High School: Tim Hopley
Every win streak, no matter its length, has an expiration date.
Learning the life span of record runs for Portsmouth High baseball (89 games) and Londonderry High girls' lacrosse (59 games) ended in the same week, however, was certainly unexpected.
The Clippers run of consecutive NHIAA wins on the diamond, currently a national record, was snapped April 30 by Seacoast rival St. Thomas Aquinas High. The Dover club celebrated a comeback 5-4 home win.
“This year's group, 2012, is the most different of all the five teams (that contributed to the streak),” Portsmouth head coach Tim Hopley said. “Ten of the 18 guys had never been in a varsity game before the season started, and they weren't necessarily invested in what had happened in the past.
“Yet our best players, our leaders, pointed us in the right direction and they went out and were able to get the record back,” added Hopley, referring to Martensdale-St. Mary's (Iowa) High, which briefly broke the Clippers' record last season. “Whether it be for a few weeks or longer is irrelevant. It really is."
The Lancers' state-record streak of NHIAA wins was stopped by visiting Concord High. The date was May 5. The score was 14-12.
“I told the girls, 'Now it's done. You've set the bar for the state. You've done something that's going to be awfully hard to do again. Now you can focus on the next game. As long as we don't lose the last one, that's what matters,'” said Londonderry coach Bob Slater, whose program owned one of the nation's longest overall win streaks, a 51-gamer, until last season's 12-9 loss at Andover (Mass.) High.
Portsmouth, the four-time defending Division II champion, last lost an NHIAA contest in the 2007 quarterfinals. Hollis/Brookline High eliminated the Clippers, 4-3.
Londonderry, the three-time defending Division I champ, hadn't lost to an in-state foe since the 2008 title game. Amherst's Souhegan High scored a 15-7 win.
Both streaks were snapped by teams that nearly won a state title last spring. STA and Concord closed their 2011 campaigns in heartbreaking fashion.
The Saints were four outs from hoisting hardware. Pitching ace and star slugger Jordan Bean -– less than a calendar year before scoring the streak-snapping run -– was tagged for a two-out, two-strike bases-clearing double in the home sixth. It was the critical blow in a four-run inning for the Clippers, 9-6 winners.
The Crimson Tide erased a five-goal halftime deficit and had the chance to tie the championship at 10-apiece with 21 seconds to play. But goaltender Sarah Ford clinched the 10-9 win for the Lancers by stopping Jenna Tewksbury's free-position shot.
Here's how the win streaks came to a halt:
STA rallied for four runs in its last at-bat. Chris White ripped the game-winning single back through the box. White's winner scored Bean, who belted a two-run, game-tying double in addition to scattering eight hits and allowing two earned runs over six frames.
“We have a tremendous amount of respect for the entire Portsmouth program and all that they have accomplished over the past five years. I think this year's victory went a long way to dispel the myth in the minds of our players that we simply cannot beat them,” said STA coach Marc Schoff, whose program entered the showdown 49-15 since 2009, with eight of those losses to the Clippers.
“One of our players said after the St. Thomas game that most people never have the opportunity to set a significant national record once in their lifetime," Hopley said. "But we were fortunate enough to be able to accomplish it twice.”
Concord quickly surrendered four goals, but rebounded to take a 7-5 halftime lead. Late in regulation, Jane Symmes ensured the game's seventh tie didn't materialize. Winning the draw with her team protecting a 12-11 lead, she scored Concord's critical 13th goal.
“They got down, 4-0, at the beginning and that was a wake-up call. After that, they got back into the game and took charge,” Concord coach Terry Anderson told the New Hampshire Sunday News. “This was an intense and competitive game, and the difference was ball control, just getting the draw and making good decisions.”
MORE WITH HOPLEY
What else did Portsmouth's baseball coach say about the national record-setting streak?
On the post-game message after losing: “First, standing in short right field 3 minutes after the game, we told them that it was bound to happen at some point, and that we really did do everything that day to win.
“The next day was the second step, more reflectionary. We told them how proud we were of them for what they had accomplished and for how they handled themselves through everything. It had to be said, and it will be said to every player who's been a part of this crazy ride. But we also reminded them that the seventh game of the season wasn't going to, couldn't, and shouldn't define who we were as a group.”
On winning while in the national spotlight: “The fact that the last two groups had to deal with the circus of media attention was probably fun at the time. But in hindsight, for 15-, 16-, 17-year-old high school kids who have to worry about a Calc test, their girlfriends, and cleaning up their room so mom and dad stop yelling, dealing with something like that is pretty heady stuff.
“And I'm sure we'd all do it again in a minute if we had the chance.”
NOTEWORTHY
– Holly Kathios, a freshman pitcher for the softball team at Nashua's Bishop Guertin High, threw a complete-game no-hitter on May 10. She notched nine strikeouts, worked around three walks, and contributed a fourth-inning RBI single. The Cardinals beat Hampton's Winnacunnet High, 2-0.
– Jake Kennedy, a soon-to-be senior at Amherst's Souhegan High, was nominated for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl on Jan. 5, 2013. Offered a scholarship by the University of Massachusetts, the offensive and defensive lineman is one of 400 football players nationwide, and the only one from New Hampshire, to receive a nomination. Ninety players will be selected later this year for the East vs. West matchup televised on NBC.
Marc Thaler is a reporter for the New Hampshire Union Leader & Sunday News. He co-hosts the “N.H. Sports Show” on Manchester's WGIR-AM 610 and the Seacoast's 96.7 FM every Saturday morning. Read his “New Hampshire GameDay” blog and follow him on Twitter: @marc_thaler.
Learning the life span of record runs for Portsmouth High baseball (89 games) and Londonderry High girls' lacrosse (59 games) ended in the same week, however, was certainly unexpected.
The Clippers run of consecutive NHIAA wins on the diamond, currently a national record, was snapped April 30 by Seacoast rival St. Thomas Aquinas High. The Dover club celebrated a comeback 5-4 home win.
“This year's group, 2012, is the most different of all the five teams (that contributed to the streak),” Portsmouth head coach Tim Hopley said. “Ten of the 18 guys had never been in a varsity game before the season started, and they weren't necessarily invested in what had happened in the past.
“Yet our best players, our leaders, pointed us in the right direction and they went out and were able to get the record back,” added Hopley, referring to Martensdale-St. Mary's (Iowa) High, which briefly broke the Clippers' record last season. “Whether it be for a few weeks or longer is irrelevant. It really is."
The Lancers' state-record streak of NHIAA wins was stopped by visiting Concord High. The date was May 5. The score was 14-12.
“I told the girls, 'Now it's done. You've set the bar for the state. You've done something that's going to be awfully hard to do again. Now you can focus on the next game. As long as we don't lose the last one, that's what matters,'” said Londonderry coach Bob Slater, whose program owned one of the nation's longest overall win streaks, a 51-gamer, until last season's 12-9 loss at Andover (Mass.) High.
Portsmouth, the four-time defending Division II champion, last lost an NHIAA contest in the 2007 quarterfinals. Hollis/Brookline High eliminated the Clippers, 4-3.
Londonderry, the three-time defending Division I champ, hadn't lost to an in-state foe since the 2008 title game. Amherst's Souhegan High scored a 15-7 win.
Both streaks were snapped by teams that nearly won a state title last spring. STA and Concord closed their 2011 campaigns in heartbreaking fashion.
The Saints were four outs from hoisting hardware. Pitching ace and star slugger Jordan Bean -– less than a calendar year before scoring the streak-snapping run -– was tagged for a two-out, two-strike bases-clearing double in the home sixth. It was the critical blow in a four-run inning for the Clippers, 9-6 winners.
The Crimson Tide erased a five-goal halftime deficit and had the chance to tie the championship at 10-apiece with 21 seconds to play. But goaltender Sarah Ford clinched the 10-9 win for the Lancers by stopping Jenna Tewksbury's free-position shot.
