On Tuesday evening, the Nashua 12U All-Stars played Andy Valley, ME in the quarter finals of the New England regional tournament. Nashua was looking to come off a tough defeat a day earlier to keep their hopes alive and advance to the semifinal round.

Visiting Nashua did not waste time getting runners on base, with a lead-off double by Aaron Ackerman and walks to Gavin Whigham and Gates Kelly to load the bases in the first inning. Another clutch single from Nik Levine with two out scored two runs. It was a similar story for Nashua in both the second and third innings as Ben Sterner scored on a wild pitch, Garrett Schmidt and Romeo Dominguez each singled to drive in two runs, and Justin Sanossian’s sacrifice grounder gave Nashua the 6-0 lead in the third.

But championship tournament play is never easy and Andy Valley managed two singles in the bottom of the third inning and scored two runs on an error in communication between Ackerman and Schmidt. Andy Valley would add another run before the end of the inning to cut Nashua’s lead in half, 6-3. Whigham would walk in the fourth, and be moved along to third base via two sacrifice outs before scoring on an errant throw by the Andy Valley catcher to make it 7-3.

Despite scoring threats from both teams in the later innings, Nashua held firm to a 7-4 victory. Nashua pitchers Dom Maffei and Justin Sanossian delivered when their team needed them most, combining for nine Ks and just one earned run and leaving nine runners on base against this strong hitting team.

Sanossian was awarded the player of the game for holding Andy Valley hitless in the final three innings to lock down the win for Nashua.

Next up is a semifinal rematch with Easton, Mass., on Wednesday evening for the right to advance to the tournament final. Nashua will be looking for payback with Garrett Schmidt starting at pitcher.

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