BY RYAN O'CONNOR

It was a regular-season contest with a playoff feel. Concord Post 21, 6-8, and Salem Post 63, 5-9, both entered the game facing the same scenario: continue playing with a victory or bid farewell to teammates with a loss.

Behind solid mound and plate efforts from Hopkinton’s David Brandt, Concord held off a late Salem rally to win, 7-6.

After his team allowed four runs to cross in the seventh inning, bringing Salem within one run, Brandt pitched the final 2 1/3 innings to protect the lead and secure a Concord appearance in the first American Legion junior baseball tournament.

The top four teams of six made the playoffs.

Brandt, consistently hitting around .400 all season, went 2-for-4, including a double.

Matt Windhurst of Hopkinton went 2-for-2 and drew two walks.

Bow’s Josh Kleinberg and Hopkinton’s Thomas Johnson each added a hit.

Allenstown 15-year-old Zachary Cogswell went 1-for-3.

Despite the playoff appearance, however, it has been a season of constant challenges for Concord, said coach Brian Drew.

“I think that we deserve to have a better record for the kind of team we are,” said Drew, whose team started 2-3. Each loss, he said, came after his team blew a late-game lead. “That’s just the kind of season we’ve had. We’ve either lost late or gone down big early and had to work our way back.”

Moreover, four players left the squad during the season.

Drew said he couldn’t choose from the 18 players who tried out, so Post 21 suited up four more than the normal 14-player squad, leaving the team fully loaded for the postseason – despite the sudden vacancies.

“We’ve been able to compete with every team in the league, but we’ve had consistency problems, and it’s just a matter of who’s going to show up and get a job done on a given day, which makes it really hard to field the same nine players,” said Drew.

“They’ve all worked hard and have been really competitive, so they’ve made my choices difficult,” he continued. “I guess that’s a good thing.”

The competitive nature of his players, said Drew, is exactly what gives his team a solid chance at a title.

Concord opens the playoffs at Manchester’s Gill Stadium against 11-6 Derry, the No. 1 seed, on Friday, Aug. 10, immediately following another playoff match-up which begins at 4 p.m.

“I’m happy we’re playing Derry first because if we can come out sharp and knock them off,” said Drew, “it’s all downhill from there.”