Here's how the win streaks came to a halt:
STA rallied for four runs in its last at-bat. Chris White ripped the game-winning single back through the box. White's winner scored Bean, who belted a two-run, game-tying double in addition to scattering eight hits and allowing two earned runs over six frames.
“We have a tremendous amount of respect for the entire Portsmouth program and all that they have accomplished over the past five years. I think this year's victory went a long way to dispel the myth in the minds of our players that we simply cannot beat them,” said STA coach Marc Schoff, whose program entered the showdown 49-15 since 2009, with eight of those losses to the Clippers.
“One of our players said after the St. Thomas game that most people never have the opportunity to set a significant national record once in their lifetime," Hopley said. "But we were fortunate enough to be able to accomplish it twice.”
Concord quickly surrendered four goals, but rebounded to take a 7-5 halftime lead. Late in regulation, Jane Symmes ensured the game's seventh tie didn't materialize. Winning the draw with her team protecting a 12-11 lead, she scored Concord's critical 13th goal.
“They got down, 4-0, at the beginning and that was a wake-up call. After that, they got back into the game and took charge,” Concord coach Terry Anderson told the New Hampshire Sunday News. “This was an intense and competitive game, and the difference was ball control, just getting the draw and making good decisions.”
MORE WITH HOPLEY
What else did Portsmouth's baseball coach say about the national record-setting streak?
On the post-game message after losing: “First, standing in short right field 3 minutes after the game, we told them that it was bound to happen at some point, and that we really did do everything that day to win.
“The next day was the second step, more reflectionary. We told them how proud we were of them for what they had accomplished and for how they handled themselves through everything. It had to be said, and it will be said to every player who's been a part of this crazy ride. But we also reminded them that the seventh game of the season wasn't going to, couldn't, and shouldn't define who we were as a group.”
On winning while in the national spotlight: “The fact that the last two groups had to deal with the circus of media attention was probably fun at the time. But in hindsight, for 15-, 16-, 17-year-old high school kids who have to worry about a Calc test, their girlfriends, and cleaning up their room so mom and dad stop yelling, dealing with something like that is pretty heady stuff.
“And I'm sure we'd all do it again in a minute if we had the chance.”
NOTEWORTHY
– Holly Kathios, a freshman pitcher for the softball team at Nashua's Bishop Guertin High, threw a complete-game no-hitter on May 10. She notched nine strikeouts, worked around three walks, and contributed a fourth-inning RBI single. The Cardinals beat Hampton's Winnacunnet High, 2-0.
– Jake Kennedy, a soon-to-be senior at Amherst's Souhegan High, was nominated for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl on Jan. 5, 2013. Offered a scholarship by the University of Massachusetts, the offensive and defensive lineman is one of 400 football players nationwide, and the only one from New Hampshire, to receive a nomination. Ninety players will be selected later this year for the East vs. West matchup televised on NBC.
Marc Thaler is a reporter for the New Hampshire Union Leader & Sunday News. He co-hosts the “N.H. Sports Show” on Manchester's WGIR-AM 610 and the Seacoast's 96.7 FM every Saturday morning. Read his “New Hampshire GameDay” blog and follow him on Twitter: @marc_thaler.
Portsmouth (N.H.) reclaims national win streak
April, 25, 2012
Apr 25
11:21
PM ET
By Roger Brown | ESPNBoston.com
Brendan Hall/ESPNBoston.com Portsmouth's Kyle DiCesare had three extra-base hits for 4 RBIs to help the Clippers reclaim the nation's longest active win streak.The victory established a national record for consecutive victories by a high school baseball team. The Clippers, who have won 88 games in a row, also set the national record for consecutive wins last season, when they stretched their winning streak to 76 games by beating Pembroke Academy.
Portsmouth ended the 2011 season with an 83-game winning streak, but Martensdale-St. Marys (Martensdale, Iowa) trumped Portsmouth by extending its winning streak to 87 games last spring.
“Last year, passing [the record] for the first time seemed like a bigger deal,” Portsmouth centerfielder Kyle DiCesare said. “It's just another step closer to our goal this year. If you ask any of the guys our real goal is to win another championship.”
Portsmouth, which raised its record to 5-0, has won the last four NHIAA Division II titles.
The Clippers scored three runs in the first inning, one in the third, five in the fourth and one in the fifth. The game ended after the fifth because of the 10-run mercy rule.
DiCesare led the Portsmouth offense with three hits (two doubles, triple) and four RBI. Leftfielder Dillon Crosby collected four hits and drove in two.
Junior Ricky Holt held Windham to two hits in 4 2/3 innings to pick up the win. Holt was also the winning pitcher when Portsmouth broke Homer (Mich.) High School's record last season with a 10-2 triumph over Pembroke Academy.
“I don't really feel it that much because the first one was a lot bigger,” Holt said. “It's a good feeling though.”
Holt improved his pitching record to 3-0 and has allowed one run in his three starts.
Portsmouth has outscored its five opponents 51-2 this season.
“It's weird because it's baseball,” Windham coach Derek Lee said. “I could understand if it was basketball and you have your dominating center, your dominating point guard, but baseball anybody can lose at any given time. The fact that they have this streak in this sport...it's unbelievable how they've gone about doing this.
“If they win the championship again this year it's going to be quite an accomplishment, because they don't have any Division I scholarship players this year [six players from the Portsmouth program are currently playing Division I college baseball]. If they keep the streak this year it will be much more amazing than it already is.”
Portsmouth's last loss came against Hollis-Brookline in the semifinals of the 2007 Class I tournament. The Clippers moved from Class L to Class I (now Division II)— a move based on the school's decreased enrollment— after the 2006 season.
Portsmouth coach Tim Hopley said he traded several emails with Martensdale-St. Mary's coach Justin Dehmer this week. Hopley said Dehmer sent him a text message wishing Portsmouth luck before Wednesday's game.
Martensdale-St. Mary's is scheduled to open its season May 21.
“We've done it a little differently than they have,” Hopley said. “They've had a two-year grind of playing 40-plus games. I can't imagine what that would be like, basically playing a game every day and stringing all those victories back to back. For us it's been four-plus years and so many different kids.”
Friday's game against Souhegan and Monday's contest at St. Thomas figure to be two of Portsmouth's toughest tests this season. Portsmouth defeated St. Thomas in the 2009 and 2011 championship games.
“If anyone beats them this year I think it will be St. Thomas,” Lee said. “They have the horses to do it.”
Hopley said he was fine with the fact that there was much more pomp and circumstance when the Clippers set the national record last year.
“I'm OK with it because we've asked the guys to focus on the here and now, and not get caught up in the big picture,” he said. “We came here to win our fifth game of the season. It just so happened that we added on to some other things, like that big number.”
New England Roundup: New Hampshire
April, 13, 2012
Apr 13
12:35
PM ET
By Marc Thaler | ESPNBoston.com
Salem High's Nicole Gubellini notched eight strikeouts, but primarily pitched to contact.
The problem for Concord High hitters taking their cuts? Gubellini never allowed them to get the barrel of the bat on the ball.
The end result, aided greatly by strong infield defense, was a no-hitter for the senior hurler and 5-0 Division I softball win April 11. Two days earlier, she threw an abbreviated no-no in Salem's season-opening 14-0 mercy-rule win at Rochester's Spaulding High.
Concord's Lindsey Stevenson reached on an infield error to open the game. Then, Gubellini retired 21 outs in a row. Her complete-game masterpiece took 65 minutes to complete.
“I can feel it, when things are good,” said Gubellini, a four-year pitcher for the Blue Devils and scholarship recruit of Quinnipiac University. “Some days, some pitches are better than others.”
Gubellini claimed her changeup – among an array of pitches she throws with accuracy and confidence – wasn't consistently sharp against the Crimson Tide.
She could have fooled Concord coach Duke Sawyer. She did fool her share of hitters.
“She's tough. Salem's tough,” said Sawyer, who took last year's Tide team to the state final. “She pitched against us last year a little bit. She did well last year, too.”
