Hollis Brookline Cal Ripken U11 All-Stars cruised into the Souhegan Valley Invitational playoffs recently with three strong wins.

July 8

On Saturday, HB jumped on ConVal early and cruised to a 10-1 victory. Adam Connelly led the way with two hits, three stolen bases and pitched a perfect inning with two strikeouts in relief.

July 9

On Sunday, HB held off a stingy Quintown team for a 9-6 victory. Alex Razzaboni pitched three strong innings to pick up the win. Gavin Knudsen and Daniel Martin got things started with early RBI singles to HB to an early 4-0 lead. Quintown battled back in the middle innings to make the score 6-5, lead by two hits a piece from Nolan Ash and Aiden Broyer. Jackson Goldstein hit a long three-run homer in the fifth inning to put the game out of reach and then pitched two strong innings in relief for the save.

HB completed SVI pool play 3-0 with an 11-5 victory over Hudson. Evan Costa pitched three shutout innings to earn the victory and threw out a runner at the plate from right field to end the game. Martin Bergeron, Ben Petrella, Gavin Knudsen and Elliot Troddyn were all perfect at the plate, driving in one run each and reaching base in every plate appearance. Daniel Martin added a long RBI double, scored a run and pitched a scoreless last inning to seal the win and send HB into the SVI U11 Playoffs.

July 10

HB U11s scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth to cap a dramatic comeback over Amherst 7-6 and earned a spot in the SVI Championship game. Amherst pulled ahead in the fifth on RBI hits by Drew Regan and Carter Hayes. Nick Nowak opened the top of the sixth with a double and scored to put Amherst up 6-3 going into the bottom of the sixth. HB refused to quit. The inning started with gritty at bats leading to three consecutive singles from Connelly, Troddyn and Petrella to set the table. Evan Costa then tied it up with a scorching line drive past the SS which fired up the HB crowd. After singles by Knudsen and Goldstein loaded the bases, Razzaboni ended it with a long fly ball single off the fence to drive home Costa with the winning run.

July 11

HB U11s lost the SVI Championship game to Keene by a score of 10-4, finishing as the runner-up in the 2017 Cam Ricard Memorial Souhegan Valley Invitational hosted in Hollis Brookline. Bryce Sturges continued his hot hitting finishing 2-3, and Daniel Martin hit an opposite field HR to pace HB in the loss. The U11s open up State Tournament play later this week.

July 15

After falling to Nashua in the District Finals, HB U11s opened up Cal Ripken state tournament play as the No. 2 seed from the West versus No. 3 seed Londonderry. Two great defensive plays kept Londonderry off the scoreboard in the first inning, as Jackson Goldstein threw from first to home to complete double play and Andrew Eckman ranged deep behind third base to snag a short fly ball for the third out. Eckman followed up with a big two-out, two-RBI single driving in Goldstein and Gavin Knudsen. Alex Razzaboni pitched three strong innings and exited with a 2-1 lead. After Londonderry tied it in the fourth, Ben Petrella started a rally with a clutch two-strike line drive down the third base line to lead off the fifth. Bryce Sturges and Gavin Knudsen singled to load the bases, and then Razzaboni came up with the long RBI single to CF to put HB back on top 5-2. Londonderry tacked on two in the sixth and put the tying run on base, but Knudsen came on in relief to face the final three batters and seal the victory.

July 16

Bryce Sturges pitched three shutout innings and scored a run to propel the HB U11s to an 8-5 victory over top-seeded Dover on Sunday. Daniel Martin and Travis LaFontaine pitched well in relief backed by strong defensive play and a balanced offense. Goldstein and Martin each drove in two runs as HB jumped out to an 8-0 lead and then held on for the victory.