Thursday, July 24, 2008
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Great Bay hangs on to defeat N. Country Allstars, 11-8

Locals ousted from state tourney

Jean LeBlanc

ROCHESTER— The Great Bay Babe Ruth team from the Exeter area scored five runs in the fifth inning and then held off a comeback by the North Country team and went on to defeat the Allstars 11-8, eliminating the North Country team from the 15 and under Babe Ruth state tournament in Rochester Tuesday.
Great Bay had staked themselves to a 4-0 advantage, scoring two runs in the first and two runs in the third inning off of N.C starting pitcher James Myers (Lisbon). Great Bay used three singles in each of those innings to plate their runs.
North Country got their offense untracked in the bottom of the third inning. Myers opened the frame a walk and Curtis Arsenault (Berlin) reached base on an error. Brandon Sanschagrin (Gorham) put down a perfect bunt to load the bases for the Allstars. Eric Godin (Berlin) launched a long double to left centerfield plating two runs and reducing his team's deficit to 4-2.
Ryan Fortin (Berlin) scorched a ground ball to shortstop that was misplayed, allowing Sanschagrin to score. Chandler Grisham (Littleton) was at the plate with runners on the corners. Godin was on third base and tried to score on Grisham's grounder. Great Bay catcher Nate Cyr was well up the base line, blocking the base path of a sliding Godin. Godin's slide was stopped well short of the plate. However, the catcher blocked the low throw and had time to retrieve the loose ball and deny Godin from scoring. The controversial play made for the first out of the inning. A brief discussion ensued by the North Country coaching staff and the home plate umpire, however the out call stood and the score remained 4-3.
Brandon Chase (Lisbon) used an RBI groundout to plate Fortin with the tying run. At the end of three innings, the Allstars had completed their comeback 4-4.
Myers worked into the fifth inning for the Allstars. A hit batsman, a flyout, a single and a walk, ended Myers day on the mound for N.C.
Great Bay went to work on N.C. reliever Phil Benoit (Gorham). Two walks, a fly out, two singles, and a hit batsman had Great Bay cross the plate five times to take a 9-4 lead.
The North Country boys had a reputation of come backs, and showed just why they were the district five champions.
Godin singled to open the bottom of the fifth inning. Fortin and Grisham worked their at-bats for walks to load the bases. Tyler Griffin (Colebrook) stroked an RBI single to centerfield to plate two runs. The throw to the plate was off the mark. The Great Bay catcher tried to get Griffin advancing to second base. However, the throw was off allowing Grisham to score and Griffin to head to third base.
That ended the day for Great Bay starting pitcher Sean Dulan. Great Bay brought in reliever Ryan Donlevie, to try and stop the North Country comeback.
Griffin was at third base with no outs and Cody LeBlanc (Gorham) at the plate. LeBlanc and Griffin executed the perfect suicide bunt squeeze play to allow Griffin to score making it a 9-8 contest. Great Bay's Donlevie bore down to get the final two outs of the inning to keep it a one run game.
Brandon Chase was brought in to pitch the final two frames for the Allstars. In the top of the seventh inning, Great Bay picked up a couple of insurance runs on three walks, a single, and an error to take an 11-8 lead into the final at bat for the N.C. Allstars.
Donlevie was solid on the mound in relief for Great Bay. The hard throwing right hander walked Grisham to open the seventh inning and then got a foul out and two ground outs to end the tourney hopes for the Allstars.
For the game, the N.C. squad had just five hits to go with their eight runs. Godin two, and team mates Fortin, Sanschagrin and Griffin contributed the other hits.
Six errors by the Allstars, aided the offense of Great Bay. The Allstar pitching staff allowed ten hits, walked eight, and struck out just one Great Bay batter.
The loss ended the North Country team's run at a state championship. The fourteen Allstars from Berlin, Colebrook, Gorham, Groveton, Littleton and Lisbon ended their season with a solid 5-2 record.
Great Bay 2 0 2 0 5 0 2 11-10-5
N. Country 0 0 4 0 4 0 0 8-5-6
N. Country: Myers, Benoit (5th), Arsenault(5th), Chase(6th), and Smith, Braase (5th), Great Bay: Dolan, Donlevie (5th) and Cyr, WP-Dolan, LP-Myers.

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