Exeter 11s beat Dover for Cal Ripken baseball state championship; advance to regionals
EXETER — Hope and belief.
Those two words are what head coach Patrick Flaherty said carried his Exeter 11-year-old Cal Ripken team to a state title, ending with Sunday's 11-1 win over Dover in the championship game at Walsh Field.
"We stressed with the kids that the two most important things are hope and belief," Flaherty said. "We let them know we believed in every single one of them, and for them to never give up hope. And they did exactly that."
Dover jumped ahead 1-0 in the second inning, but it was all Exeter from there. Exeter scored two runs in the second inning, added one in each of third and fourth innings, and broke the game open with a seven-run fifth.
Exeter's Nolan Schimoler allowed one run on three hits, earning the complete-game win. He also had two hits and drew two walks. Henry Plante reached base each time he came to the plate, and Andrew Maher was solid defensively, turning a couple of double plays with Will Kavanaugh.
"Super proud of the kids," Flaherty said. "They played amazing defense. We lost in our district in very close games, and they did a great job of not letting that get to them and bouncing back as we headed into states."
Exeter defeated Roger Allen (11-2), Nashua (11-0) and Milford (11-0) to reach Sunday's championship.
Other members of the team include Cash Frizzell, Donovan Reed, Grayson Walker, Holden Flaherty, Michael Cochran, Miles Merrill, Samuel Warlick and Tyler O'Connell.
"Credit goes to the kids, they did a great job, especially against Dover with having quality at-bats and swinging at strikes," Flaherty said. "I think we only struck out twice the whole game. We kept putting pressure on Dover. Aggressive base-running is always a hallmark of what we do, but to do that you need base-runners, and the kids did a great job."
What's next for the state champions?
Exeter will head to Milford, Connecticut, on Friday for the eight-team regional tournament. Exeter is scheduled to play its first game on Saturday against New Canaan, the Connecticut state champion.
The top three finishers from each pool will then meet in a single-elimination tournament to decide the regional champions.
Flaherty said the mentality will stay the same in the regional tournament.
"Strong defense," Flaherty said. "We have so much pitching I don't know what to do with it. We're going to throw every arm we have at them. We'll constantly put pressure on other teams to make the right plays. I think we can compete with anybody with our defense."
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Exeter beats Dover in NH Cal Ripken 11-year-old state championship
