Hollis Brookline's Charlie Hale has been one of the top pitchers for Nashua's James E. Coffey Post this summer as the State Senior Legion tourney starts Friday at Holman Stadium. (Telegraph file photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Tourney time.

New Hampshire American Senior Legion teams crammed in as many as 16-30 games, district and non-district or out-of-state, in just over a month.

And now eight are still alive as they head to Holman Stadium for the State Tournament that opens Friday morning at 10 with Nashua’s James E. Coffey Post #3 taking on Concord.

It’s a five-day, gauntlet-type double elimination event that culminates with the finals on Tuesday at 4 p.m., with a second game to follow at 7 p.m. if necessary.

In other words, a gauntlet, especially for pitchers. But it certainly brings back memories for Nashua, since the last time there was a Legion season, in 2020, Nashua won the title.

And they have a great chance of doing it again, as they emerged as District B’s top seed at 14-3 and are considered a favorite.

“You can’t take anything for granted,” Lunn said. “Every year is different, every team is different, so we’ll see what happens.”

District B’s second seed is Dover (12-4), followed by Portsmouth (11-6), and Exeter (9-8) as the fourth B seed. Hudson Post 48 finished fifth at 7-10 and missed out, as did Merrimack Post 98 (9-9), losing out on a head-to-head tiebreaker with Concord (0-2).

The District A teams are top seed Weare (12-6), Keene (10-7, first tourney appearance in 24 years), Laconia (10-8, No. 3) and fourth seed Concord.

After Friday’s Nashua game, Laconia faces Dover at 1 p.m., followed by Portsmouth-Keene at 4 and Exeter-Weare at 7.

Looking ahead one day with regard to Nashua, on Saturday the Nashua-Concord game loser will take on the Portsmouth-Keene loser at 10 a.m., while the winners play at 4 p.m.

What’s Lunn expecting? He’s not sure.

“It will be interesting to see,” he said. “I haven’t seen much of the other side (District A); I know some names from that side but I don’t really know the teams as a whole.

“But like you said, it’s a gauntlet. It’s four or five days of just a grind. The one thing we have going for us is we’re used to that. The kids are used to that sort of grind, so that helps us a little bit. But in the tournament, anything can happen. All it takes is one hot team.”

Indeed, Nashua played seven games in five days to end the season, and played 16 games the first two weeks. Of course, the July rain had a lot of teams cramming games in.

But it’s a true gauntlet, especially for pitching. Nashua has Charlie Hale , Corey O’Day, Isaac Zhang, Padraig Mac Seain, and Nolan Mederos as its five starters, and countless others who can throw in the pen.

“They’ve been so efficient with their pitches, we really haven’t had to use our bullpen, and our bullpen’s pretty solid,” Lunn said, noting he has Kyle Lavigne, Jake Mitchell and countless others. “We’ve got a lot of guys that can throw. Ten or 11 arms that can pitch, and we just haven’t needed them as much.”

Nashua can, of course, hit as well, led by the likes of familiar names Jake Mitchell, Kam Thibault, Drew Gryniewicz, Kyle Lavigne, etc. The bats, Lunn said, seeme to pick up after a slow start once the season got going.

“Offensively, once we got into that stride, we’ve been pretty good with our approach, putting good swings on baseballs,” Lunn said. “Everyone’s starting to hit their stride at the right time, which is what you really want to see.”

Coffey Post has a lot going for it. Depth, good hitting, and the comfort of playing at Holman. The No. 1 seed from District B doesn’t mean a lot for Lunn.

“It’s more of a label than anything,” he said. “Once we start on Friday, everyone’s 0-0, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t give us an advantage or disadvantage, to be honest, because any team we play is going to be a solid team that we have to come ready to play.”

And we’ll see if it can be 2019 all over again. The winner of the tourney advances to the Northeast Regionals August 4-8 at the same place as two years ago, College of the Holy Cross’s Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field in Worcester, Mass.

“We’ll see what happens,” Lunn said. “I think we’ve got as good a shot as anybody.”

Here is the complete schedule, which can also be found at http://www.newhampshireamericanlegionbaseball.com/baseball5Sr.html. All games are at Holman Stadium:

FRIDAY: Game 1 Concord vs. Nashua, 10 a.m.; Game 2 Laconia vs. Dover, 1 p.m.; Game 3 Portsmouth vs. Keene, 4 p.m.; Game 4, Exeter vs. Weare, 7 p.m.

SATURDAY: Game 5: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 3, 10 a.m.; Game 6, LG2 vs. LG4, 1 p.m.; Game 7, WG1 vs. WG3, 4 p.m.; Game 8, WG2 vs. WG4.

SUNDAY: Game 9, WG6 vs. LG7, 1 p.m.; Game 10, WG5 vs. LG8, 4 p.m.; Game 11, WG7 vs. WG8, 7 p.m.

MONDAY: Game 12, WG9 vs. WG10, 4 p.m.; Game 13, LG11 vs. WG12, 7 p.m.

TUESDAY: Game 14, WG11 vs. WG13, 4 p.m.; Game 15, if necessary, WG14 vs. LG14.