During its regular-season meetings with Hudson and Londonderry, Woodbury Middle School won by a combined five runs.

The postseason was a different story.

After a first-round bye in the Tri-County tournament, the Warriors pounded out 33 runs in two games to cruise to the league title.

On June 2, Woodbury blasted Londonderry, 18-1, in the semifinals, pounding out 19 hits in only four innings of play against a team that took the Warriors to nine innings during the regular season. Woodbury followed that dominating performance with another mercy-rule win when facing Hudson in the league final.

Hudson jumped to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but the Warriors scored 15 unanswered runs and earned a 15-3 victory on June 5, also in four innings.

In two abbreviated playoff games, the Warriors smashed 35 hits and scored 33 runs, led by Samantha Cloutier’s 5-for- 8 performance that included eight runs scored.

Kaitlyn Arsenault was also 5-for-8 and scored five runs, while Rachel Morrissey and Amanda Bickford were each 5-for-7 and Jillian McCollgan and Rachel Murphy went 4- for-5 apiece.

Of the 35 hits in the two games, 31 were singles, and Woodbury batted .583 as a team.

“The whole focus was to start learning to make adjustments to pitches,” said head coach Rino Beninati. “If they weren’t able to catch up on the fastball or they had two strikes on them, they were just trying to make contact. They weren’t going to smash the ball, but they weren’t going to strike out.”

Beninati said he was most impressed because his offense turned in such a dominating performance against pitchers who had previously proven to be among the better arms in the Tri-County League.

Beninati was particularly pleased that 20 of his squad’s 33 runs crossed the plate with two outs.

While winning the championship was an accomplishment for his team, Beninati said he is more focused on the contributions his players can make once they leave him.

“We’ve won many titles, to the point where you don’t remember the records or who you beat. It’s about the program, and it starts before me,” said Beninati. “When I look at how well the high school does, that’s the goal. We want to prepare them to be a part of that. Winning is secondary.”

The mentor said the key to his team’s success was the focus on fundamentals and repetition.

Despite having many successful teams, Beninati hasn’t had a team swing the way this year’s Warriors did in the playoffs.

“I’ve had teams that were much more talented than this one,” said Beninati. “I’ve never had anyone who’s performed that well before.”