Baseball Notebook: Wachter’s no-hitter lifts Concord past Winnacunnet in D1 final

Jonah Wachter stood in awe as center fielder Tyler Wright charged in from center field to make a sliding basket catch on a line drive sinking quickly toward the grass.

As Wachter pointed at his fellow Concord High School senior to acknowledge the spectacular catch, Wright was preoccupied with Winnacunnet’s base runner, who, with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, took off from second base on contact and was now caught too far off the bag. Wright tossed the ball to second for a no-hit preserving, game-ending, Division I-title clinching double play.

“At that moment, I didn’t care about a no-hitter,” Wachter said. “It was all about preventing runs – keeping runs off the board. I just wanted to make sure the runner on second wasn’t going to cross the plate. I just wanted to win the game.”

Concord did just that, beating Winnacunnet 4-0 in the Division I final at Nashua’s Holman Stadium on June 12.

“It’s what ever kid dreams of growing up,” Wright said of making the game-winning play in a championship game. “I just reacted to everything I saw in front of me and made the play.

“I knew the ball wasn’t hit that hard. I may have taken a step back, but I adjusted and came in on it as it started to drop. I didn’t want Jonah to lose his no-hitter, so I had to get to that spot. I went into a slide and made like a basket catch, but then I looked up and saw the runner was so far off of second base. I hopped up fast and got the ball in for the force out.

“It was just mayhem after that.”

It’s the second Division I title in 20 years under head coach Scott Owen, who’s guided the Crimson Tide to seven final four appearances and three title games in his tenure. Concord’s previous title came in 2012.

This year’s championship came courtesy of Wachter, who had one of the most dominating postseasons a pitcher could dream of.

The 6 foot-2 inch, 180-pound University of Hartford-bound righty opened the tournament with a six-inning perfect game in a 10-0 win over Goffstown, earned the win in Concord’s 3-1 quarterfinal victory over Bedford, recorded a save in the 6-4 semifinal win over Keene, and then wrapped it all up with his no-no versus Winnacunnet.

In 18 postseason innings on the mound, Wachter allowed one hit.

He hit two batters and threw a wild pitch in the title game, but those statistics were overshadowed by his 15 strikeouts and no hits.

“Even when he’s off a little, he’s still dominant,” Owen said of Wachter. “There are a lot of kids with talent, but it doesn’t always translate into being a good pitcher. Jonah is one of the most focused, determined and hard-working kids I’ve ever worked with.

“The hit batters, walks, errors – none of it rattles him. He is one of those pitchers that seriously goes pitch to pitch and out to out. Nothing that happened prior to the current batter he’s facing is on his mind.”

In fact, pitching a no-hitter wasn’t even in his thoughts until he looked up at the Holman Stadium scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth inning and saw a blank spot where Winnacunnet’s hit total should be.

“There wasn’t a zero there, it was just nothing,” Wachter said of the scoreboard. “I’m thinking for a second that maybe I do have another one going here. Then in the fifth I realized, yeah they don’t have a hit yet. But it’s still not guiding me. I really don’t care about that. It’s not about me, it’s all about this team and winning the game – winning that championship.”

Concord’s come a long way since the opener, when a 15-man roster with no varsity experience was considered more of a talented spoiler squad with eight seniors, five juniors and two sophomores. Appearances certainly were deceiving, as the Crimson Tide spoiled the aspirations of 21 other teams.

Owen knew he was fielding more than a dark-horse in Concord. He was expecting big things last season before Covid-19 erased the season. So none of this year’s success came as a surprise to him.

“This is a special team,” Owen said. “This is a team that came to practice ready to put in the work and work hard.

“I never once left practice saying that was a bad day. I never had to yell to push these guys. They pushed each other. They enjoyed being together. They worked hard, but had fun doing it. They were just so happy to be playing ball again.”

Being able to take the field again as high school teammates was a driving force behind Concord’s title run, according to Wright.

“Coming into this season, we were so excited to just be able to get on the field again,” said Wright, who will play baseball in college at Plymouth State. “Missing our time together and representing our school last year really made us all come together even more. We wanted to stay loose and have fun, but we were also very focused on putting in the work to be the best we could be every game. We made sure we had a lot of energy every time we took the field.

“I’m just glad I was part of this team and the history we made together.”

It all came together nicely in the final. An offense led by juniors Ryan Philbrick (3 for 4, two runs), Brooks Craigue and Cam McGonigle, and sophomore Nater Wachter (two RBIs) provided plenty of cushion. Jonah Wachter and Wright did the rest.

“Only one team gets to say they’re the best every year,” Owen said. “This year, it’s us, and it’s a pretty great feeling.”

Division II

John Stark 10, St. Thomas 3

John Stark pushed six runs across in the second inning and never looked back on its way to the first state title in the first final appearance in program history.

The Generals’ offense was led by Noah Brent, Nathan Innerfield and Austin Hazzard. The trio highlighted that six-run second with Brent’s two-run single, an RBI double by Innerfield andHazzard’s three-run double.

John Stark carved its way into the history books by outscoring its final four opponents 21-8.

Division III

Monadnock 10, Somersworth 0

Monadnock utilized the arm of Kevin Putnam and a second-inning offensive surge led by Trevor Heise to record the program’s eighth Division III title and first since 2016.

Putnam struck out six, and only allowed one hit and five baserunners total over six scoreless innings for the win.

The Huskies sent 11 hitters to the plate in that second inning, scoring six runs in the process. Heise broke the ice with his two-run single, knocking in Nate Doyle and Carson Shanks. By the final out of the inning, Aidan Gibson, Ryan Cornwall, Ben Dean and Putnam had all reached base safely and came around to score.

Monadnock won all five of its tournament games by at least 10 runs, outscoring the opposition 58-4.

Division IV

Newmarket 10, Littleton 0

Newmarket scored seven runs in the sixth inning to break a one-run game wide open on the way to its second title in three years.

Technically, the Mules, who recorded three tournament shut outs, are repeat champions. They won their last title in 2019, and last year’s campaign was cancelled due to Covid-19. It’s the program’s eighth championship.

Hayden Goodreau struck out 10 and walked one in a complete-game three-hitter. He helped his own cause at the plate with three hits and three runs scored.