In addition to fanning eight, Salem's ace induced 12 outs via grounders or weak infield pop-ups.
Everyone in the infield – from catcher Amanda Biron, third baseman Hannah Latham, shortstop Samantha Cloutier, second baseman Sarah Frahm and first baseman Emily O'Brien to Gubellini herself – played a part in recording at least one of those 12 outs.
Only one fly ball reached the outfield. Center fielder Stephanie Long tracked it down.
Strong pitching is nothing new at Salem, where Granite State legend Harold Sachs has led the Blue Devils to 14 state titles.
But last year's quarterfinal-round exit was a stunner. The Blue Devils, as the top tournament seed, were beaten by Nashua's Bishop Guertin High.
“We won the regular-season league last year. We believed we were the best team last year. That has not changed in our thinking,” said Sachs, who won his 500th career game last May. “And we just think we're better this year. I don't know what that's going to mean down the road.”
Should Gubellini give Salem a season worth of strong starts, it might mean trouble for the opposition.
MORE DIAMOND DOMINANCE
NHIAA baseball's April 9 Opening Day included a pair of mercy-rule-shortened no-hitters.
Jordan Bean tossed one for Division II St. Thomas Aquinas High of Dover. Nick Massa celebrated the other for Division II Kennett High of Conway.
STA beat Division I Dover High, 10-0, in five innings. Bean, a senior, tallied seven strikeouts and set down 14 batters to close the contest after issuing a one-out walk in the opening frame.
He also had the game-winning hit: a first-inning solo home run.
Kennett defeated Division III Berlin High, 10-0, in five innings. Massa, also a junior, fanned seven, walked one and contributed a run-scoring hit.
STILL GOING STRONG
Portsmouth High began taking aim at its fifth consecutive Division II baseball championship April 9. Coach Tim Hopley & Co. opened with an 11-1 win at Wolfeboro's Kingswood Regional.
The six-inning, 10-run mercy decision marked the 84th consecutive win for the Clippers.
Briefly the national record-holder late last spring, Portsmouth opened the 2012 campaign with an active win streak that ranked second to Martensdale-St. Mary's High (87) of Martensdale, Iowa.
Billy Hartmann ripped three hits, the biggest being an RBI double in the fifth. Hartmann's key hit snapped a 1-1 tie and sparked a seven-run outburst.
Rick Holt, the team's pitching ace this season, helped his cause with a two-run double. Dillon Crosby connected for a three-run, sixth-inning homer that capped the onslaught.
"I was pleased with the way we handled ourselves in the first week," said Hopley, whose club won its 85th straight game, a 12-1 decision at Northwood's Coe-Brown Academy, on April 13. "Our pitching was good, offensively we were okay. But we've got to do a better job on the defensive side of the ball. Our timing and judgment were off, and we'll have to pay more attention to that in the immediate future so that it doesn't become a problem."
'MID-SEASON FORM'
Since boys' lacrosse was first sanctioned by the NHIAA in 1994, only two programs in New Hampshire have celebrated a championship three-peat.
Bishop Guertin this spring aims to join Division I rival Pinkerton Academy of Derry (1994-97, 1999-2002) and Division II Bow High (2002-04, 2008-10) in accomplishing the feat.
Guertin's Cardinals, heavy preseason favorites to win a fifth overall title, started strong in their Division I opener April 10. The state's No. 1-ranked team in the New Hampshire GameDay top 10 (“X-factors: April 9-15, 2012”) overpowered No. 3 Hanover High, 15-3.
“They're, like, in mid-season form. We're still in preseason, I think,” quipped Hanover coach Jeff Reed, whose Marauders, Division I champs in 2007 and 2009 have teamed with the Cards to win all five titles from 2007-11.
Midfielder Paul Spinney powered BG's offense with a game-high four points (three goals, assist). His assist, on a dish to Hunter Allen late in the opening period, snapped a 1-1 deadlock.
It also set off a six-goal run to close the first half. Guertin's defense, when challenged, answered the call.
Close defenders Bob Fahey and Kyle Karaska, and long-stick midfielder Brody Smith, led the lock-down effort on Hanover's top threats. Attackman Christian Johansen and midfielder Christian Wolter didn't post a point.
“Our challenge to these guys is to come every day to practice, practice hard, get better by the time we leave the field,” BG coach Chris Cameron said. “And show up for every game.”
Marc Thaler is a reporter for the New Hampshire Union Leader & Sunday News. He co-hosts the “N.H. Sports Show” on Manchester's WGIR-AM 610 and the Seacoast's 96.7 FM every Saturday from 7-9 a.m. Read his “New Hampshire GameDay” blog and follow him on Twitter: @marc_thaler.
The problem for Concord High hitters taking their cuts? Gubellini never allowed them to get the barrel of the bat on the ball.
The end result, aided greatly by strong infield defense, was a no-hitter for the senior hurler and 5-0 Division I softball win April 11. Two days earlier, she threw an abbreviated no-no in Salem's season-opening 14-0 mercy-rule win at Rochester's Spaulding High.
Concord's Lindsey Stevenson reached on an infield error to open the game. Then, Gubellini retired 21 outs in a row. Her complete-game masterpiece took 65 minutes to complete.
“I can feel it, when things are good,” said Gubellini, a four-year pitcher for the Blue Devils and scholarship recruit of Quinnipiac University. “Some days, some pitches are better than others.”
Gubellini claimed her changeup – among an array of pitches she throws with accuracy and confidence – wasn't consistently sharp against the Crimson Tide.
She could have fooled Concord coach Duke Sawyer. She did fool her share of hitters.
“She's tough. Salem's tough,” said Sawyer, who took last year's Tide team to the state final. “She pitched against us last year a little bit. She did well last year, too.”
In addition to fanning eight, Salem's ace induced 12 outs via grounders or weak infield pop-ups.
Everyone in the infield – from catcher Amanda Biron, third baseman Hannah Latham, shortstop Samantha Cloutier, second baseman Sarah Frahm and first baseman Emily O'Brien to Gubellini herself – played a part in recording at least one of those 12 outs.
Only one fly ball reached the outfield. Center fielder Stephanie Long tracked it down.
Strong pitching is nothing new at Salem, where Granite State legend Harold Sachs has led the Blue Devils to 14 state titles.
But last year's quarterfinal-round exit was a stunner. The Blue Devils, as the top tournament seed, were beaten by Nashua's Bishop Guertin High.
“We won the regular-season league last year. We believed we were the best team last year. That has not changed in our thinking,” said Sachs, who won his 500th career game last May. “And we just think we're better this year. I don't know what that's going to mean down the road.”
Should Gubellini give Salem a season worth of strong starts, it might mean trouble for the opposition.
MORE DIAMOND DOMINANCE
NHIAA baseball's April 9 Opening Day included a pair of mercy-rule-shortened no-hitters.
Jordan Bean tossed one for Division II St. Thomas Aquinas High of Dover. Nick Massa celebrated the other for Division II Kennett High of Conway.
STA beat Division I Dover High, 10-0, in five innings. Bean, a senior, tallied seven strikeouts and set down 14 batters to close the contest after issuing a one-out walk in the opening frame.
He also had the game-winning hit: a first-inning solo home run.
Kennett defeated Division III Berlin High, 10-0, in five innings. Massa, also a junior, fanned seven, walked one and contributed a run-scoring hit.
STILL GOING STRONG
Portsmouth High began taking aim at its fifth consecutive Division II baseball championship April 9. Coach Tim Hopley & Co. opened with an 11-1 win at Wolfeboro's Kingswood Regional.
The six-inning, 10-run mercy decision marked the 84th consecutive win for the Clippers.
Briefly the national record-holder late last spring, Portsmouth opened the 2012 campaign with an active win streak that ranked second to Martensdale-St. Mary's High (87) of Martensdale, Iowa.
