Athlete of the Month - ‘The sky’s the limit’

Goffstown Editor — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:04:00 GMT

BY RYAN O’CONNOR

Sponsored by Indian Head Athletics

New Boston’s loss is unquestionably Andy Gamache’s gain.

This year, Goffstown Junior Baseball absorbed New Boston’s players, and among the handful of talented young athletes came Tanner Putnam.

The 11-year-old, competing for Gamache’s 10- and 11-yearold Little League all-star team, proved you can never be too young to exhibit five-tool ability on the diamond.

However, coming into Goffstown – a baseball hotbed – as a relative unknown, Putnam was worried he wouldn’t even make the all-star team.

No worries, Tanner.

Gamache said Putnam is easily one of the top five players he’s seen play in GJB’s major leagues the last several years.

It’s no coincidence, added the coach, that the local allstars won the state title this season.

“The whole key to winning these tournament games is you need stating pitching first, and Tanner and Patrick Viviers were as good a onetwo punch as you’ll find at this level,” said Gamache. “When Tanner wasn’t on the mound, he was doing something amazing in the field, and it seemed he was always getting on base. He was just dynamic.”

With the bat, Putnam was third on the team with a .389 batting average and first with a .667 on-base percentage, which allowed him to show off his opportunistic baserunning skills.

It was Putnam’s arm and glove, however, that stood out most.

He gave up one earned run in four contests, striking out 32 batters in 18 and one-third innings of pitching.

Against Lamprey River in the losers bracket finale, with his squad down, 3-2, Putnam took the mound and shut the opposing offense down and recorded the final 11 outs, fanning nine and keeping Goffstown within striking distance.

Putnam and company won, 4-3, in the bottom of the sixth and advanced to the District 1 championship.

There, in a 14-2 victory against undefeated Bedford, Putnam was a black hole in center field, sucking up any ball hit past second base, including a diving grab and a shoe-string snag that swiftly ended Bedford rallies.

The next day, with his team ahead by a run in the top of the sixth inning, Putnam, playing right field, threw out the game-tying run at home plate to secure the crown for Goffstown.

“I just sort of picked up the ball, took a quick glance and chucked it with all my might,” said Putnam “I had one strike left in me.”

“That was the best defensive play I’ve seen in years,” said Gamache.

For his all-around excellence throughout Goffstown’s title run, Putnam has been named the Indian Head Athletics Athlete of the Month.

Even with all his impressive statistics, however, it was Putnam’s contributions to team morale with his leadership that made him invaluable, said his coach.

“He’s so coachable, and he expects himself to play at the highest level. It’s not an arrogance about him, it’s a confidence about him, and what made it so nice was he’d share that confidence with his teammates,” said Gamache. “He’d always be the first one out of the dugout to cheer guys on and his desire to win was so infectious.”

Max Chambers, Patrick Viviers, Marcus Haynes and Adam Gamache all followed Putnam’s lead, said the elder Gamache.

“They all picked up the Tanner mentality: ‘Give me the bat, I’m not going to fail, I’m going to do something special to help my team win this game,’” he said. “And those boys came through big time. It was automatic runs every time they came up to bat.”

As for Putnam’s future? “I think what you saw this year in the all-star tournament, I think you can expect to see as long as he wants to play organized baseball. The sky’s the limit for that kid,” said Gamache. “Heck, I’ll coach that boy any day of the week.”

(Editor’s note: The Athlete of the Month receives a $50 gift certificate courtesy of Indian Head Athletics.)

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Athlete of the Month - ‘The sky’s the limit’