Nashua's JJ Montello tries to keep Souhegan's Chris Almeida from stretching a single into a double during Saturday's playoff game. For more photos, go to the Photo Album.
AMHERST – Scott Painter didn’t need to tell his team how important Saturday’s win was, but he did anyway.
Painter’s Nashua Marauders scored at least three runs in three different innings to defeat the Souhegan Pirates 13-6 in the opening round of the Senior Babe Ruth Southern Division double-elimination tournament at Souhegan High School.
Cam Duval and Tom Luciano each had two hits and three RBIs to lead the Marauders to the win. They’ll take on the Salem Cardinals at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday at Salem High School in the second round of the winner’s bracket.
Kyle Beaulieu had two hits and two RBIs, while Chris Almeida scored three runs and Chris Chininis had two triples for the Pirates, who will host Walpole at 5 p.m. on Sunday in the loser’s bracket.
“In a nine-team bracket, it’s huge because going into the loser’s bracket, you’ve got to play three extra games just to get back to the championship game,” Painter said. “They’re a good team and we’ve battled with them. We knew it coming in, that they were going to be tough.”
Souhegan's James Astbury, center, makes a diving catch.
Souhegan took a 3-0 lead in the first inning, when Chininis led off with his first triple and scored on a single by Almeida. After a flyout, Matt Schagrin walked before Beaulieu singled home Almeida to make it 2-0 Pirates.
Paul Becotte followed by grounding into a fielder’s choice, bringing in Schagrin with the third run.
The Marauders got a run back in the top of the second, making it 3-1 on a triple by Dan Luciano and a RBI-groundout by Matt Lipkind.
“You’ve got to settle down,” Painter said. “You have to battle back a little bit and get one at a time. Luckily, we got one the next inning, and then we got three, and then the flood gates kind of opened.”
Nashua added three runs in the third on a Souhegan error, a hit batter, a single and a two-run double by Jake Mellin. On the day, the Pirates made four errors, hit two batters and walked seven.
“You can’t give a good team that hits the ball that many free chances,” Souhegan coach Bill Dod said. “I thought we were like a roller coaster. I thought we did some good things, and then we went into the valley. Then we went up and then we went down.”
But by the time the Pirates were going back up, the Marauders had added four more runs in the fourth inning and held an 8-3 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth, Chininis led off with his second triple, but when a ball got away from Nashua catcher Dan Luciano, Chininis was thrown out trying to score.
Almeida walked a few pitches later and DJ Petropulos singled to give Souhegan runners at first and second. A sacrifice fly by Schagrin scored a run and Beaulieu chased Nashua starter PJ Nesbitt with a RBI single, making it 8-5.
Nashua's Louis Tarantino lays down a bunt.
Parker Jamerson came on in relief and induced a flyout by Becotte to end the inning, and the Marauders went right back to work in the top of the sixth.
Jamerson led off with a walk and Jack Kelly reached on an error, and both were sacrificed over by Louis Tarantino. Duval followed with a two-run single, and after a walk to Mellin, Tom Luciano singled to score Duval.
“The first inning, we popped a lot of balls up,” Painter said. “The adjustment was to get down to the ball before you make contact. We hit the ball hard to the right side, which means the kids are staying down on the ball and driving it the other way. They’re letting it travel deep into the zone. Things we’ve been asking them to do all year.”
Zach Polio took the loss for Souhegan, going 3 1/3 innings and allowing eight runs on five hits, three walks and two hit batters. Nesbitt picked up the win, allowing five runs on eight hits and three walks in 4 2/3 innings.
