NASHUA, NH- The Trinity High School varsity baseball team defeated Timberlane High School 6-2 Wednesday night to advance to the NHIAA DI Championship.
This is the first time that the No. 1 Trinity Pioneers (18-1) have made the finals since 2007, where they finished runner-up and if they wanted to reach the finals again, they had to go through a gritty No. 13 Timberlane Owls (9-11).
“It was a battle man,” Trinity Head Coach Matt Bouchard said postgame. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but our team battled today.”
“I thought we played our butts off,” Timberlane Head Coach Alex Horgan said after the game. “We asked these guys to compete all year, and they brought it tonight.”
Given Timberlane were the underdogs heading into this contest, they came out swinging, with nothing to fear, as they had loaded the bases early thanks to an error and two walks, setting up junior Kieran Lamb, who hit a hard grounder that just passed the third basemen, rolling into left field, driving in one run, while senior Mike Santosuosso is thrown out at the plate by Pioneer senior Ollie Service in left field, on a near perfect throw to take a run off the board. Owl sophomore Nate Hutchins followed that up with a double to left field on a 3-1 count, giving Timberlane the 2-0 in the first inning.
Trinity got right back into the game in the bottom half. With the count full and a runner on third, junior Nolan Lavigne hit a double to right field to score the runner from third to make it 2-1 ballgame. With a runner on second and two outs, fellow junior Chris Centerino hit a sinking fly ball towards center and it looked as if he had even things up at two. However, Owl senior Matt Fitzgerald dove at full extension and caught the ball, taking a run off the board and preserving the lead.
For the next three innings, the Timberlane offense would be shut down by sophomore Canaan Locke, who went 3.1 innings while striking out five batters on four walks for no runs.
“I knew I had a job to do going out there tonight,” Locke said afterwards. “I just had to throw strikes and let my defense do the work behind me.”
Jumping ahead to the bottom of the fourth inning, with a runner on first and two outs, the Pioneers finally get through to Owl pitcher Lamb, as junior Cal Lucier hit a ground ball to third, but a wide throw led to a collision at first, allowing the ball to pass by and let the runner from first come all the way home to score, tying the game at two.
Lamb was easily the player of the game for Timberlane, as he finished the game going 5.2 innings, striking out four while only surrendering four walks, six hits and four runs against one of the best offensive teams in baseball this season.
“The guts on Lamb, he’s an all-time competitor,” Coach Horgan said. “He pitched his heart out. Anytime he takes the ball, I feel confident that we got a chance.”
Moving towards the bottom of the fifth, Trinity would take the lead for the first time. After a popup was misplayed near first base, which allowed for Service to get on base and subsequently steal second, it gave way to junior Tristan Lucier, who hit a single between first and second base to drive in the runner and give the Pioneers the 3-2 lead.
In the top of the sixth, Timberlane were knocking on the door as the bases were loaded with just one out. With the lead in jeopardy, Coach Bouchard turned towards junior Mason Devall, who came in for relief and got the final two outs to end the daunting threat.
In the bottom half, Trinity responded by loading the bases with just one out, that’s when Centerino seized the moment and stole home for the Owls, extending their lead to 4-2. Shortly after, Lucier and Lavigne both drew consecutive walks to make it 6-2.
With Devall returning to the mound in the seventh, he got three quick outs, ending the game and sending the Pioneers to the finals, where they will face off against No. 6 Londonderry on Saturday.
“We still have one more game.” Coach Bouchard said. “It’s going to be tough, we haven’t seen Londonderry in a couple years, but we’re going to see them on Saturday. So, we’ll see what we can do.”
As for Timberlane, their season is over, but for Coach Horgan, it’s another step on the journey towards sustainable success.
“I think the last three weeks have shown that we are capable of playing together for seven full innings,” Coach Horgan said. “We do lose some seniors that are very important to our team, but we bring back a lot for next year and we’re excited about the future of this program.”
Box Score:
| Teams: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Runs | Hits |
| Timberlane | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Trinity | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | X | 6 | 6 |