NASHUA, N.H. – Call them the underdogs, call it a Cinderella Run, or call it a team that never wanted the season to come to an end.
Coming off a four-win season, the Salem High baseball team hovered around or under the .500 mark for most of the regular season.
Things changed in the final few weeks. The Blue Devils got hot, and carried that into the playoffs, which included Sunday’s upset special over Londonderry.
Three days removed from that magical win, the No. 11 seed Salem battled back from deficits two different times in the late innings in Wednesday night’s NHIAA Division I state semifinal.
But the No. 10 seed Winnacunnet, which was enjoying its own Cinderella Run, ended Salem’s magical season with a walk-off 6-5 win coming in the bottom of the seventh.
After Salem tied the game up in the top of the seventh, the Warriors won it in the home half when No. 8 hitter Braeden O’Hara completed his perfect 4-for-4 day with a sharp single down the left field line to score Bryce Pinsonnault with the game-winning run.
That allowed Winnacunnet to celebrate and advance to Saturday’s state final.
“I’m proud of my guys and the way they fought back. Winnacunnet has been the mirror image of us (with upset wins) and they just had that extra inch that we couldn’t come up with,” said Salem head coach Dan Keleher. “It was a great run. I’m really proud of these guys and we’ll be back at it next year.”
The last semifinal appearance for the Blue Devils came in 2013.
“It’s a tough one. We fought hard,” said senior Aaron Masson. “That kind of summed up our season that we fought until the end every time. We had a lot of close games. They are a scrappy team over there. They are going to do what they can to win and that’s what they did.”
“There were a lot of close plays, a lot of tough plays and they put us in some hard spots,” noted Masson. “We tried our best, we battled back a few times, and in the top of the seventh but it just wasn’t enough in the end.”
The Blue Devils took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Elisa Mercedes started the rally driving the first pitch of the game to left field for a single. Two batters later, Owen Doherty doubled moving Mercedes to third. Dom Toscano followed and he jumped on the first pitch and struck a two-run single into right-center.
The Warriors were able to get one back in the home half and then scored two more in the bottom of the fourth.
That 3-2 lead didn’t last long, as the Blue Devils responded with two runs in the top of the fifth on a RBI-single by Masson and a RBI-groundout by Toscano.
Again the Warriors responded scoring two runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 5-4 lead on four hits and two defensive miscues.
The back-and-forth continued in the top of the seventh. Mercedes again jumped on the first pitch and smashed a double over the center fielder’s head. After a failed bunt, Masson singled up the middle, scoring Mercedes to tie the game up at 5-5.
“Elias has come into his own,” said Keleher. “He had some spots in the season where he went cold, but he’s legit. He’s not only the best fielding outfielder, but he can hit. He’s dangerous on the base paths.”
Several minutes after Mercedes scored his third run of the game, Winnacunnet ended it.
“Thinking about other seasons compared to this, just a whole different mindset with this team,” said Masson. “That’s what we needed, something fresh and that’s what we did this year. We have a great senior group. We had four wins last year so we had such a great turnaround. It’s all because we had such a great group of guys who never stopped fighting all season.”
Winnacunnet 6, Salem 5
Salem: Elias Mercedes cf 3-3-2; Aaron Masson p/dh 4-1-2; Cooper Deschene lf 4-0-0; Owen Doherty c 3-1-1; Dom Toscano 1b 3-0-1; Kyle Giarusso rf 4-0-0; Patrick Ross ss 3-0-1; Ivan Colon 3b 2-0-0; Derek Boodoo 2b 3-0-0. Totals: 29-5-7.
Winnacunnet: Connor Fowler p-lf 4-0-2; Brody Powers pr 0-0-0; Mason McDonald 1b 4-1-1; Alex Santora ss 4-0-0; Bryce Pinsonnault c 3-1-2; Harvey Reynoso cf 3-0-1; Brantson Larck 2b 2-2-1; Ethan Roy lf-3b 3-0-0; Braeden O’Hara rf 4-2-4; Oscar Fritz dh-p 2-0-1; Sean Griffin 3b 0-0-0, Justin Coates p 0-0-0. Totals: 29-6-12.
WP: Fritz; LP: Jack Quinby; 2B: Salem, Mercedes and Doherty; RBI: Salem, Toscano 3, Masson 2; Winnacunnet, Fowler 2, Larck, O’Hara and Fritz; Records: Salem 12-11; Winnacunnet 14-10.