun 04, 2012 11:22 am

To some degree you need to consider D3 positions a bit arbitrary since all teams don't play each other and there are a couple of higher rated teams that never played the truly top teams in the division. Bow I think is an example of a good team playing harder competition due to their location. I also read that Franklin almost upset Hopkington yesterday. H led 4-3 going to Top 7, F scores 3 runs, but H comes back in B7. Somersworth is a good team that played the top teams. They were 10-6 while Fall Mountain was 11-5 - to me that's all just a positional thing based on who they played. Losing 3 times to Campbell in one season (4 straight if you include last year's championship). Check out who FM played this year... It was a very different schedule.

As for D1 - I still believe there's a lot of parity - look at the first round results - SIX 1-run games, ONE 2-run game, ONE 4-run game, and ONE 6-run game. Most games were very low scoring indicating the dominant pitchers did their job. Round 2 thus far as had TWO 1-run games and ONE 3-run game. No one scored a lot of runs meaning each of those top teams also had a quality #2 - just enough to get them where they were in the standings. I don't believe Merri/Exeter will be high scoring. BG&North might still be playing depending on whether Tarantino would have scored on a sacfly (OK my money says he would have, but the scorebook will still have that as an unearned run due to the error by CF cutting off RF and dropping the flyball).

D2 has had some wider margins of victory and more offense, but I think only by the truly better teams. Looks to me like there were really 5 good teams in D2 with the 6th having a very unfortunate injury to a key player. The next set of teams were good, but they were certainly separated from the top teams. Those top teams are pretty much the ones I'd expect and do seem to see year after year being at the top.

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Post  BHS Bulldog Dad Mon Jun 04, 2012 11:42 am

JAF - good point about D1. I was amazed at the number of low scoring close games in the playoffs, which only made it seem more incredible that the higher seed consistently won those games. What are the odds.

The point you make about D3 teams not playing the same opponents and strength of schedule is also true, unfortunately, about D2. There are 24 teams in D2, and most teams play only 16 games. Bedford played 3 teams twice, which means they only played 13 out of 23 teams in their division. It definitely skews the standings. I wish D2 was like D1, where every team is scheduled to play every other team. I know that would be tough on school budgets, especially for those teams to the north and west, but how much is the extra cost compared to the multi-million dollar school budgets? 23 games is a lot, but if you play 3 a week, just finish the season one week later. We all know there's plenty of opportunity to shorten the playoffs by a week. And if scheduling makeups is tough, I'm sure they can be forgiven. Its a lot better to try to schedule a game against every team and allow some rain outs to be excused than to go in scheduling an unbalanced schedule from the start. Just my opinion (and you know what they say about opinions).

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Post  SeacoastDad Mon Jun 04, 2012 11:51 am

JAF wrote:To some degree you need to consider D3 positions a bit arbitrary since all teams don't play each other and there are a couple of higher rated teams that never played the truly top teams in the division. Bow I think is an example of a good team playing harder competition due to their location. I also read that Franklin almost upset Hopkington yesterday. H led 4-3 going to Top 7, F scores 3 runs, but H comes back in B7. Somersworth is a good team that played the top teams. They were 10-6 while Fall Mountain was 11-5 - to me that's all just a positional thing based on who they played. Losing 3 times to Campbell in one season (4 straight if you include last year's championship). Check out who FM played this year... It was a very different schedule.

As for D1 - I still believe there's a lot of parity - look at the first round results - SIX 1-run games, ONE 2-run game, ONE 4-run game, and ONE 6-run game. Most games were very low scoring indicating the dominant pitchers did their job. Round 2 thus far as had TWO 1-run games and ONE 3-run game. No one scored a lot of runs meaning each of those top teams also had a quality #2 - just enough to get them where they were in the standings. I don't believe Merri/Exeter will be high scoring. BG&North might still be playing depending on whether Tarantino would have scored on a sacfly (OK my money says he would have, but the scorebook will still have that as an unearned run due to the error by CF cutting off RF and dropping the flyball).

D2 has had some wider margins of victory and more offense, but I think only by the truly better teams. Looks to me like there were really 5 good teams in D2 with the 6th having a very unfortunate injury to a key player. The next set of teams were good, but they were certainly separated from the top teams. Those top teams are pretty much the ones I'd expect and do seem to see year after year being at the top.

Great point for the baseball nerds among us: I didn't see it, but regarding the fly ball you mention above: If the official scorer believed (like you do) that the runner would have scored from third even if the ball was caught, then the batter would be credited with a sacrifice fly and an RBI, and I believe the run would be earned, even though the outfielder dropped the ball.

Also, I agree with your D-2 analysis. The mid-level teams (Kennett, Pembroke, MV) all had one very good pitcher who picked up most of his team's wins (don't know anything about Con-Val).

Need to go to the softball side to see the bracket busters, especially in D-2. The 10, 11, 12 and 16 seeds all pulled off upsets in the prelims, and the 10 seed (Con-Val) beat the 2 seed in the quarters.

