The letter in the scorebook Thursday morning was a familiar one when Charlie Hale is on the mound.

K, K, and K.

That was the second inning of Nashua Coffey Post’s 5-1 Northeast Senior Legion Regional win over West Hartford, Conn.at Fitton Field on the Holy Cross campus in Worcester, Mass.

There were eight of those over his six innings yesterday, about half of what were in the book when he pitched Hollis Brookline to its second straight Division II title just about two months ago.

Yesterday Hale was at it again, as the Coffey Kids put all their eggs in his basket, needing a win to avoid another two-and-out showing in the Regionals. He delivered, calm and as cool as ever, as Nashua got what’s believed to be its first regional game win since 1991.

“He threw really well,” Coffey Post manager Tim Lunn said. “It gave the guys some time to say, ‘OK, we can go get this.'”

You need a big job done, call Hale. The kid is as cool as a cucumber, and if he walks anyone, it’s breaking news. Sure, he’ll give up a few hits, like he did in the first inning yesterday that produced West Hartford’s only run, but that’s because he’s always around the plate.

“I felt good going into it,” Hale said. “Same thing as last time we talked at the championship. I don’t know, I just felt like going into it, just have to trust yourself, trust that you’re a good pitcher. Same deal as last time.”

Once in awhile you’ll hear a teammate c call Hale “Chuckles”, an offspring of “Chuck.” But Hale knew yesterday’s game was no laughing matter, and said he definitely kept the thought that if he wasn’t on point his team might be eliminated.

“It was there, it was in the back of my mind, I won’t lie,” the Endicott-bound righty said. “I don’t know. I had the elimination part in the back of my head.”

The pressure’s off. Whatever Nashua does now is really gravy. Sure, the Coffey Kids want to win and you can bet they believe they can. They got seven hits yesterday but after leaving two in scoring position in the first they took advantage of some pressing by the West Hartford infield. You knew with Hale on the mound, once Nashua got up 3-1 it was basically over.

“The pitching and defense has been steady,” Lunn said. “It’s good to get that win, and for these guys they can kind of breathe a little bit. So hopefully we can kind of continue to settle in and see what happens.”

Now it gets dicey. Nashua will face either Rhode Island or pre-tourney favorite Vermont today and teams are now dipping a little lower into their pitching bucket. That often evens the playing field a bit.

“Anybody can beat anybody at this point,” Lunn said. “Once you get past day two, the teams that have the depth and the guys who throw strikes are the ones who have success.”

Unfortunately, Hale is done for the tournament with his 104 pitches over six-plus frames yesterday. That is, of course, unless Nashua runs the table the rest of the way and books a flight to Shelby, N.C.for the 96th American Legion World Series set to begin next Thursday. Wouldn’t that be something? It was ironic that Luke Anderson’s bunt single in really rattled West Hartford in Nashua’s decisive three-run third. His dad Ryan was a standout on what is believed to be the last team to win a Legion Regional game way back in 1991 in Orono, Me. That team was a strike away from punching its Series ticket but fell short.

Ah, history. It’s always a factor, but Hale when he pitched looked ahead, although it was tempting to look back.

“We should have won (Wednesday vs. Maine),” Hale said. “But I’m glad we at least got a win. I think it’s been a bit since New Hampshire’s gotten a win in the regionals.”

When Charlie Hale is on the mound, there’s no reason not to win. Endicott is getting a good one.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on twitter @Telegraph _TomK.