BY RYAN O'CONNOR

It was tournament host Manchester East’s home turf, but for at least one day, the Goffstown 9- and 10-year old Little League all-star team claimed the field – while dominating the foe.

In the District 1 tournament finale, on Saturday, July 14, Goffstown, behind the stellar pitching of Patrick Viviers and solid top-to-bottom hitting, handily defeated East, 12-0.

“There is nothing like winning districts in Goffstown because baseball is such a big deal here,” said manager Bob Gurskis. “… The kids just took the mentality that, win or lose, they’re going to be better ballplayers next year just by practicing and working hard, and I’ve seen them develop so much over the past month.”

In the first inning, Connor Easton and Brendan Hall led off with back-to-back singles, and Tim Riehl reached on a fielder’s choice, advancing Easton to third. A passed ball scored Easton, and Viviers contributed a base hit before Riehl scored as well on a passed ball to give Goffstown an early 2-0 lead.

In the top of the third, Riehl reached on a single, and Bo Gurskis replaced him at first on a fielder’s choice. Matt Collins brought Gurskis home on an RBI triple before stealing home to bring the score to 4-0.

It was more of the same in the fifth inning when Matt Shaw walked, Easton singled, and Hall knocked in a run on a double. Riehl followed with an RBI single, and Viviers drove in another run on a double.

In the bottom of the fifth, Viviers struck out the side, bringing his strikeout total to nine on exactly 75 pitches, the maximum a pitcher can throw under the Little League age-group’s restrictions.

But Goffstown’s offense wasn’t finished. In the top of the sixth inning, Easton hustled down the first base line, beating the throw for a leadoff single. He was driven in on Hall’s  RBI double. Hall advanced to third on an error and came home on a passed ball.

Riehl, Viviers and Gurskis then drew consecutive walks to load the bases before Cole Carreau brought  home a run on a sacrifice fly, and Gurskis crossed the plate on a delayed steal. Carreau capped the scoring after the East catcher overthrew third base.

Goffstown finished the tournament with 75 runs in five games.

“Fortunately we’ve had guys who have really been able to put their bat on the ball,” said Gurskis. “But I have to attribute that to just practicing really hard, every day. I mean, these kids are focused and hitting close to 300 balls in one practice, but laughing and giggling at the same time. They learned to have fun with it, which makes it really second nature to them when they get into tough game situations.”

The team moves to the best-of-three New Hampshire State Little League Championship in Windham on Saturday, July 21, where the locals face the Somersworth/Portsmouth winner at 10 a.m. A second game is Sunday, July 22. A third game, if necessary, is scheduled for Tuesday, July 24.

 “The coaches and the players had a big victory party for the district title because it’s a really big deal. But that point in our run is done, and we’ve put it behind us,” said Gurskis. “We still have to work hard at practice this week, which is where I believe these types of games are won or lost.”