Souhegan baseball slips past Portsmouth, wins first title in 13 years (video)

MANCHESTER – No one warned the Portsmouth High School baseball team about letting Thomas Bennett reach third base.

If the Souhegan senior gets there, chances seem pretty good he’s going to score.

Bennett got to third twice in the first three innings in Monday’s Division II championship game, and both times, he scored on a sacrifice fly.

Those two runs were just enough for Souhegan pitcher Noah Hodges, as he battled through seven innings and helped the No. 2 Sabers hang on for a 2-1 win over the top-seeded Clippers at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium.

“We had to score more runs than Portsmouth,” Bennett said. “We had our ace on the hill in Noah. He had to throw strikes and he did. When we had a guy on base, we needed him to score. We had eight hits and the score doesn’t really reflect that. We had a lot of opportunities and we did the best we could with them.”

The title is the first for the Sabers (18-2) since a Class I title in 2003, and it’s the fourth championship for longtime coach Bill Dod, who also won two at Bishop Guertin in the 1980s. It also capped a season in which Dod became the state’s all-time leader in wins.

“My coaches and my players, they’re just too nice,” Dod said. “They haven’t received a 10th of the credit that they should. I reached a milestone, and although I love it, I would give my milestone away for this team to win a state championship.

“They’re too nice to me, they protect me and coddle me and treat me unbelievably well. They deserve a million percent of what we did this year. I’m just sitting in the boat, watching it go along.”

Bennett went 3 for 3 with two runs scored, and led off the game with a triple that got by Portsmouth center fielder Kobie Taylor. Bryce Reagan followed with a popup behind second base that Brian Hagan caught in the outfield grass.

“He was still going back when he caught the ball, so I knew he’d have to take a couple of steps (back),” Bennett said. “I knew it was early in the game and we’d have more opportunities, so I sent it.”

Bennett just beat Hagan’s throw home and Owen Batchelder followed with a double, and an error allowed him to reach third, but the junior was thrown out at the plate when he tried to score on a fly ball to left by Alec Burns.

Souhegan made it 2-0 in the third, when Bennett led off with a walk, went to second on an error and then took third on a fly out by Reagan. Batchelder followed with a sacrifice fly to center to score the Sabers’ second run of the game, and Burns followed with a double before Portsmouth’s Kyle Maurice got out of the inning by getting Hodges to fly out.

“Bennett, the kid is incredible, he took us to the championship and won it for us basically,” Hodges said. “He was our offense, he scored the runs, he did what he needed to do.”

The Sabers had other opportunities, getting eight hits off pitchers Maurice and Hagan, who came on in relief in the sixth, but the Clippers defense was able to help the pair get out of jams.

Meanwhile, Hodges struck out six and allowed just two hits but walked five and stranded three Portsmouth runners at third base, including a leadoff triple by Beau Arsenault in the bottom of the sixth inning.

But the Sabers were able to escape unscathed thanks to a pair of great defensive plays by first baseman Burns sandwiched around Hodges’ strike out of Justin Lent.

“They hit that triple, the crowd was screaming, and I was smiling because I can’t let it phase me,” Hodges said. “If I let that phase me, that’s a run and it’s a tie game and we don’t win. I didn’t let it phase me, I came back and threw strikes.”

In the seventh, Hodges threw three straight balls to Nate Rand and Max Malila before getting a flyout and strikeout, respectively. The Souhegan pitcher then went to a full count against Charlie Kendall before striking him out to end the game.

“It kind of reflects his personality, he’s kind of all over the place always,” Bennett said. “He’s a fighter. He’s an absolute warrior on the hill. I knew he wasn’t going to walk those guys in the last inning.”

There were no walks in the inning, just the Sabers running to the mound to celebrate.