NASHUA, N.H. – Portsmouth eliminated Sweeney Post from the 2019 American Legion Senior Baseball Tournament on Saturday by a score of 12-11, although some may have left Holman Stadium thinking Portsmouth won 12-12.
Controversial calls, a malfunctioning scoreboard and a thrilling walk-off finish punctuated the game, which was the first of the tournament’s second day.
Portsmouth struck with a run in the first, but Sweeney struck back in the second with six runs of their own, batting around the lineup once and seeing their rally end on Thomas Evans’ second strikeout of the inning.
Portsmouth almost returned the favor in the bottom of the second, as eight batters put up another three runs as the offensive back-and-forth continued.
In the top of the third, Sweeney added three more runs, Portsmouth added one of their own half an inning later. Thanks to three straight hits, Sweeney added another two runs, but Portsmouth countered with three straight hits of their own, adding another run before mass confusion descended upon the contest.
With runners on first and third and one out, Portsmouth’s Jonathan Swenson hit a dribbler down the first base line that appeared to go foul just before the first base bag. Jack Russo came home from third to reduce Sweeney’s lead down to 11-7, but no signal was made on whether Swenson’s hit was fair or foul. After several minutes without any clarification but plenty of animosity from both sides, Swenson was declared as forced out even though it was not clear that Sweeney First Baseman Dylan O’Sullivan ever officially touched first base.
A pop-up to second following that contentious out finally ended the fourth, but the controversy didn’t end there.
In the top of the fifth and runners on first and second, a bad pickoff throw from home plate to first ended up in right field. Cesar Franco advanced to second and Colin Brodeur moved to third, but Brodeur turned the corner and tried to make his way home.
Although he was caught at the plate, the stadium’s scoreboard operators added the play as a run for Sweeney that could not be corrected due to technical problems. Sweeney’s phantom run would not be removed from the scoreboard, although the public address announcer noted several innings later that Sweeney did indeed have one fewer run than the scoreboard indicated, resulting in a cheer from the Portsmouth side.
Thus, the score remained with Sweeney leading 11-7 officially, or 12-7 according to the scoreboard, until the sixth when Trevor Van Allan’s sacrifice fly in the sixth brought Portsmouth within three runs.
Sweeney couldn’t add to their lead in the seventh, setting the stage for fitting finish to what had become a momentous game.
After Swenson flied out to center, Portsmouth collected three straight hits, concluding with Ryan Eaton’s triple to right.
That triple brought in two more runs, and Eaton would come home thanks to an error on the next play, tying the game. Another error on the next play put runners on first and second, but Sweeney collected its second out as Portsmouth’s Peyton Goodrich collided with Sweeney’s Jack Fitzgerald on the base path between second and third, as a sharp grounder left no time for either to avoid the collision.
That left Van Allan at the plate with two outs and runners on first and second. A passed ball put both runners into scoring position and a stand-up single was all that was needed to finally conclude the contest.
With this loss and their 3-2 loss to Exeter on Friday, Sweeney became the first team in the eight-team tournament to be eliminated. Portsmouth will play again on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. and would also be eliminated with a loss following their 1-0 defeat against Concord on Friday.
