Telegraph photo by TOM KING Talented hurler Adam Scharn will likely get the start for Hudson in the NEIBL quarterfinals today..

Playoffs? You bet.

Just over six weeks ago, local youth baseball players and teams were out on fields – whatever fields were available – after nearly three months of inactivity. They were trying to get ready for what they hoped would be a summer season. Their hopes were fulfilled, and next week some of these locals will be in playoff mode.

The NEIBL and NHCBL post seasons will be underway at different times next week, but there will be just two local entries. Hudson, which finished its regular season Saturday at 12-3-2 in the NEIBL varsity, will be headed to face Keene at 5:30 p.m. today in a quarterfinal game.

In the New Hampshire COVID Baseball League, the Nashua defenders last week grabbed the eighth and final playoff spot at 8-11-1 and will likely face top seed Concord (17-2-1) this Friday, time and place to be determined, the first of a best-of-three quarterfinal series.

NEIBL PLAYOFFS

“I could not be happier,” Hudson coach Steve Beals said of his team’s season. “The playoffs are more important to the players than the coaches. We all originally felt it would only be games with no post season.”

Yes, original NEIBL plans called for no post season tournament, perhaps just a round robin few days of games with no champion. However, that changed, and an eight team title tourney is set to go.

“We had such a good season, the coaches talked about it and they were all good with (having a playoff tournament),” Amherst coach and league president Tom Walker said. “They felt the baseball was good, so let’s go.”

Walker’s Sabers (4-12), Merrimack (5-13-1), and Hollis Brookline (4-16) all finished well below .500 and didn’t qualify for the top eight. The tourney format will be similar to high school – single elimination. The quarters will be on Monday, the semis on Wednesday, both at the home of the higher seed.

However, the finals are set to be held at the Londonderry High School complex on Friday, Aug. 7, with the JV final earlier in the afternoon and the varsity final to start at 5:30 p.m.

Rain days are Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday for all three rounds.

Hudson found out late Sunday it wouldn’t be home, finishing as the fifth seed, and will have to travel to face No. 4 Keene. If the locals win, they will either travel to face top seed Portsmouth or host No. 8 Salem in the semis set for Wednesday. Portsmouth and Salem meet in the quarters today as well in Portsmouth.

Alex Scharn will take the mound today for Hudson, which has been paced offensively all season by Kyle Boulanger.

“We’ve had a great summer experience playing baseball and being together,” Beals said. “I’m so proud of the team efforts. With no high school season and uncertainty of even playing baseball, we played 18 games.

“The players played cohesively, all contributed to our successes on the field, mound or batters box.”

NHCBL PLAYOFFS

The NHCBL, however, won’t begin its eight team tourney, which the Nashua Defenders will be the lone local team, until this Friday. And, in a difference from the NEIBL, the quarters, semis and finals will all be a best two out of three.

The quarters will be Friday, Saturday, and Sunday if necessary. Home and away scenarios have yet to be decided. Higher seeds will have the advantage, but will it be 1-1-1 or 1-2 (lower seed hosting game one) or 2-1 (third game at lower seed).

There will be a day off in between each round.

“We wanted to give some teams time to get some practices in,” Nashua manager and league head Tim Lunn said of the break until Friday. “With such a condensed summer, a lot of teams probably didn’t have time to get much practice time in. Give the kids a break and then hopefully we’ll see some good baseball.”

Lunn didn’t see the greatest baseball from his team this summer, especially defensively. But Nashua had a good last couple of weeks of the season. Henri Boudreau, Corey O’Day and others have been good on the mound, and Dan Trzepacz has been a force at the plate.

“First half of the season was not good,” Lunn said. “Second half of the season was way, way better. They’ve embraced that and done what they needed to do.”

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