North Wins a Wild Game in the D1 Championship

Many people had North picked this year to make a run and win it all. I wasn't sure because we lost two big arms and three big bats to graduation in 2010. However, several kids picked it up this year, and seniors really do make a difference. North may not have been a high scoring team, but they played excellent defense in the playoffs (couple of errors tops), and the pitching staff gave up 8 runs total in the playoffs, or 2 runs per game on average. North also got timely hits from all spots in the lineup during this run, and none more so than the last two games.

Credit Concord with packing their bats because they really put on an offensive show with the way they hit. Most teams are about 4-6 batters deep, not so with Concord as every hitter proved to be a tough out. Also congratulations to Concord on a terrific season.

Now for the game summary although I'll admit now that it's kind of long winded!

Concord didn't waste anytime as they loaded up the bases in the 1st inning with less than 2 outs and were poised for a big inning. Kyle Turner got a key strikeout and his defense kept the Tide off the board. After a quick inning at the plate for North, Concord hit their way on and plated 3 runs in the 2nd. North again had a quick inning at the plate, and Concord held a 3-0 lead going into the 3rd.

North managed to keep Concord off the bases in the top of the 3rd and finally found their bats (perhaps Concord took them!). Keon Jenkins (center fielder) led off with a bloop single. Mike Muise (2nd baseman) bunted safely to reach, and then Louis Tarantino (left fielder) reached by getting hit in the leg. Brandon Karkhanis (shortstop) then came up and safely squeezed home Jenkins for North's 1st run. Joe Breen (1st baseman) then walked for the 2nd run, and Adam Leith (DH) squeezed home Tarantino to tie the game. Matt Fortin (catcher) singled home Karkhanis, and Cam Duval (3rd baseman) singled through the left side of the infield to bring in Joe Breen. Kyle Turner (pitcher) singled to loaded up the bases again, and Muise was hit by a pitch to bring in the 6th run.

Holding a 3 run lead, Concord battled back in the next inning to make the score 6 - 5.

In the bottom of the 4th, Karkhanis led off with a triple and was singled home by Fortin giving North a 7 - 5 advantage.

Jake Mellin came out for the top of the 5th and after getting a quick out, Concord started up their offense again with a single and double. With runners on 2nd and 3rd and one out, Concord's leadoff hitter hit a line drive to Karkhanis at short who snared the ball and doubled up the runner at 2nd. That was a big play as two runs would have easily scored to tie the ball game.

Mellin led off the bottom of the 5th and reached on an infield error. Jenkins then walked and Muise bunted his way on to load up the bases, again with no one out. Tarantino then drilled a single to right field allowing Mellin and Jenkins to score. With Muise on the 3rd, big hitter Breen squeezed home Muise for North's 10th run. That's when the fireworks really started as words were exchanged between both teams and it took about 30 minutes to restore order. After two player ejections (one from each team), play resumed and Fortin doubled down the left field line for 3rd RBI (Tarantino would score).

Although North held an 11 - 5 advantage, no lead seemed safe enough given Concord's offensive firepower. Concord got a runner to 2nd and fortunately he was stranded there as Mellin struck out the last batter of the inning.

Fast forward to the top of the 7th. North needed 3 more outs to close out the game, but Concord would just not quit. They loaded up the bases with nobody out. Connor Root was unavailable to pitch as he pinch hit for Tarantino. This set the stage for Matt Lipkind. Talk about a presure situation for Lipkind. The 1st batter he faced, singled softly through the left side of the infield bringing home a run. Again no one out, and Concord's top of the order was coming to the plate. Lipkind got the leadoff hitter to pop up to Karkhanis. He struck out the #2 hitter for the 2nd out, and got the #3 hitter to bounce into a fielder's choice to Cam Duval at 3rd base to end the game and give North their first Baseball Championship!

It was an incredible ride and an unbelievable way for the seniors to close out their high school experience. The coach managed to get all the seniors into the game, a terrific sendoff. With about 90 minutes to spare, the seniors then hustled to various places in Manchester to cleanup and go to graduation. The real cool thing, is that they were allowed to wear their baseball caps at graduation and the team was recognized in Mr. Ryan's (principal) opening remarks.

Thanks for reading. It was a real pleasure to hear about the stories from the other teams and read from people that know baseball and write about it thoughtfully and intelligently.

Have a great summer everyone and best wishes to all of the seniors across all of the teams.