As it turned out, the difference between these two teams was negligible.

The Bedford 10- and 11- year-old Little League all-star team, undefeated prior to a 14- 2 setback against Goffstown on Saturday, July 19, met the same foe the next day for the state title.

It was Bedford’s third straight contest against its neighboring rival.

Meanwhile, Goffstown – 6- 3 losers to Bedford on July 14 – beat Lamprey River in a 4-3 come-from-behind victory on Friday, July 18, to earn the rematch.

In the rubber game between the two, Bedford found itself behind a run and down to its last out in the top of the sixth and final inning. Speedster Kyle Finke stood on second base, and Nick Angelini stepped into the batters box.

Angelini lined a hard shot into right field. Finke took off on contact.

Evan Macdonald, Bedford’s manager and third base coach, waved his arm, signaling Finke to continue home.

Goffstown’s right fielder, Tanner Putnam, fielded the ball on one hop, turned and fired toward the plate. The ball hit the ground and bounced over a sliding Finke into catcher Matt Collins’ mitt.

“Out!”

Goffstown 7 – Bedford 6.
“I sent him home. I’d send him home again. I’d send him home 20 times in that situation,” said Macdonald. “We came within six inches of tying the game and pushing forward. “Hey, there was no doubt the two best teams in the state met at the end, and it was the kind of game you knew would come down to one play,” he continued. “They made one more play than we did. It really can’t get any better than that.”

Agreed, said Andy Gamache. “My coaches and I, we were talking to (Macdonald) after the game, and we all said we would have done the same thing,” said the Goffstown manager.

“I mean, what’s the likelihood of an 11-year-old throwing a bullet like that? If the catcher had to move a couple inches one way or the other, that’s the difference, it’s a tie game.

”What an outstanding contest. It was everything Little League is supposed to be. Both teams had a lot of energy. You had lead changes, close plays, great pitching on both sides and clutch hitting,” he added. “Bedford, that’s an extraordinary team. You could tell they’re a bunch of well-coached, welltaught athletes.”

That bunch went ahead, 3-0, in the third inning when Kyle Macdonald drew a walk and Kyle Andersson was hit by a pitch. After a passed ball moved both runners over, Angelini reached on an error and Macdonald scored.

Patrick McGinley plated two more runs with a double. In the fourth inning, Goffstown bounced back.

Putnam and Ryan Pinard led off with singles, and Maxx Chambers and Cole Carreau each reached via fielder’s choice.

With two outs, Marcus Haynes notched a two-RBI double, and Adam Gamache brought in a third run with a two-bagger of his own. Bedford again took the lead when Brett Silva pushed two runs across with a bases-loaded single.

Still, Goffstown was relentless. Nick Zylak, Connor Easton and Putnam reached to begin the bottom of the fifth. After Brendan Hall hit into a fielder’s choice that forced Zylak out at home, Chambers and Patrick Viviers tallied two RBI apiece on back-to-back base hits.

In the top of the sixth, Andersson closed the gap to one with an RBI single, but Putnam’s arm brought the game to a stunning close.

“Both teams did Little League and their towns a great service,” said Macdonald. “We’d love another shot at them. Hopefully we get it next year.”

The win and state championship were nice, of course, but Gamache said it was his players’ strength in adversity, their composure, that impressed him most.

He saw that poise against both Bedford and Lamprey River.

“It’s easy to think you’re a good team when you’re always winning by a lot, but when you have to come from behind to win games, that’s when these guys really gain an understanding for the game, when they’re put in a spot when they have to see the game differently, when they have to hit situationally, that’s when they grow,” said Gamache. “They weren’t out there thinking ‘I don’t want to be the guy that strikes out.’ They were thinking, ‘I’ve got a guy on second, so I’m going to extend my hands out and push the ball into right field. I’m going to be the guy who drives in the game-winning run.’”

And he said every player on the team played a pivotal role at some point in the tournament.

On Saturday, July 19, Goffstown mercy-ruled Bedford, 14- 2, courtesy of a Collins’ walkoff grand slam.

Zylak led off that game with a triple and Easton brought him home on a base hit. Putnam and Hall walked, and Chambers garnered an RBI double before Gamache and Collins each plated a run.

Up 6-2 after one, Goffstown didn’t take its foot off the gas.

The locals added two more runs in the second when Viviers brought Putnam and Pinard home on a double, and Hayes and Gamache each added an RBI in the fourth before Collins sent a towering shot down the left field line and out of the park.

Ben Barss and Matt Shaw also contributed during Goffstown’s championship run.