Billy Hartmann ripped three hits, the biggest being an RBI double in the fifth. Hartmann's key hit snapped a 1-1 tie and sparked a seven-run outburst.
Rick Holt, the team's pitching ace this season, helped his cause with a two-run double. Dillon Crosby connected for a three-run, sixth-inning homer that capped the onslaught.
"I was pleased with the way we handled ourselves in the first week," said Hopley, whose club won its 85th straight game, a 12-1 decision at Northwood's Coe-Brown Academy, on April 13. "Our pitching was good, offensively we were okay. But we've got to do a better job on the defensive side of the ball. Our timing and judgment were off, and we'll have to pay more attention to that in the immediate future so that it doesn't become a problem."
'MID-SEASON FORM'
Since boys' lacrosse was first sanctioned by the NHIAA in 1994, only two programs in New Hampshire have celebrated a championship three-peat.
Bishop Guertin this spring aims to join Division I rival Pinkerton Academy of Derry (1994-97, 1999-2002) and Division II Bow High (2002-04, 2008-10) in accomplishing the feat.
Guertin's Cardinals, heavy preseason favorites to win a fifth overall title, started strong in their Division I opener April 10. The state's No. 1-ranked team in the New Hampshire GameDay top 10 (“X-factors: April 9-15, 2012”) overpowered No. 3 Hanover High, 15-3.
“They're, like, in mid-season form. We're still in preseason, I think,” quipped Hanover coach Jeff Reed, whose Marauders, Division I champs in 2007 and 2009 have teamed with the Cards to win all five titles from 2007-11.
Midfielder Paul Spinney powered BG's offense with a game-high four points (three goals, assist). His assist, on a dish to Hunter Allen late in the opening period, snapped a 1-1 deadlock.
It also set off a six-goal run to close the first half. Guertin's defense, when challenged, answered the call.
Close defenders Bob Fahey and Kyle Karaska, and long-stick midfielder Brody Smith, led the lock-down effort on Hanover's top threats. Attackman Christian Johansen and midfielder Christian Wolter didn't post a point.
“Our challenge to these guys is to come every day to practice, practice hard, get better by the time we leave the field,” BG coach Chris Cameron said. “And show up for every game.”
Marc Thaler is a reporter for the New Hampshire Union Leader & Sunday News. He co-hosts the “N.H. Sports Show” on Manchester's WGIR-AM 610 and the Seacoast's 96.7 FM every Saturday from 7-9 a.m. Read his “New Hampshire GameDay” blog and follow him on Twitter: @marc_thaler.
83 games and counting for Portsmouth (N.H.)
June, 24, 2011
6/24/11
4:18
PM ET
By Roger Brown | ESPNBoston.com
When it seemed clear that the Portsmouth (N.H.) High baseball team was about to extend the program’s winning streak to 83 games by beating St. Thomas Aquinas in last Saturday’s Division II championship game, the conversation in the Northeast Delta Dental press box turned to next season. How good will Portsmouth be in 20102?
The answer: pretty darn good.
Like most teams, the Clippers will have some significant pieces to replace, but Portsmouth will return most of its starting lineup. The key losses will be starting pitcher Keegan Taylor and center fielder Aidan O’Leary, both of whom have committed to play Division I baseball. Taylor will play for Northeastern, and O’Leary for Manhattan.
“We’ll have a decent nucleus of five or six guys coming back,” Portsmouth coach Tim Hopley said. “When you lose kids like [Taylor] and Aidan O’Leary it’s significant.”
Taylor, who earned the win in Portsmouth’s 9-6 triumph over St. Thomas (Dover), was 10-0 this season and 25-0 during his high school career. O’Leary hit .434 with a team-high 13 stolen bases this season.
Right fielder Quinn McCann, who entered the championship game with a .424 batting average, will also be tough to replace.
Portsmouth will return the following starters: catcher Conor Trefethen, third baseman Matt Feeney, shortstop Billy Hartmann, second baseman Connor McCauley, first baseman Ricky Holt and outfielder Kyle DiCesare.
McCauley, who can also catch, was batting a team-high .439 entering the championship game. Holt will replace Taylor as the team’s ace. He was 7-0 with a 1.56 ERA after he pitched a complete game against Laconia in the Division II semifinals. He pitched two scoreless innings in the championship game.
“Standing here right now I can’t see how we’re not going to drop off a bit, but I probably said that last year and the year before too,” Hopley said.
Portsmouth’s victory over St. Thomas handed the program its fourth-consecutive Division II championship. Portsmouth hasn’t lost a game since the 2007 season.
The Clippers broke the national record for consecutive victories when they beat Pembroke Academy to push the winning streak to 76 games during the regular season.
Although some people would like to see the Clippers move up to Division I, Hopley scoffed at the suggestion.
“People ask us about that all the time,” Hopley said. “My answer is simply, ‘If we were the biggest school in Division II then I would understand it, but we’re the fourth or fifth biggest school in Division II.
“The reality is if people expect us to move up based on success then 1) they haven’t paid attention to the program for the entirety, and 2) I would expect that they voice those concerns about the other four schools that have a bigger enrollment than we do.”
The Portsmouth junior varsity team lost five games this season, after suffering one loss from 2007 to 2010.
Portsmouth’s latest victory was one of its strangest. Because of a lightning delay, the game didn’t start until 10:25 p.m., and ended just before 1 a.m.
New Hampshire’s pitching rules also forced Hopley to get creative with how he used Taylor. Pitchers are allowed to throw a maximum of 16 innings in the tournament and Taylor had five innings of eligibility left entering the championship game. Taylor started the game on the mound, but also pitched four innings of relief.
Taylor moved from the mound to right field after the first inning. He moved back to the mound in the fourth, after Holt pitched two scoreless innings.
“It was something new,” Taylor said. “I’ve never sat that long. It must have been like 45 minutes that I was sitting out for. It was tough. I got a little cold.
“We were up in the air until five minutes before game time. I went to [Hopley] and said, ‘OK, I can do that.’ It was in my hands whether I wanted to do it or not.”
Hopley said until the start of the game was delayed by lightning he planned to start Holt, and bring Taylor in at the beginning of the third.
“I was concerned with them getting momentum early,” Hopley said. “Ricky being a sophomore in an unfamiliar setting – and certainly one that’s full of pressure – I thought it might be best to go with Keegan because he’s been on that stage before and he’s very familiar with the hitters he was going to be facing.
“I put [Taylor] in a tough spot. We went back and forth all week long on how we were going to handle the whole pitching thing.”
Taylor allowed six runs on six hits, struck out 11 and walked one. He struggled through the fifth, when St. Thomas (12-8) scored five runs on four hits to take a 6-5 lead.
Although Taylor put his team in a hole in the fifth, he pulled the Clippers out of it in the sixth. That’s when he broke a 6-6 tie by hitting a two-out, two-strike pitch just inside the right-field line for a three-run triple that capped the scoring.
The Clippers (20-0) tied the game when Conor Trefethen started the inning with a double and ended up on third because of a throwing error. Kyle DiCesare followed with an RBI double that erased Portsmouth’s 6-5 deficit.
Hopley called the victory over St. Thomas the program’s biggest win in his 16 years as the program’s head coach.
“What the program has accomplished [setting the national record for consecutive victories} and what we’ve gone through and the attention that it has earned, to get to this point and not finish it with a win that wasn’t something that I was prepared to deal with,” Hopley said. “It was a real important game for us. This was special.”
The answer: pretty darn good.
Like most teams, the Clippers will have some significant pieces to replace, but Portsmouth will return most of its starting lineup. The key losses will be starting pitcher Keegan Taylor and center fielder Aidan O’Leary, both of whom have committed to play Division I baseball. Taylor will play for Northeastern, and O’Leary for Manhattan.
“We’ll have a decent nucleus of five or six guys coming back,” Portsmouth coach Tim Hopley said. “When you lose kids like [Taylor] and Aidan O’Leary it’s significant.”
