Dover 12s six-game win streak comes up short in Cal Ripken state final against Nashua
LONDONDERRY - The Dover Cal Ripken 12-year-old all-star team has shown time and time again that it is no stranger to coming up big in big games.
That was the situation on Wednesday night for Dover if it wanted to win a fourth straight state championship. Dover lost its first game of this year's state tournament and was immediately sent to the loser's bracket.
The reigning three-time state champions won five straight games, and needed to beat Nashua twice on Wednesday to win another state title.
Dover beat Nashua, 9-1 in the first game, forcing a winner-take-all state championship. In Game 2, Nashua broke a scoreless tie with a six-run fourth inning and held on for a 6-4 win.
"Defensively, we just had one bad inning," Dover head coach Mike Lynch said. "A combination of walks, errors and just a couple of mental mistakes; we ultimately dug too deep of a hole."
But, Dover would not go down quietly, scoring four runs in the sixth. Trey Longuil's single started the inning, and Ben Cheek followed with a home run. The game ended with the potential game-tying run at the plate.
"We came up two hits short basically of kind of having a ridiculous comeback," Lynch said. "The kids battled and they didn't quit. They could've quit down 6-0 going into the sixth. Disappointing finish to it, but I was proud of how they battled."
Lynch said there were some post-game tears from his team.
"Truth be told, they handled it as a group much better than I thought," Lynch said. "Once they got that initial emotion out of it, they were good. Obviously, it's tough standing there watching another team get their championship trophies and get the banner that goes with it and taking pictures, but I thought our kids handled that really well as a group.
"I told them 'it's OK to be upset, you guys really wanted this and it didn't happen, and that's OK, but we have to move on,' and they did that pretty quickly," Lynch continued. "I'm really proud of them for that."
Summer is not over yet for Dover
Dover, thanks to beating West Hartford, Connecticut, in last year's New England championship, will play in next month's Cal Ripken 12-year-old World Series in Branson, Missouri. The tournament is scheduled to run from August 2-12.
Dover forces winner-take-all state championship
Dover scored three runs in the third and sixth innings, and one in the second, fourth and fifth to break away from Nashua and win Wednesday's first game.
Dover's Connor Lynch allowed one run on two hits, while striking out five over 4 2/3 innings, earning the win. Owen Lovering recorded the final four outs, two by strikeout.
Offensively, Lovering had two hits and two RBIs, including a home run. Cheek had two hits, two RBIs and scored two runs. Lynch had one hit and three RBIs, while Lucas Grigas had a hit and Longuil walked twice and scored two runs.
"The bats woke up the second time around, after seeing their starting pitcher, a crafty lefty who kept us off-balance the first time around," Lynch said. "Seeing him the second time, we started to get to him a little bit. We just just kind of cruised from there. We do a really good job of when we get a lead, hanging on to it, and that's exactly what we did."
Dover's path to a fourth straight championship game
Dover opened the tournament with a 1-0 loss to Keene. The team bounced back with six straight wins, outscoring opponents, 52-5. Dover beat Oyster River (12-1), Quintown (10-0), Keene (11-1), Roger Allen (8-1), Hudson (2-1) and Nashua (9-1).
Lynch said the opening loss to Keene served a wake-up call to the team that won the state championship at 8, 10 and 11-year-old level. There was no tournament when the kids were 10,
"That Keene loss kind of provided them a little kick in the pants and a little bit of a wake-up call moving forward the rest of the tournament," Lynch said.
This article originally appeared on Fosters Daily Democrat: Dover loses to Nashua in Cal Ripken 12-year-old state championship
