As summer vacation nears its halfway point, Cal Ripken Tournaments are nearing their end with all state tournaments having wrapped up and teams heading into the invitational portion of their summer schedule. Hudson’s 8U team wrapped up their state tournament bid this week in Hampton and has now completed their tournament in West Newbury, MA. 9U, having finished eighth in states already, participated in the Cam Ricard Souhegan Valley Invitational (SVI), and finished second with a 4-1 record in the tournament. They also began their Conway Classic Tournament run in Tewksbury with a 13-3 win over Winchester Red. 10U went 1-2 in SVI, falling to make it out of pool play, and also split their first two games of the Conway Classic. 11U played in the SVI tournament as well, finishing 2-2 and placing fifth in the tournament.
For the 8U team, they began the week with a 14-11 win over Topsfield-Boxford in the West Newbury Tournament, then fell 26-10 to Great Bay (Epping, NH) in the first round of the state tournament, ending their bid for a State Championship there. They then played in game two of the West Newbury Tournament and lost to the Newburyport Clippers 15-10 in a much closer game on Thursday evening. The 8U HitDawgs then crushed Winchester Red 13-3 in the first game of the Conway Classic on Sunday to wrap up their week at 2-2. Hudson finishes 2-3 in the West Newbury Tournament, falling to make it into the bracketed portion of the tournament, while finishing tenth in States and starting out the Conway Classic on the right foot at 1-0. They will play Dracut on Monday in their second game of the Conway Classic while moving to the 603 Classic in Londonderry against Salem Blue on Tuesday and Dover on Thursday. They will then conclude pool play in the Conway Classic on Saturday morning against Lowell Red and in the 603 Classic against Londonderry Saturday evening.
The 9U HitDawgs had a bit quieter of a week this week, only having the SVI tournament on their schedule where they went a perfect 3-0 in pool play beating the host Hollis-Brookline 5-4 in a tight battle on Tuesday night, taking care of business easily against Windham 18-8 on Thursday, and then beating Merrimack 11-7 on Saturday. Winning their pool, Hudson earned themselves a second straight matchup as the home team against Merrimack, this time not requiring a coin toss win, and they won with ease 16-2 to send themselves into the finals against Keene, which the HitDawgs led 4-0 in the first and 5-3 through three innings before allowing four runs in the fourth inning to give Keene a 7-5 lead which the Fireballs never relinquished, despite Hudson getting a run back in the fifth, as Keene added five in the sixth to win 12-6, securing the SVI 9U Championship. 9U will play Salem Blue on Monday in the Conway Classic, Exeter on Tuesday in the 603 Classic, Reading Red back in Tewksbury for the Conway Classic on Wednesday, Great Bay in Londonderry on Friday, Seacoast in Londonderry on Saturday morning, and Georgetown on Saturday afternoon before the playoff portion of both tournaments gets underway on Sunday.
For 10U, it was a 1-2 SVI tournament this week as they beat Exeter 9-1 on Wednesday, lost to Nashua 10-3 on Friday, and lost 13-2 against Londonderry on Saturday, causing them to fail to make the bracket portion of the tournament this year. They also went 1-1 in their first two games of pool play in Tewksbury, losing to the hosts 8-4 on Saturday and beating Merrimac 19-2 on Sunday. The 10U HitDawgs will play Londonderry on Tuesday, Amherst on Wednesday, and Marshwood on Friday, all in the 603 Classic in Londonderry before wrapping up pool play in Tewksbury against Georgetown on Saturday afternoon.
Hudson’s 11U HitDawgs went 2-2 in the SVI tournament, defeating Londonderry – Cregg 8-4 on Tuesday, losing to Oyster River (Durham, NH) 6-5 on Wednesday, losing 12-1 against Hollis-Brookline on Friday, and then beating Kearsarge Valley 8-2 on Sunday. The 11U HitDawgs schedule for this week is not posted.