Taylor, who earned the win in Portsmouth’s 9-6 triumph over St. Thomas (Dover), was 10-0 this season and 25-0 during his high school career. O’Leary hit .434 with a team-high 13 stolen bases this season.
Right fielder Quinn McCann, who entered the championship game with a .424 batting average, will also be tough to replace.
Portsmouth will return the following starters: catcher Conor Trefethen, third baseman Matt Feeney, shortstop Billy Hartmann, second baseman Connor McCauley, first baseman Ricky Holt and outfielder Kyle DiCesare.
McCauley, who can also catch, was batting a team-high .439 entering the championship game. Holt will replace Taylor as the team’s ace. He was 7-0 with a 1.56 ERA after he pitched a complete game against Laconia in the Division II semifinals. He pitched two scoreless innings in the championship game.
“Standing here right now I can’t see how we’re not going to drop off a bit, but I probably said that last year and the year before too,” Hopley said.
Portsmouth’s victory over St. Thomas handed the program its fourth-consecutive Division II championship. Portsmouth hasn’t lost a game since the 2007 season.
The Clippers broke the national record for consecutive victories when they beat Pembroke Academy to push the winning streak to 76 games during the regular season.
Although some people would like to see the Clippers move up to Division I, Hopley scoffed at the suggestion.
“People ask us about that all the time,” Hopley said. “My answer is simply, ‘If we were the biggest school in Division II then I would understand it, but we’re the fourth or fifth biggest school in Division II.
“The reality is if people expect us to move up based on success then 1) they haven’t paid attention to the program for the entirety, and 2) I would expect that they voice those concerns about the other four schools that have a bigger enrollment than we do.”
The Portsmouth junior varsity team lost five games this season, after suffering one loss from 2007 to 2010.
Portsmouth’s latest victory was one of its strangest. Because of a lightning delay, the game didn’t start until 10:25 p.m., and ended just before 1 a.m.
New Hampshire’s pitching rules also forced Hopley to get creative with how he used Taylor. Pitchers are allowed to throw a maximum of 16 innings in the tournament and Taylor had five innings of eligibility left entering the championship game. Taylor started the game on the mound, but also pitched four innings of relief.
Taylor moved from the mound to right field after the first inning. He moved back to the mound in the fourth, after Holt pitched two scoreless innings.
“It was something new,” Taylor said. “I’ve never sat that long. It must have been like 45 minutes that I was sitting out for. It was tough. I got a little cold.
“We were up in the air until five minutes before game time. I went to [Hopley] and said, ‘OK, I can do that.’ It was in my hands whether I wanted to do it or not.”
Hopley said until the start of the game was delayed by lightning he planned to start Holt, and bring Taylor in at the beginning of the third.
“I was concerned with them getting momentum early,” Hopley said. “Ricky being a sophomore in an unfamiliar setting – and certainly one that’s full of pressure – I thought it might be best to go with Keegan because he’s been on that stage before and he’s very familiar with the hitters he was going to be facing.
“I put [Taylor] in a tough spot. We went back and forth all week long on how we were going to handle the whole pitching thing.”
Taylor allowed six runs on six hits, struck out 11 and walked one. He struggled through the fifth, when St. Thomas (12-8) scored five runs on four hits to take a 6-5 lead.
Although Taylor put his team in a hole in the fifth, he pulled the Clippers out of it in the sixth. That’s when he broke a 6-6 tie by hitting a two-out, two-strike pitch just inside the right-field line for a three-run triple that capped the scoring.
The Clippers (20-0) tied the game when Conor Trefethen started the inning with a double and ended up on third because of a throwing error. Kyle DiCesare followed with an RBI double that erased Portsmouth’s 6-5 deficit.
Hopley called the victory over St. Thomas the program’s biggest win in his 16 years as the program’s head coach.
“What the program has accomplished [setting the national record for consecutive victories} and what we’ve gone through and the attention that it has earned, to get to this point and not finish it with a win that wasn’t something that I was prepared to deal with,” Hopley said. “It was a real important game for us. This was special.”
New England Roundup: New Hampshire
June, 22, 2011
6/22/11
8:43
PM ET
By Marc Thaler | ESPNBoston.com
Considering the contest's national significance and how the seven-inning bout played out, there's just one way to sum up the Division II baseball final.
It was sensational.
Portsmouth High prevailed in a thriller – a game played in 2 hours, 8 minutes but over the course of two days – to stun Seacoast rival St. Thomas Aquinas High of Dover. The Clippers clinched a 9-6 win at the home of Double-A baseball's New Hampshire Fisher Cats.
The last title game of the NHIAA's “Super Saturday,” a June 18 quadruple-header at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium in Manchester, ended with No. 1 seed Portsmouth (20-0) celebrating a fourth consecutive crown and national record-extending 83rd straight win.
“What the program has accomplished and what we've gone through, and the attention (the win streak) has earned, to get to this point and not finish it with a win, that wasn't something I was prepared to deal with,” Portsmouth coach Tim Hopley said. “It was a real important game for us.”
Three storylines from the much-anticipated matchup:
Strange time to start. The game was scheduled to start at 8:15 p.m. Portsmouth ace and Northeastern-bound Keegan Taylor didn't fire the first pitch until 10:23.
The last out wasn't recorded until 12:45 Sunday morning.
STA-Portsmouth followed the Division IV final, delayed 50 minutes by thunder. Weather was just one factor contributing to the lengthy game that pushed back the main event's scheduled start time.
“We gave both teams the option of coming back (to play Sunday). It was late. But everybody preferred to get it in,” NHIAA executive director Pat Corbin said. “We had a tremendous crowd. For the kids, they'll always be able to say, 'We're the ones that played the latest game in the history of New Hampshire.'”
Dueling aces. Five summers ago, they were the Nos. 1 and 2 pitchers for Portsmouth's Little League World Series team that reached the U.S. semifinals. As the clock approached 1 a.m. Sunday, STA ace Jordan Bean and Taylor squared off in the game's key sequence.
It was sensational.
Portsmouth High prevailed in a thriller – a game played in 2 hours, 8 minutes but over the course of two days – to stun Seacoast rival St. Thomas Aquinas High of Dover. The Clippers clinched a 9-6 win at the home of Double-A baseball's New Hampshire Fisher Cats.
The last title game of the NHIAA's “Super Saturday,” a June 18 quadruple-header at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium in Manchester, ended with No. 1 seed Portsmouth (20-0) celebrating a fourth consecutive crown and national record-extending 83rd straight win.
“What the program has accomplished and what we've gone through, and the attention (the win streak) has earned, to get to this point and not finish it with a win, that wasn't something I was prepared to deal with,” Portsmouth coach Tim Hopley said. “It was a real important game for us.”
Three storylines from the much-anticipated matchup:
Strange time to start. The game was scheduled to start at 8:15 p.m. Portsmouth ace and Northeastern-bound Keegan Taylor didn't fire the first pitch until 10:23.
The last out wasn't recorded until 12:45 Sunday morning.
STA-Portsmouth followed the Division IV final, delayed 50 minutes by thunder. Weather was just one factor contributing to the lengthy game that pushed back the main event's scheduled start time.
“We gave both teams the option of coming back (to play Sunday). It was late. But everybody preferred to get it in,” NHIAA executive director Pat Corbin said. “We had a tremendous crowd. For the kids, they'll always be able to say, 'We're the ones that played the latest game in the history of New Hampshire.'”
Dueling aces. Five summers ago, they were the Nos. 1 and 2 pitchers for Portsmouth's Little League World Series team that reached the U.S. semifinals. As the clock approached 1 a.m. Sunday, STA ace Jordan Bean and Taylor squared off in the game's key sequence.
Round-trippers that clear the fence at Campbell High are a rarity. They're so rare, in fact, that nobody associated with the Litchfield school's softball program remembers a single batter going yard.
Correction: Nobody remembers a single batter going yard before May 13.
