Written by I received a few different severe weather alerts on my phone this afternoon. There were threatening skies in the area, and many more areas received high winds, rain, and who knows what else. In Rochester though, the storms stayed away and two pitchers took matters into their own hands, both going the distance. Goffstown won 2-1 in a 7-inning game that was finished in less than 2 hours.
Wade Paquette was outstanding on the hill for Spaulding. His defense was as good, if not better than he was, and the combination almost took down the Grizzlies. Connor Hujsak had a lot to say about the outcome himself, completing 7 innings on the mound. So, let’s just talk about the pitching numbers in this one for a minute because the offense was lacking any punch at all for either team.
First, Paquette pitched 7 innings on just 89 pitches. He didn’t strike out a single batter so he had to rely on his defense and upsetting timing to create poor contact. His defense was great and he upset everyone’s timing it seemed. He got 21 outs without a strikeout. His catcher threw out one runner. His third baseman tagged out another baserunner that should have been out at first base if the first throw was a good one. His left fielder and third baseman combined with the catcher to erase a run in the first inning. Yes, Paquette’s defense was solid. During one stretch, Paquette recorded 8 outs on just 16 pitches that began in the second inning and ended in the fifth.
Then there was this young man named Connor Hujsak and he was pitching for Goffstown. Connor pitched all 7 innings. He struck out 11 batters, including the last batter of the game with the bases loaded. Even at the high school varsity level, Hujsak faces a phenomenon that I have seen back to my Little League days and several times since. Basically, this situation presents itself when pitchers who are overpowering and batter after batter comes to the plate looking for pitches to be out of the strike zone so they don’t have to overcome the dominant pitches in the strike zone. In other words, indirectly looking for a walk, or at least to make a pitcher be perfect in combination with an umpire. They weigh the odds on that combination being better than their own ability to hit such a pitcher. Even so, Hujsak allowed just 4 hits, three of which came from the #9 hitter, Kealian Craig, on a pair of bunt singles and an ‘excuse me’ swing roller out towards shortstop. The other single was an 0-2 swing that blooped just about 110 feet, barely missing Colin Burke’s outstretched glove.
Spaulding scored one run in the game, all the way back in the 3rd inning. Dan Sims was hit with a 2-2 breaking ball that didn’t break. He reached second base on Craig’s first bunt single. Then Hujsak struck out Keegan Calero and there were 2 outs with 2 on. Then Garrett Langis and Jackson Bowlen both walked without taking a swing, with the walk to Bowlen driving in a run. The next innings Hujsak struck out the first 2 batters on 6 pitches, and got the first 2 strikes on the last batter, before getting a pop up that he caught himself in foul territory. Then he struck out the side in the 5th inning. The Red Raiders got a bloop single from Sims and another bunt single from Craig. Hujsak got Calero on strikes for the fourth time in the game. Langis walked again without taking a swing. Then Hujsak got Bowlen swinging to end the game.
On the other side of the field, Goffstown might have had a chance to bounce Paquette in the first 2 innings but their baserunning coupled with Spaulding’s stellar defense kept the Grizzlies at bay. In the very first inning, Clay Campbell was hit by a pitch. Bob Doherty singled to left field. Will Soucy ripped a single to left field. On Soucy’s single, Campbell was waved around third base with one out. The fact that Soucy hit a hard line drive, and the fact that Kealian Craig got the ball to his cutoff man Garrett Langis like a lightning bolt setting up the relay. Langis fired a strike to Jon Dube behind the plate to nail Campbell at home. So, instead of a 1-0 lead with runners at first and second base with one out, it was 0-0 with 2 outs and 2 runners on. Jared Heidenreich came to the plate and hit a line drive to shallow right field where Robbie Creteau came on, diving head first to stab the line drive and keep another run off of the board to end the inning.
In the second inning, Goffstown got a bunt single from Liam Kilbreth and a walk to Colin Burke with one out. Then Kilbreth got caught with a secondary lead that Jon Dube made him pay for quickly. Dube fired a bullet to shortstop Keegan Calero who snuck in behind Kilbreth and chased him down with the tag over by third base. On the play, Burke alertly moved up to second base. Ben Dodge singled to center field and Burke scored. Looking back though, it could have been Kilbreth scoring with one out, while Dodge and Burke would have been on base for Hujsak with one out. The reality was that Goffstown had scored just the one run over two innings while running Paquette’s pitch count to 39 and who knows how different things could have been without the running issues and Red Raiders defense.
After Paquette ran his 8 outs on 16 pitches, the Grizzlies got to the Spaulding starter in the 6th, well, sort of. Bob Doherty ripped a single to left to lead things off. Will Soucy successfully sacrificed him to second base with a bunt. Then Jared Heidenreich singled on a line shot to left field. Doherty was held at third base with the cutoff combination of Craig and Langis striking again. Langis had the ball and spun to check the runner at first base and Heidenreich was way off of the bag. Langis cut a throw loose to Dan Sims but the throw was wide of the bag and went all the way to the fence. Doherty scored immediately and Heidenreich reached third base with a headfirst slide, but he came off of the bag with Langis holding the tag on him for another out on the bases for the Grizzlies. Myles Green singled on the next pitch, which of course would have been another run for Goffstown.
In the end, Goffstown outhit Spaulding 8-4. Bob Doherty had 2 hits, while Ben Dodge had 2 hits, a walk, an RBI, and 2 stolen bases. The Red Raiders left 8 runners on base while Goffstown stranded 7, even after getting 3 runners cut down on the bases. Goffstown improved to 9-8 with one game left in the regular season. Spaulding fell to 7-9 on the season. The Grizzlies honor their seniors on Friday at St. Anselm College against Londonderry. Be there at 4 pm!
| School | W | L | T | Points | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Concord | 15 | 2 | 0 | 60.00 | 3.5294 |
| Exeter | 13 | 3 | 0 | 52.00 | 3.2500 |
| Bishop Guertin | 14 | 4 | 0 | 56.00 | 3.1111 |
| Londonderry | 13 | 4 | 0 | 52.00 | 3.0588 |
| Keene | 12 | 5 | 0 | 48.00 | 2.8235 |
| Pinkerton | 11 | 5 | 0 | 44.00 | 2.7500 |
| Bedford | 10 | 6 | 0 | 40.00 | 2.5000 |
| Manchester Memorial | 9 | 6 | 0 | 36.00 | 2.4000 |
| Winnacunnet | 10 | 7 | 0 | 40.00 | 2.3529 |
| Portsmouth | 8 | 7 | 0 | 32.00 | 2.1333 |
| Goffstown | 9 | 8 | 0 | 36.00 | 2.1176 |
| Windham | 8 | 8 | 0 | 32.00 | 2.0000 |
| Manchester Central | 8 | 9 | 0 | 32.00 | 1.8824 |
| Dover | 8 | 9 | 0 | 32.00 | 1.8824 |
| Spaulding | 7 | 9 | 0 | 28.00 | 1.7500 |
| Timberlane | 7 | 11 | 0 | 28.00 | 1.5556 |
| Alvirne | 6 | 10 | 0 | 24.00 | 1.5000 |
| Nashua South | 6 | 12 | 0 | 24.00 | 1.3333 |
| Nashua North | 5 | 13 | 0 | 20.00 | 1.1111 |
| Merrimack | 3 | 14 | 0 | 12.00 | 0.7059 |
| Trinity | 1 | 17 | 0 | 4.00 | 0.2222 |
| Salem | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.0000 |