MANCHESTER, NH- The No. 1 Trinity High School varsity baseball team defeated No. 6 Londonderry High School 11-4 to clinch their first NHIAA D-1 Championship since 1992.
The Trinity Pioneers capped off a fantastic season with a state title, going 21-1 and cementing themselves as New Hampshire’s best high school baseball team this season.
“I’m proud of this team,” Trinity Head Coach Matt Bouchard said postgame. “We had a goal and we kept on our goal. We battled through some injuries and just kept going. It was a team season through and through.”
The action in this anticipated title game began in the bottom of the first, when Pioneers Tristian Lucier and Aiden Harris both hit singles to drive in one run each. Then, on a 1-1 count and Cal Lucier up to bat, a wild pitch gets by the Londonderry catcher and rolls all the way to the backstop, allowing third base runner Harris and second base runner Chris Centerino to score. Wrapping up the early offensive blitz, Lucier hits a sacrifice fly to right to give Trinity the 5-0 lead.
Moving towards the top of the fourth, the Londonderry Lancers began to fight their way back into the contest. With one out and a runner on second, Brody Labbe came to bat and smashed a ball to left center field, just getting by the center fielder’s outstretched glove, rolling all the way to the wall, giving Labbe an apparent triple. However, on the relay throw in, the ball sails wide and hits the Trinity dugout awkwardly, catching one of the players on the hand, resulting in a dead ball and an inside-the-park homerun for Labbe, to cut the Trinity lead down to 5-2.
In the top of the fifth, Londonderry got closer. With two outs, Caden Jordan hit a double off the right field wall, followed up with Jace Ruggiero hitting a bloop single over the Trinity second baseman to drive home Jordan to make it a 5-3 ballgame.
In the bottom of the fifth, Trinity would open the lead back up, as a great sacrifice bunt by Lucier allowed the two runners to advance, which gave way to JJ Grillo-Moore, who hit a screamer up the middle, which was misplaced by the Lancers shortstop, allowing one runner to come home. Continuing the fantastic display of small ball, Mason Devall drops down an excellent bunt down the third base line, driving in another to make it a 7-3 Trinity.
“We knew it wasn’t over at five,” Coach Bouchard said. “We left a lot of guys out there in the first couple of innings and they couldn’t get a hit but we knew they were going to come back. We talked about going small ball if we had to and we did.”
In the bottom of the sixth, Trinity put the game out of reach. With a runner on first and third, Centerino drilled his third double of the day to left field to drive in both Pioneer runners, followed by Conor Hurley hitting a single to left field driving in Centerino to make it 10-3. After more action from the plate, the inning would end with Trinity ahead 11-3.
“I thought [Centerino] was one of the best players in the state,” Coach Bouchard said. “He was one of the best hitters in the state and today he showed why.”
Despite surrendering one more run in the top of the seventh, Trinity were able to hold on and win the State Championship, their first since the Clinton Administration.
“It felt great,” junior Mason Devall said after the game. “It was our goal to win the state championship all year long and it was a very special group that we got together to do it.”
On the other side of the field, Londonderry fell short in a game that slipped away. However, Head Coach Brent Demas wants to remember this team as one that never wavered.
“It was a very up and down season,” Coach Demas said. “It took a lot of work by the players and the coaches to really commit to each other. Around the halfway point of the year, that started to come through, taking us all the way to here. But tonight, Trinity was better than us.”
Box Score:
| Box Score: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Runs | Hits |
| Londonderry | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 11 |
| Trinity | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | X | 11 | 9 |