BY RYAN O'CONNOR
Trailing, 7-4, in game one of the 9- and 10-year-old state championship, Goffstown all-star manager Bob Gurskis turned to assistant coach Mark Collins for some trickery.
In the midst of a Portsmouth two-run inning, with the bases loaded and two outs, shortstop Brian Curran ran behind third base, appearing to back up a potential overthrow on a pickoff attempt.
But pitcher Ben Barss threw the ball directly to Curran.
Sensing an error, the Portsmouth base runner took off for home before realizing it was he who erred.
“Sometimes you can get away with something like that in the right situation. It’s something you only do if you want to shut down an inning,” said Collins. “… When you pull it off it’s golden, but if we hadn’t we would have been in serious trouble.”
Though the locals dropped the match-up on Saturday, July 21, Collins pointed to that play as proof Little League is, first and foremost, about having fun.
Goffstown lost the best-of-three state series, 7-4 in game one and 3-0 in game two, but showed the fight and determination that earned it an undefeated District 1 9- and 10-year-old Little League all-star tournament championship.
On Sunday, July 22, facing elimination in the short series, Tim Riehl started and kept Portsmouth’s bats quiet for three innings. He was helped by Brendan Hall, who made an over-the-shoulder catch in the third.
Portsmouth broke through for three runs in the fourth, and Goffstown, despite threatening on several occasions, was shut out for the first time this summer.
In game one, Goffstown fell behind 5-0 in the first inning, but pitcher Patrick Viviers settled down and his teammates mounted a comeback in the third.
Connor Easton, Riehl and Hall led off with consecutive singles before Cole Carreau drew a walk to plate a run.
Hall then came home on a passed ball, and Ryan Pinard brought two more runs in on a double.
Viviers stuck out four and allowed two hits after the first inning.
“Our kids came prepared, went out and played their hardest and it just didn’t work out,” said Gurskis. “Against all the other
teams we played, they gave us the opportunity and we took advantage of it. Portsmouth didn’t give us an opportunity."