That's when sophomore designated hitter Chelsea Caynon slugged her way to a career-defining contest. Her 3-for-4 day at the dish included three towering home runs tagged in consecutive at-bats.“I kind of thought all of them were lucky because nobody has done it before,” Caynon of her Friday the 13th fireworks, the last of which was a walk-off that clinched a 13-1 Division III mercy win over Alton's Prospect Mountain High.
Caynon said she was mobbed by teammates after circling the bases for the third time. Her last blast, in the fifth inning, capped Campbell's 13-run outburst over three frames.
Campbell's No. 3 hitter connected in the third, fourth and fifth innings and knocked in five runs. The lasers all landed in the same spot, well beyond the left-field fence stationed 250 feet from home plate.
Coach Laurie Gatherum, in her sixth year at the helm, estimated the shots sailed 260 feet.
“When Chelsea comes up to bat, I get as far away from the third-base box as I can. She's come close to killing me. She's a dead-pull hitter,” Gatherum said. “I get as close to the out-of-play line as possible.
“I almost want to warn the third baseman to back up. If she gets a piece of the ball, it's going.”
Caynon's powerful performance actually carried into her next game. She went 1-for-3 with a homer against Hopkinton High, giving her four taters in a span of seven at-bats.
But Caynon isn't a stereotypical all-or-nothing power hitter. She closed the regular season with one strikeout in 64 plate appearances.
She also posted a .500 average (28-for-56) with eight walks, five home runs, one triple, 10 doubles, 25 runs scored and 32 RBI. Her production helped the Cougars clinch first place with a 15-1 record.
“I would say she is the best hitter that the program has ever had, as far as consistency and power,” Gatherum said.
That's saying something. Caynon is, after all, just a sophomore.
“I wasn't really trying to hit three in row,” she said. “I was just waiting for my pitch.”
Special guest Portsmouth (N.H.) High baseball head coach Tim Hopley joined Scott Barboza and Brendan Hall for the latest installment of the ESPN Boston High Schools podcast. 
In addition to talking about his Clippers' nation best 76-plus game winning streak, Hopley looked ahead to the New Hampshire state baseball tournament while we also digest the latest happenings around Massachusetts in the final week of the regular season.
In addition to talking about his Clippers' nation best 76-plus game winning streak, Hopley looked ahead to the New Hampshire state baseball tournament while we also digest the latest happenings around Massachusetts in the final week of the regular season.
By now, you've already heard about Portsmouth (N.H.) High's nation-best 76-game winning streak.
This morning, Clippers head coach Tim Hopley caught up with ESPN's 'First Take' crew to talk about the team's momentous achievement. Check it out:
This morning, Clippers head coach Tim Hopley caught up with ESPN's 'First Take' crew to talk about the team's momentous achievement. Check it out:
Portsmouth (N.H.) sets national record for wins
May, 19, 2011
5/19/11
11:44
PM ET
By Roger Brown | ESPNBoston.com
PEMBROKE, N.H. –- Tim Hopley had a message for his Portsmouth High School baseball team Thursday, and he waited until the seventh inning to deliver it.
With the Clippers three outs away from breaking the national record for consecutive victories, Hopley gathered the Portsmouth players in front of the visitors’ dugout and made sure he had everyone’s attention.
“I told them there’s something like 17,421 high school teams that play baseball in the [United States] and they were three outs away from doing something none of those teams had ever accomplished,” Hopley said following Portsmouth’s 10-2 triumph over Pembroke Academy. “If that didn’t get them excited, if it didn’t get them focused and paying attention to what we were standing of the doorstep of, well, that was the best I could come up with.”
Portsmouth’s victory stretched the program’s winning streak to 76 games, one more than Homer (Mich.) High School won in 2004 and 2005. That 2005 Homer team featured pitcher Josh Collmenter, who made his major league debut with the Arizona Diamondbacks earlier this season.
“Records are made to be broken,” Homer coach Scott Salow said. “There are no hard feelings. I’m sure they’ll do a good job carrying the torch. This has put Homer baseball back on the front page.”
Several Portsmouth players said they were relieved the record had been broken, but they insisted the team’s No. 1 goal is winning a fourth consecutive state championship.
“It’s definitely, definitely relief,” Portsmouth pitcher/outfielder Keegan Taylor said. “It’s always nice to have something off your back, but to me we’re not done. It’s more than just this. Definitely not satisfied yet. We want to be the last team standing.”
Pitcher Ricky Holt and catcher Connor McCauley are the Portsmouth players who made the biggest contribution to Thursday’s win. Holt, a sophomore, pitched a complete game and held Pembroke to five hits. He struck out four and didn’t walk a batter.
“Really happy and excited that we got that record,” Holt said. “Now we can start getting ready for the playoffs. We still have to get better every game and get to our main goal, which is to bring another championship back to Portsmouth.”
McCauley collected four hits, drove in three runs and stole three bases.
“Definitely my best hitting game of the season,” McCauley said. “It’s weird thinking we own a national record. Right now it feels pretty good, but after this weekend we’re gonna start thinking about winning another championship. There’s relief, but we still have work to do.”
McCauley and Taylor are among the five players on this year’s Portsmouth team who also played for the Portsmouth team that reached the 2006 Little League World Series. Shortstop Billy Hartmann, third baseman Matt Feeney and catcher/designated hitter Conor Trefethen are the others.
Feeney, Trefethen and second baseman Matt Main each had two hits for the Clippers, who raised their Division II record to 13-0. The loss dropped Pembroke’s record to 7-6.
Portsmouth did most of its damage in the second inning, when it sent nine batters to the plate and took a 5-0 lead. The big blow in the inning was Main’s two-run double.
Main made it 6-0 when he scored on a wild pitch in the top of the fourth, but Pembroke answered with two runs in the bottom half of the inning. Matt Gosselin and Zac Gauss each scored on Pat Flanagan’s two-run single.
The Clippers padded their lead by adding three runs in the fifth and one in the sixth. McCauley’s two-run single highlighted the three-run fifth.
Pembroke’s Shane St. Onge pitched five innings in relief of starter Patrick Jarvis. Each pitcher surrendered five runs.
“Every day the focus was simply just getting better,” Hopley said. “If we continue to get better, we’re gonna continue to play good baseball. If we get complacent and we stop trying to get better, it’s gonna end in the snap of a finger. It’s the nature of the beast in high school baseball.”
Hopley shouldn’t have a problem getting his team refocused for its next game. Portsmouth will play at rival St. Thomas on Monday. Portsmouth overcame a 2-0 deficit to beat St. Thomas 4-3 earlier this season.
“They know what’s coming,” Hopley said. “They know there’s not a team in New Hampshire that wants to beat them more than what’s in front of us on Monday.
“My job will be to remind them that it’s 76, and why can’t it be 77? Why can’t it be a bigger number?”
Shortstop Mike Fransoso (Maine), outfielder Mike Montville (Maryland), pitcher Ben Hart (UMass), and pitcher Nate Jones (Wake Forest) are former Portsmouth players who contributed to the streak and are now playing Division I college baseball.
Two players on this year’s team –- Taylor and centerfielder Aidan O’Leary –- have committed to play Division I baseball next season. Taylor is headed to Northeastern, and O’Leary will play for Manhattan. Taylor is 6-0 this season and 20-0 in his varsity career.
Portsmouth’s last loss came against Hollis-Brookline in the semifinals of the 2007 Class I tournament.
The Clippers used to make headlines for a different reason. Portsmouth was coming off an 0-18 season when Hopley became head coach in 1996. The program’s losing streak reached 30 games before Hopley collected his first victory as a varsity head coach.
“[Back then] I would literally wake up and pray it was raining that day because it meant we weren’t going to lose,” he said.
Hopley played for the Portsmouth team that won a state championship in 1988. The Clippers also qualified for postseason play in 1989, but didn’t play another postseason game until 2004.
