On paper, the Derry Senior American Legion baseball squad had every reason to think the summer of 2015 was going to be a fun, productive, and successful one.
But things didn’t work out anywhere near that well for dedicated coach Dylan Mullin and his Lester Chase Post charges out on the diamond, with the locals watching their final New Hampshire tournament hopes fly out the window last week with consecutive and frustrating losses to Dover, rival Londonderry, and then Merrimack.
Mullin’s mob rebounded for a slim victory over that same Merrimack group in Derry late last week, but that victory left the local senior side staring at a 5-12 record with just one regular season game left on its slate.
The Derry contingent lost an 11-4 decision to Dover in Derry July 13, but got ramped up to see what it could accomplish against those rivals from Londonderry at Londonderry High the next night.
Starting pitcher Chris Gerossie gave his side some strong work – as he has all summer – and helped them grasp a 2-0 lead after one inning had been completed.
But the hosts’ pitcher Matt Ross then bore down and pitched seven strong frames for his tournament-bound side en route to a 4-2 victory.
Gerossie cruised through the first three innings impressively, but Londonderry sliced its deficit back to 2-1 in the home half of the fifth and knotted the score up at 2-2 and then bagged a one-run lead in the latter part of the sixth.
Londonderry then notched an insurance run in the eighth to get to what would be the final score of 4-2.
Gerossie held the potent Londonderry offense to just six hits, but victory seemed far away for the Derry crew once the contest was over.
Alas, things got no better for Mullin’s mob in Merrimack on Wednesday night, July 15, as the Derry contingent was dealt a humbling 11-1 defeat by that determined host.
The local team managed to best that same opponent by a 4-3 tally in Derry the next evening to move to 5-12 on the nearly-completed campaign.
Mullin’s young men then played out the string with a home contest against Nashua Sunday, July 19, dropping a 6-5 decision to a Gate City squad that still had a shot at a tournament berth and needed to play like it.
