With summer underway, the annual tradition of Cal Ripken Baseball Area tournaments is in full swing with Hudson beginning tournament season with a team in each of the 8U, 9U, 10U, and 11U age brackets, with the town being unable to field a 12U team this year. While 8U’s Cal Ripken run is yet to begin, their first game is scheduled for Saturday, July 6 at 1:00 pm in Hampton, beginning their pool play against Windham, the three remaining teams have begun their tournament seasons, with two moving on to the state tournament.
For 9U, their path to States was simple, they clinched a spot due to the fact that they were awarded the opportunity to host back in February. That said, the 9U squad was still active in their area tournament which saw them win their first game by a final of 5-1 over Windham in the first round of double-elimination and then lose a close battle to the eventual champion, Keene, 4-2 the following night and wrapping up their area tournament with a 4-3 loss to Londonderry in a close battle, finishing fifth in their area, but eliminating Milford, who finished fourth, as the top three teams from the West, as well as Hudson, moved on to the State tournament.
As for 9U States, being the fourth seed in the West has been tough on the 9U HitDawgs, as they dropped their first game of the tournament to Roger Allen (Rochester) 10-6 in a tightly-contested battle and then were dismantled by last year’s 8U State Champions, Quintown (Atkinson) by a final score of 13-0 in four innings. In their pool, Hudson currently sits at 0-2 after losses to Quintown and Roger Allen, but can still sneak into the bracket portion of the tournament to take on Keene in a rematch from Areas if they can beat Swanzey and either Roger Allen beats Quintown outright or if Quintown beats Roger Allen and the Rockets allow at least as many runs to Quintown as the HitDawgs do to Swanzey. Either way, Hudson has to beat Swanzey in the nightcap on Tuesday to stay alive. On the opposite side of the bracket, Exeter came away with the bye in Pool B after their thrilling 8-7 win over Keene in walk-off fashion on Monday and won’t play until Saturday against the winner of Pool A’s second seed, likely Roger Allen or Quintown, and Londonderry. Keene picked up the second seed and will play Friday night at 7:45 pm against the third seed in Pool A, likely either Hudson or Swanzey.
For 10U, Hudson came just two wins short from a States bid this season, also going 1-2 in Areas after being 10-run-ruled against Hollis-Brookline in their first game and then sneaking by Amherst 3-2 in their first elimination game before falling just short against Kearsarge Mountain in a game that the winner moved on to play Nashua for the right to play in the state tournament in Gilford. Hudson, unfortunately, lost that game 4-3 and that allowed Kearsarge Mountain to eventually finish third in the Area tournament after their 9-8 loss to Hollis-Brookline in the loser’s bracket final.
In 11U, the HitDawgs came out swinging after their lackluster performance at home in the State Tournament in 2023. The HitDawgs finished second in the area tournament, going 4-2 in the tournament, beating Londonderry’s B team 9-7, losing to Nashua 2-0 in a tightly fought game, and then running the table with the loser’s bracket, beating Kearsarge Valley 12-6, Milford 8-3, and Nashua 9-5 in a rematch from just days prior that sent Hudson to the loser’s bracket to begin with. Hudson ultimately lost 6-2 in the first game of the West Area championship, and because it was their second loss, ended the tournament there.
The HitDawgs then moved on to 11U States, as did Milford, Nashua, and Hollis-Brookline, and have been a pleasant surprise to say the least in pool play after beating Milford 6-1 on Saturday and upsetting a team that was a win away from the 10U Cal Ripken World Series in Quintown by a final of 10-9 in seven innings to set themselves up to potentially win the pool outright if they can beat Londonderry on Tuesday evening. The HitDawgs could also win the pool if their game with Londonderry ends in a loss of less than two runs and Quintown allows as many as three fewer runs than Hudson does against Milford. If Hudson finishes first in the pool they would play on Sunday against the winner of Hollis-Brookline/Pool B third seed, if the finish second, they would play on Saturday against Exeter, and should they finish third, they would play Hollis-Brookline on Saturday in a West Area Final rematch.