“There’s been 42 guys who put this uniform on during the course of this streak,” Hopley said. “The fact that it’s stretched out over four different teams speaks volumes about those 42 guys because every single one of them has done one thing or another to help us be successful.
“These guys finished what was started by the guys before them. It’s a pretty cool thing.”
New England Roundup: New Hampshire
April, 28, 2011
4/28/11
12:45
PM ET
By Marc Thaler | ESPNBoston.com
The focus these past two weeks has been on win streaks.
New Hampshire is home to two teams, each with a consecutive victory count that's quite high – and continues to climb.
On the Seacoast, Portsmouth High's baseball team owns a state-record 68-game win streak, a run that's seven wins shy of matching the national record (75), according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. Michigan's Homer High set the standard in 2005.
Meanwhile, in the southern part of the state, the Londonderry High girls' lacrosse squad rides a state-best 42-gamer.
“[The win streak is] something that's talked about throughout the community. We see more people coming to games as we get closer,” said senior Keegan Taylor, Portsmouth's Northeastern-bound pitcher. “As a team, we try not to think about it as much. It's not a distraction, but it is added pressure.
“Game-to-game is what we focus on most,” he added. “You don't want to be that team that loses.”
You'll hear the same sentiment echoed in Londonderry's camp. Here are three additional similarities that link Portsmouth and Londonderry, and their win streaks:
Tremendous turnarounds – Portsmouth coach Tim Hopley and Londonderry mentor Bob Slater didn't inherit powerhouse programs. They built them.
Hopley's start 16 seasons ago was particularly inauspicious.
“We were on a 30-game losing streak midway through my first season. I started 0-10 in my coaching career and the team lost the previous 20 prior to that. I thought I was going to get fired. So, all this stuff we're in the middle of, I don't see it as a negative,” Hopley said when asked if the constant questions about Portsmouth's win streak have grown tiresome.
Slater, in his sixth year guiding the girls, didn't take over a team trying to snap a long losing streak. But, he has often said, a defeatist's mentality hovered over the program.
Londonderry went 5-11 the year before Slater arrived. Six of those setbacks were at least eight-goal margins of defeat. Confidence among athletes was non-existent. The Lancers won 11 games in Slater's first season (2006).
“When I took the girls' program over, being in the concrete business, I said 'We’re going to put the foundation in this year,” Slater said. “Then, we’re going to build the house the next year, and we’re going to fill it.
“Lo and behold, we won two championships my fourth and fifth years,” he added. “It’s a game plan.”
Succession of stars – Graduation every spring is the great equalizer. Once-dominant teams can quickly disappear as rosters turn over.
The Clippers and Lancers lost their share of stars. As their streaks suggest, though, the talent pools are plenty deep.
Quality pitching has been a consistent theme at Portsmouth for three-plus seasons.
Southpaw Tim Welch (Bowdoin) and righty Ben Hart (UMass) pitched the program to the 2008 title, the first in the run.
Welch, at the time, was featured in Sports Illustrated “Faces in the Crowd” for not allowing a run all season (52 innings pitched, 9-0 record). Hart was also 9-0.
Pitcher Nate Jones (Wake Forest) and slugger Mike Montville (Maryland), who helped clinch crowns in 2009 and 2010, are also among the former stars responsible for three straight perfect campaigns.
This year, Taylor and Manhattan recruit Aidan O'Leary, a center fielder and designated hitter, are the leaders as three-year varsity players. The team ace, Taylor dominated his first two starts, totaling 26 strikeouts while scattering four hits.
Sophomore Ricky Holt, Portsmouth's No. 2 pitcher, should soon find himself atop the rotation.
Just like Portsmouth's streak, Londonderry's run has survived because new leaders continue to emerge.
Kayla Green – whose career totals include 261 goals and 172 assists for 433 points – paced LHS to its first Final Four in 2008. Now a Stonehill standout, she led the Lancers to their first title in 2009.
Virginia's Dana Boyle (257-79–336), arguably the best all-around talent to hail from the Granite State, and Vermont's Marcie Marino headlined last year's super-stacked squad.
This season, junior-laden Londonderry remains a juggernaut. Midfielder Jenny Thompson and attacker Leah Walter, both juniors, lead the high-powered Lancers. Freshman midfielder Alexa Bedell, already a force, is Londonderry's latest rising star.
Tunnel vision – Players may discuss their squad's streak periodically. But it almost never comes up in conversation with the coaches.
That doesn't mean each mentor finds his team's feat insignificant. Hopley and Slater simply place far more importance on the team's need to be better the next time out. It's the reason, after all, that these streaks exist.
“The thing I want to make sure we're still doing is continuing to improve, so when push comes to shove (in the state tournament), we know how to handle it,” Hopley said.
Likewise, Slater devotes complete attention to preparing for every opponent, regardless of record. He demands nothing less from the Lancers.
Of course, these teams and their streaks possess unique qualities. These two top the list:
Clipper quintet knows national pressure – Five Clippers played for Portsmouth's 11- and 12-year-old all-star team that reached the United States semifinals of the 60th Little League World Series in 2006.
The quintet includes Taylor and the junior foursome of third baseman Matt Feeney, catcher Connor Trefethen, shortstop Billy Hartman and right fielder/back-up backstop Connor McCauley.
“We played on a big stage, in front of cameras,” said Taylor, the starter in the LLWS national semifinal. “Being in the game, you're not personally thinking about pressure. But having that (experience) under your belt ... does make it easier to (compete) in big situations.”
Lancers have a long way to go – Londonderry, unlike Portsmouth, is still several perfect seasons from challenging its sport's record for longest win streak. If the streak survives the week – which ends with games against sub-.500 Salem High on Friday and the Bay State's Duxbury High on Saturday – Londonderry will own a 44-gamer (Framingham High was the last team to top the Lancers).
That's 60 wins shy of Loch Raven High. The Baltimore-based program is said to own the record with 104 straight wins from 1973-82.
“We are definitely aware of (the streak). We are all so proud of it,” said Thompson, a known name to several Division I women's college lacrosse coaches. “We all think about it all the time.
“Everyone wants to beat us,” she added. “We are everyone’s target.”
Marc Thaler is a staff writer for the New Hampshire Union Leader & Sunday News. He can be reached at marc.thaler@gmail.com. You can read his blog, "New Hampshire GameDay" and follow him on Twitter @marc_thaler.
Portsmouth (N.H.) nearing national record
April, 27, 2011
4/27/11
12:43
PM ET
By Roger Brown | ESPNBoston.com
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. -- If you attend a Portsmouth High varsity baseball game this spring, you’ll see a team with superior pitching, a team that plays sound defense and a team with no easy outs in its batting order. There’s plenty of talent on the bench too.
It’s the same makeup Portsmouth teams have had since 2008, when the Clippers won the first of their three consecutive state championships. Portsmouth is 4-0 entering Wednesday’s game against Windham, and is considered by many to be the team to beat in Division II again this season.
The Clippers are also threatening to break the national record for consecutive victories. They’ve won 67 games in a row, which puts them eight victories away from a share of the record. Homer (Mich.) had a 75-game winning streak end in 2005.
“The winning streak is something I hear about a lot, but it’s not something we speak about,” Portsmouth coach Tim Hopley said. “We try to focus on what’s right in front of us and the kids have done a good job taking it one game at a time. It has been a great ride.”
Pitcher Keegan Taylor and outfielder Aidan O’Leary are among the leaders on this year’s team. Both have committed to play Division I baseball next season, Taylor at Northeastern and O’Leary at Manhattan College.
Taylor has been contributing to the program’s winning streak since he was a sophomore, when he won six games on the mound. He’s 16-0 as a varsity pitcher, and is 2-0 this year with 26 strikeouts in 11 2/3 innings.
“Throughout the school the winning streak is talked about, but as players coach drills us on one game at a time,” Taylor said.
Taylor is the latest in a long line of exceptional pitchers than have worn the Portsmouth uniform. That group includes Chris Anderson, Ben Hart, Tim Welch and Nate Jones.
