North Manchester Hooksett draws first blood in Little League series
Aug. 1—LACONIA — The North Manchester Hooksett Little League team landed the first blow in the best-of-three majors division state championship series by beating Bedford 4-0 at Laconia's Colby Field on Saturday.
North Manchester Hooksett received a strong pitching performance from Mason Devall, and Tristan Lucier's two-run home run highlighted the offensive effort. Lucier's home run opened the scoring in the bottom of the third inning.
"It's always nice to come out and win the first game of a best of three," North Manchester Hooksett manager Tim Devall (Mason's father) said. "Bedford's backs have been up against the wall before though. They lost their first playoff game and they came all the way back, so they're used to the situation.
Lucier's home run was his ninth in 12 tournament games.
Devall pitched 5.1 innings before he was removed for reaching the pitch-count limit. He struck out 11 and limited Bedford to five hits.
"We're in good shape with pitching," Tim Devall said. "Mason is our No. 1 pitcher, but we still have two, three, four and five ready to go."
Game 2 in the series will be played today (2 p.m.) at Colby Field.
If a third game is needed it will be held either Monday or Tuesday night in Laconia.
Ryan O'Rourke collected three of Bedford's five hits (two singles and a double). Jake Boughter and Jason Topf had the other Bedford hits.
North Manchester Hooksett doubled its lead in the fifth when Devall doubled and scored on Calen Lucier's RBI single. Tristan Lucier — Calen's twin brother — capped the scoring when he raced home from third on a passed ball.
Liam Carter-Patten (single) and Tyler Chauvette (single) had North Manchester Hooksett's other hits.
Tristan Lucier replaced Devall on the mound with one out in the sixth and needed eight pitches to record back-to-back strikeouts.
Bedford used four pitchers and none of the four exceeded a pitch count that would make them unavailable today.
"Our strategy is to manage the pitch count based on the situation," Bedford manager Mike Topf (Jason's father) said. "We have several good pitchers who are all around the same, so we feel comfortable sticking to a game plan based on score, inning and situation.
"They'll be ready to go (Sunday)," Topf added. "I feel good about our chances."
