In a cost saving move last week, the players from Acadians Post 27 of Ellsworth, Me.met the Nashua Coffey Post Legion team at Holman Stadium and shared a bus ride to Worcester, Mass., the site of the American Senior Legion Regional the last five days.

Maybe friends were made. Bonds may have been formed. But that all ended when the two teams parted ways on Sunday, as Nashua left Worcester on its own and Ellsworth made plans to head to Shelby, N.C., site of the Legion World Series later this week.

Hey, somebody had to lose, and unfortunately it was Nashua in a surprising one-sided 6-1 loss in the Regional final at Holy Cross’s sun splashed Fitton Field. These were clearly the two best teams in the tournament, and it’s no wonder it gnawed at some of the Coffey Kids that they lost to Ellsworth 3-1 in the tourney opener.

“We came down with them,” a smiling Ellsworth manager Brad Smith said. “We were friends with them at first. It’s tough to beat a team like that. We like these guys.”

But not enough to hand a tourney title over to them. Yet the familiarity fueled the Acadians Post 207 team’s competitive juices.

“I think so,” Smith said. “We found barrels, we found spot, we hit it where they weren’t. That’s the name of the game.”

“We knew a couple of them, they were good guys, but obviously it still sucks to lose to em,” Nashua shortstop Derek Finlay, clearly the unofficial Nashua tourney MVP, said. “It is what it is. They executed, the hits fell for them and didn’t fall for us. That’s baseball.”

But oh, what a week it was. After that tough loss the Coffey Kids showed what they’re made of, sending West Hartford (5-1), Vermont (10-4), Rhode Island (5-4) and earlier Sunday Greece, N.Y. (3-2) packing. Everyone was geared up for a big Coffey win in the rematch with Ellsworth in Nashua’s first Legion Regional Final since 1991. Ironically, two Coffey players, Luke Anderson and Travis LaFontaine, are the sons of Ryan Anderson and Chad LaFontaine who played on that 1991 team that was one strike away from the World Series but lost to East Hartford, Conn.at the University of Maine. In fact, some players from that squad showed up this weekend, including yesterday, to show support.

And why not. This Nashua team was stoked.

“We were riding a really strong wave of energy and momentum, playing a lot of really good baseball,” Coffey Post manager Tim Lunn said. “But at some point, you are going to stop playing that. I told the guys before the game, and even a couple of times during the game, you can’t ride the roller coaster. You’re never really as good as you are when you’re at your high, you’re always never as bad as you are when you’re at your low. And when you stay steady, things will happen well.

“But it’s tough. This was game number six for us this week. That’s a lot of baseball in a short period of time.”

It was a lot of baseball in one day. The first game had Anderson’s walk-off heroics (single), but a weird obstruction call on a pickoff play at first put a runner in scoring position as he was awarded second in the bottom of the seventh. That call at that time? Perhaps Greece first baseman James Cappelupo – who was checked twice for any concussion issues – must have been warned by umpires. That might explain why New York manager Nelsy Madrid didn’t put up much of an argument.

“He was not allowing the runner to get to the bag,” Lunn said. “By rule, it was correct. He was letting him get away with it a couple of times before. … It is a tough call. I don’t know if he warned the kid before.”

But Lunn knew Anderson would come through with the hit. Big celebration, but then it became frustration in the second game when the Mainiacs bashed out 10 hits and had Nashua trailing by as much as it may have all year.

Good team. Fun team. Gritty team. But this past week was a surprise. Did Lunn ever think this team would go this far?

“I knew we had the potential to win a state championship,” Lunn said. “And I knew our pitching was strong enough to compete here. But to be honest, making this sort of run, not really. But they turned it on to another level that I didn’t know that they had in this tournament.

“After that first game, they had a lot more fight, a lot more compete than I saw all summer, and that’s the type of team they can be.”

Nashua’s Derek Finlay looks to tag out New York’s Bryceton Berry at second during the first game of the day Sunday in the Northeast Legion Regional in Worcester, Mass. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Nashua’s Derek Finlay looks to tag out New York’s Bryceton Berry at second during the first game of the day Sunday in the Northeast Legion Regional in Worcester, Mass. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Lunn was touched by the support of the ’91 team, and felt this was a big week for New Hampshire baseball.

And he’s right.

“It’s awesome,” Lunn said. “It’s been a long time since Nashua’s been in this position, but also New Hampshire, 12 years since Bedford made a run.

“Like I told the guys at the end, it really stinks to lose a game like that when you’re that close, and you think you have a really good chance and you have the momentum. But it’s tough at the moment to look at the entirety of the season, they went 31-8, we won a state championship, and were runnerup in the regional. They put New Hampshire baseball back on the map.”

But tell the people from the Acadians Post of Ellsworth, Me. they owe you a bus ride. It’s the least they can do.

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