Playing in two separate tournaments at once is no easy task for any team, let alone doing it with a squad filled with 8-, 9- and 10-year-olds.

Yet competing in the Matty Dobens tournament, hosted by Manchester South, as well as a similar competition in Nottingham, all the Bedford Little League minor league all-star team did was compile an 8-2 record, knock off a defending champ, take home a second- and third-place finish and turn a triple play.

After rolling through division competition and then beating undefeated Auburn Red, 5-0, in the Matty Dobens semifinals, the boys finally met their match in the form of Goffstown, 10-0 winners in the championship game.

“(Goffstown) just hit the ball like we’ve never seen. I mean, that’s usually us against other teams. They just crushed the ball,” said manager John Scully. “I hated to see our team go down like that, but we had to kind of get the kids dusted off and then get to the quarterfinals in Nottingham.

“Ideally, we wanted to win the championship, celebrate for a few minutes and then head to the other tournament, and a lot of kids would have mailed it in, but to their credit they went out and won a really tough, 13-7 contest.

The next day, Bedford completed its fourth and fifth game in three days with a 5-0 loss to Dover in the Nottingham tourney semis, then rebounded for a 6-5 victory against Barrington in the consolation matchup. Jack Flanagan, Corey Wallace and Jim McGuire led a four-run, two-out rally with their bats, and Johnny Scully pitched 2 2/3 innings of shutout baseball to earn the win.

The highlight of the summer, however – in addition to defeating defending champ Derry, 11-8 – came in the fourth game of the Matty Dobens tourney. Manchester West Side put two base runners on to start the first inning, poised to push Bedford into an early hole. Instead, the next batter hit a line drive to second baseman Jack Flanagan, who tossed the ball to first baseman Ryan Linehan, who stepped on the bag and threw home, where catcher Brendan Kelliher notched the third out.

Scully said he did some research after the game and found an average of three triple plays are turned a year in professional Major and Minor League Baseball combined.

“There’s no doubt turning the triple play was a thrill in itself, but turning it in a key moment like that, it really signified our tournament play,” said Scully. “We always seemed to make a big play when we needed it. Whether it was our catcher throwing out a runner or a kid getting a big hit at an opportune time … Every kid, through the entire tournament, seemed to contribute for us in key situations.”

Ryan Linehan and Flanagan each averaged close to four RBI per game, said Scully, but it was finding the plate from the mound that was one of his squad’s strongest attributes.

“It’s a lot of pressure for these kids to throw four innings of strikes. I mean, you can teach kids to catch, throw and hit, but to throw balls and strikes, that’s hard to teach,” said Scully.

Team notes
Isaac Harrington, whose mother was giving birth during the Auburn Red contest, tallied a two-run hit in the first to put Bedford up early. The next inning, Wallace, Chris Grande and Flanagan each tallied an RBI.

Kelliher pitched 4 1/3 innings of shutout baseball, allowing three hits and striking out nine. Matt Glassman closed the game by giving up one hit in 1 2/3 innings.

Sam Schneider, who was hurt during the tournament, attended every game and earned the game ball against Auburn Red for inspiring the rest of the team.

Others contributing include Matt Harrington, Ryan Harrington, Adam Kalil, Drew Smith