One day after his team played its closest contest of the Matty Dobens tournament, Steve Bond watched his boys turn in their best performance on the state’s largest stage.

Goffstown stole the show by winning its third title in four years with a 10-0, mercy-rule victory against Bedford on Saturday, July 26.

Ryan Hall played a starring role. The 9-year-old hurler pitched a perfect game and struck out 10 batters in four innings of work against Goffstown’s border rival. But the entire team offered stellar performances throughout the tourney’s seven-game run, said Bond.

“Our hitting was just huge throughout the tournament,” he said. “There wasn’t a guy on this team that didn’t have an extrabase hit. Everyone came through at some point.

“The tournament is a minor league tournament, but there’s no age limit, and we had one of the younger groups,” Bond continued. “We had three 10-yearolds, but some of the other teams had 11-year-olds, and you know there’s usually a pretty big difference in size between a 9-year-old and a 10-year-old.”

No matter.

Goffstown played just 13 innings – one more than the minimum – in its first three contests and saw the sixth inning only twice during its sweep through the annual tourney hosted by Manchester South.

The locals failed to score 10 runs once, while holding foes to a total of seven tallies in the tournament.

They started pool play with a 17-0 thrashing of Hooksett; followed with an 18-1 stomping of Auburn Blue; beat Manchester South Gold, 12-2; and knocked off Manchester East 2, 11-2.

In the semifinals, Atkinson, down 4-2, put two runners in scoring position with no outs in the sixth and final inning, but couldn’t overcome the locals’ staunch defense and Trevor Smith’s pitching.

“That game, we hit the ball, it just seemed we kept hitting it right at people,” said Bond. “The big hits we got throughout the tournament, we just didn’t get against Atkinson. But that was the point I think we really showed our mettle, to be able to win a close game against a good team like that.”

The bats came back in force against Bedford in the finale.

Indeed, Goffstown scored five runs in the first and five in the second to put the game out of reach early.

Hall plated leadoff hitter Josh Lacerte to get the scoring started. Cameron Bond followed with a two-RBI double, and Cody Morel knocked Hall home. Bedford walked in the fifth run. Hall, Bond, Cody St. Pierre, Dakota Mulcay and Casey Gervais each tallied an RBI in the second.

Others contributing to Goffstown’s championship include Ian MacDonald, Nathan Proulx, Riley Putnam, Ethan Skinner and David Wright.

“What I enjoyed most was these kids’ love for the game, for just being out there playing and their ability to focus,” said Bond. “The wins are great and the fact we won the tournament … I’m happy for the kids, but for me, it’s just so much fun to coach them at this age.”