BHS Dad - I agree, but would modify your proposal slightly. Go back to an 18-game schedule, but play 18 different teams. At least it gets a little closer to parity. Regarding the cost, this is what our property taxes are supposed to go for, right? Very Happy Very Happy

Great time of year!

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Post  JAF Mon Jun 04, 2012 12:19 pm

When considering cost, think about balls, umpires, buses, for V & JV for both Softball & Baseball... Coaches may want larger stipend too :-)... While the number appears low, it is the number that budget committees look at when slashing budgets for school districts... Good for them, bad for us baseball blog nerds!

Perhaps D2 and D3 need sub-divisions based on geography... Play everyone in your own subdivision once, play some crossover games. Crossover games based on prior years results. In D3 "everyone" makes the playoffs now, so it would be relatively simple to keep that format. Not sure how to split or whether it becomes "fair" especially if one subdivision is deemed stronger though. It's a tough call when you consider the top teams do come from 'larger' areas in the state.

My other complaint deals with inter divisional and inter state games. There are 2 D1 teams that haven't played each other for the last two years (Dover & Keene) - that needs to be nipped by the NHIAA - play everyone you are supposed to play in your division or subdivision and stop trying to load up on weaker teams using the argument that they are closer to you. I think those inter division games just shouldn't count... Nice to play, but why should Keene/ConVal, Alvirne/Windham, Dover/StThomas, etc. count in the standings. Same for North or Salem vs. Andover, MA. Nice to play, but they shouldn't have any bearings in the standings.

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Post  DBack Mon Jun 04, 2012 12:38 pm

Wow, some great games so far in this tournament. How many times are we going to hear “Too bad someone had to lose.” That seems to be the case with many of these games.

North and BG had one. If Matt Morais pitches every game as well as he did yesterday, he's going to win 99% of the time. Unfortunately, he went up against North and three of their guys combined for a 1-0 win. When North got that 1st inning sac fly I’ll bet nobody expected that would be the only run of the game. BG is a solid team with a bunch of good players good enough to win this thing. That says a lot about Nashua North.

I was really hoping Timberlane could keep advancing in this tournament because I like the way they play and I like the way they are coached. Unfortunately they ran into a Memorial team that does it like they do, only yesterday they did it just a little bit better beating them 3-0. Add Mike Torres to the list of pitchers who kept putting zeros on the board. He was great striking out eight and helping himself with an RBI suicide squeeze.

Concord came from behind to beat Trinity 5-4. I give Trinity a lot of credit for hanging in with the #1 seed. Alex Currier went the whole the way for Trinity and didn’t do too bad considering he closed the game on Thursday against Londonderry. This tells me that Trinity didn’t have the pitching depth some had thought they had. Give Concord credit for coming back and showing resilience. I’m sure there aren’t too many past champions that don’t win games like this. Great job by Dionne coming back to secure the game after just a few days off. He also had the big hit of the game knocking in 2 with a 4th inning single. He had to get out of a bases loaded jam by getting a strikeout and a groundout. I know the pitching rules are a bit different this year. Can someone tell me if Concord will be limited with how they use Dionne the rest of the way?

I guess Merrimack and Exeter play tomorrow. I know Hudon will have had 4 full days of rest. Based on the pitching rules, which I am uneducated on, does anyone know how they think Merrimack will use him? My understanding is that he went 9 innings on Thursday.

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Post  NativeFan Mon Jun 04, 2012 12:54 pm

Pitching rules as I understand them this year are 15 innings over a 7 day span and 3 full days rest for more than 5 innings in a day. Hudon would be available for 6 tomorrow. Interesting decision for Merrimack...go with Hudon on 5th day or hold him back for a possible matchup against Mellin on Thursday. With their pitching depth I think they will hold him for possible Thursday start.

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Post  JAF Mon Jun 04, 2012 12:54 pm

Merrimack has a lot of confidence in their #2 Wojciak... I wouldn't be surprised to see him out there with a short leash to Hudon if necessary. Tough call the more time they wait to play the game. One way or another you have to use your #2 and yes in order to get there you might have to use your #1. You don't want to keep your #1 on the shelf. Whichever team wins will face Mellin - there's little doubt in that!

Tough loss for Morais as he pitched a whale of a game. BG had a couple of chances, but couldn't get a timely hit. Kudos to North's pitching. People may point to the play at 1B in the 7th as being decisive, but even if McQuarrie was called safe - the next batter would have had to do "his job" to get the bunt down (assuming suicide squeeze would have been that play). Conversely, I think the play of Mellin at 1B might be overlooked for the game though - he made a few tough and acrobatic plays to get tags on runners... I think there were at least 3 or 4 outs as a result of his defense. Those plays changed the complexion of multiple innings and IMO were the difference.


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Post  BHS Bulldog Dad Mon Jun 04, 2012 1:29 pm

Taking nothing away from Matt Wojciak, who's pitched very well all year, I think Merrimack goes with Hudon tomorrow. If he's rested and ready, he gets the ball. You can't look ahead to North and overlook Exeter. Especially since Merrimack has scored 3 or fewer runs in 9 out of 18 games.

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