Both coaches assuredly had the contest circled when the schedule was released in April. But following Salem’s 2-0 win over Concord on Monday, May 5, Blue Devil mentor Harold Sachs and Concord’s Duke Sawyer could only agree on these two points: neither team is playing at a championship level – yet – and the race for the Class L crown is wide open.

“Both (teams) have a legitimate chance to do some damage in the tournament, along with about eight other teams,” said Sachs. “If you notice the amount of teams in the league that can beat anybody on any day ... Teams in our league can come out of the (No.) 16 spot and win a state championship. You’ve just got to get there.”

“(Salem’s) good enough,” said Sawyer. “No, they’re not as strong as they have been in the last few years, but they’re a contender, there’s no doubt about it. I think Londonderry, Timberlane and Salem, those are by far the best teams, and then we’re probably in the next group of four or five teams, but those top three are going to be tough to beat.”

Concord had its chances against Salem.

The contest’s lone runs came in the bottom of the fourth inning when Concord’s ace, Paige Hansen, allowed a Jen Cabral two-out single before walking Megan St. Pierre and Amanda Vaudreuil.

Senior Katie Bettencourt, Salem’s hottest hitter, stepped to the plate and delivered a bases-loaded single for the game’s only two RBI.

“That was our big sin right there. We loaded the bases, and we knew that their best hitter was coming up, and that was the ball game right there,” said Sawyer. “They’re a better team than we are. We’re not quite there yet. We make too many mistakes out there. We’ve got to adjust better. We’ve got to grow up a little bit.”

Salem senior Erin Lyons, who struck out five batters while holding Concord to three hits and no runs, became Salem’s third three-win pitcher.

While 7-4 Concord has understandably relied on Hansen’s steady arm throughout the season, Sachs said his 9-3 squad has had to depend on Lyons, Dominique Heres and Stephanie Cabral. Its stopper, Alexandra Gallant, has missed the first half of the season.

“I think Alex will be back Friday (May 9, against Spaulding), but … we want a little more consistency in how we play, especially on the defensive side of the ball, and I think we did that today,” said Sachs. “I also think our at-bats, even though we only scored two runs – against a pitcher like Paige Hansen, I think we did a great job. And I think each kid up and down the lineup fought about as hard as you can ask kids to do, so that was encouraging.”

Still, Sachs said there are kinks to be worked out.

“Any problems that we’ve had in terms of our ability to win is squarely on my shoulders,” said Sachs. “We believe we have a quality team, and we know we’re going to get enough wins to get into the tournament ... It doesn’t really matter to us where we finish as long as we get in … but I’ve just got to do a better job of figuring out where people belong. So it’s really not as much about them as it is my indecisiveness.”