The Minnesota Twins drafted Anderson, who was on the mound when Portsmouth ended a lengthy postseason drought by beating Timberlane (Plaistow) in the 2004 Class L tournament.
Hart and Welch led Portsmouth to its first Class I championship in 2008. Welch, who is now playing at Bowdoin, posted a 9-0 record and didn’t allow a run – earned or unearned – that season. Hart continued his career at the University of Vermont, and transferred to the University of Massachusetts when Vermont eliminated its baseball program.
Jones was the ace on last year’s staff. He was 20-0 with a 1.89 ERA during his varsity career and is now pitching for Wake Forest.
Infielder Mike Fransoso (Maine) and outfielder Mike Montville (Maryland) are some of the other Portsmouth players who have gone on to play in college.
“Work ethic has a lot to do with what we’ve been able to accomplish,” Hopley said. “When you have guys who are willing to listen, work hard and implement stuff they’re taught it makes it a lot easier.
“We had some pretty good players set the example by showing a good work ethic years ago and the younger players have followed that.”
Portsmouth hasn’t always been the program by which all others are measured. The Clippers won the Class L championship in 1988 and qualified for the Class L tournament in 1989, but didn’t make its next postseason appearance until 2001. The program ended a 30-game losing streak in 1996, when Hopley took over as head coach.
“There wasn’t a ton of good players back then,” Hopley said. “The talent just wasn’t there.”
Portsmouth didn’t win a tournament game under Hopley until 2004. The Clippers also won one tournament game in 2005 and 2006. Then, in 2007, the program dropped from Class L (the division with New Hampshire schools that have the largest enrollments) to Class I.
“We would not be on this run if we had remained in Class L,” Portsmouth assistant coach Matt Gladu said. “Class L is much deeper, particularly the pitching.
“I think we might have been able to win one or two state championships, but three in a row? Probably not.”
Kingswood (Wolfeboro, N.H.) coach Chip Skelly said it will come as no surprise to him if Portsmouth wins another state championship this spring.
“I attribute [the winning streak] to the program he has developed, and obviously the program stems from your coach,” Skelly said. “Coach Hopley has done a nice job getting his program to a point where the expectations are the exact same year in and year out. They just change kids. It’s an attitude. You can learn to win. You can also learn to lose.”
It seems that Portsmouth has forgotten how to lose, though. The program’s last loss came against Hollis-Brookline in the 2007 Class I semifinals. Bedford, which is 5-0 and the only other unbeaten team in Class I, and Souhegan are the teams that appear most capable of beating Portsmouth this season.
Portsmouth is scheduled to play Souhegan on Friday, and will meet Bedford on May 9. Both games will be on the road. Bedford is the team Portsmouth beat in last year’s Class I title game.
“We’re not 2009, we’re not 2010 we’re the 2011 team,” Portsmouth third baseman Matt Feeney said. “We make our own destiny. We do what we do, and nothing else matters except for this season.”
It’s the same makeup Portsmouth teams have had since 2008, when the Clippers won the first of their three consecutive state championships. Portsmouth is 4-0 entering Wednesday’s game against Windham, and is considered by many to be the team to beat in Division II again this season.
The Clippers are also threatening to break the national record for consecutive victories. They’ve won 67 games in a row, which puts them eight victories away from a share of the record. Homer (Mich.) had a 75-game winning streak end in 2005.
“The winning streak is something I hear about a lot, but it’s not something we speak about,” Portsmouth coach Tim Hopley said. “We try to focus on what’s right in front of us and the kids have done a good job taking it one game at a time. It has been a great ride.”
Pitcher Keegan Taylor and outfielder Aidan O’Leary are among the leaders on this year’s team. Both have committed to play Division I baseball next season, Taylor at Northeastern and O’Leary at Manhattan College.
Taylor has been contributing to the program’s winning streak since he was a sophomore, when he won six games on the mound. He’s 16-0 as a varsity pitcher, and is 2-0 this year with 26 strikeouts in 11 2/3 innings.
“Throughout the school the winning streak is talked about, but as players coach drills us on one game at a time,” Taylor said.
Taylor is the latest in a long line of exceptional pitchers than have worn the Portsmouth uniform. That group includes Chris Anderson, Ben Hart, Tim Welch and Nate Jones.
The Minnesota Twins drafted Anderson, who was on the mound when Portsmouth ended a lengthy postseason drought by beating Timberlane (Plaistow) in the 2004 Class L tournament.
Hart and Welch led Portsmouth to its first Class I championship in 2008. Welch, who is now playing at Bowdoin, posted a 9-0 record and didn’t allow a run – earned or unearned – that season. Hart continued his career at the University of Vermont, and transferred to the University of Massachusetts when Vermont eliminated its baseball program.
Jones was the ace on last year’s staff. He was 20-0 with a 1.89 ERA during his varsity career and is now pitching for Wake Forest.
Infielder Mike Fransoso (Maine) and outfielder Mike Montville (Maryland) are some of the other Portsmouth players who have gone on to play in college.
“Work ethic has a lot to do with what we’ve been able to accomplish,” Hopley said. “When you have guys who are willing to listen, work hard and implement stuff they’re taught it makes it a lot easier.
“We had some pretty good players set the example by showing a good work ethic years ago and the younger players have followed that.”
Portsmouth hasn’t always been the program by which all others are measured. The Clippers won the Class L championship in 1988 and qualified for the Class L tournament in 1989, but didn’t make its next postseason appearance until 2001. The program ended a 30-game losing streak in 1996, when Hopley took over as head coach.
“There wasn’t a ton of good players back then,” Hopley said. “The talent just wasn’t there.”
Portsmouth didn’t win a tournament game under Hopley until 2004. The Clippers also won one tournament game in 2005 and 2006. Then, in 2007, the program dropped from Class L (the division with New Hampshire schools that have the largest enrollments) to Class I.
“We would not be on this run if we had remained in Class L,” Portsmouth assistant coach Matt Gladu said. “Class L is much deeper, particularly the pitching.
“I think we might have been able to win one or two state championships, but three in a row? Probably not.”
Kingswood (Wolfeboro, N.H.) coach Chip Skelly said it will come as no surprise to him if Portsmouth wins another state championship this spring.
“I attribute [the winning streak] to the program he has developed, and obviously the program stems from your coach,” Skelly said. “Coach Hopley has done a nice job getting his program to a point where the expectations are the exact same year in and year out. They just change kids. It’s an attitude. You can learn to win. You can also learn to lose.”
It seems that Portsmouth has forgotten how to lose, though. The program’s last loss came against Hollis-Brookline in the 2007 Class I semifinals. Bedford, which is 5-0 and the only other unbeaten team in Class I, and Souhegan are the teams that appear most capable of beating Portsmouth this season.
Portsmouth is scheduled to play Souhegan on Friday, and will meet Bedford on May 9. Both games will be on the road. Bedford is the team Portsmouth beat in last year’s Class I title game.
“We’re not 2009, we’re not 2010 we’re the 2011 team,” Portsmouth third baseman Matt Feeney said. “We make our own destiny. We do what we do, and nothing else matters except for this season.”
BACK TO TOP
Page: 1
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Scott Barboza
Scott Barboza joined ESPNBoston.com as a high schools editor/reporter in May 2010. He spent the previous three seasons working in the New England Patriots media relations department after a stint at the Taunton Daily Gazette, where he covered everything from Little League baseball to the Boston Red Sox. The Fall River native is a graduate of Emerson College. He can be reached at sbarboza@espnboston.com.
Brendan Hall
Brendan Hall joined ESPNBoston.com as a high schools reporter/editor in May 2010, after four years covering high schools for The Boston Globe. The Westminster, Mass. native also served on the Globe's Bruins beat last season. Hall is a graduate of UMass Amherst. He can be reached at bhall@espnboston.com.
TWITTER: ESPN BOSTON HIGH SCHOOLS
