When Mascenic and Conant lock horns on the baseball diamond, anything can happen. Regardless of records and divisions, lineups and rotations, the Vikings and Orioles bring the best out of each other, and Friday’s contest in New Ipswich was no exception.
Credit: BEN CONANT / For the Ledger-Transcript
“They’re always chippy games, but they’re fun games,” Conant senior starting pitcher Drey Seppala said after the game. “We played Little League with all these kids, so I know them. Some of them are buddies. We’ve got second cousins over there, we’ve got relatives. So playing them, it almost feels different than every other game. It’s just a different environment.”
Seppala and Mascenic starter Parker Ketola dueled each other for six scoreless innings, as each had their best offspeed stuff working and the placement was supreme.
“Conant can throw four or five kids that are gonna be all over the strike zone,” Mascenic head coach Jason Bartelson said. “Pretty similar speeds. They know how to work the count. So it’s good to see good pitching for sure. It develops us as a team.”
Conant pulled their starter to begin the seventh, as Seppala stepped off with eight strikeouts, three hits and two walks over six scoreless. Reliever Kaden Kirby was just as effective, striking out four in his two innings of work. Ketola, meanwhile, went nearly the distance, allowing just three hits over his first seven innings and striking out five. But as the temperature started dropping, dark clouds rolled in, and the game went into extra innings, the Mascenic ace started to labor. Andron Muhonen – the bottom of the order – started the top of the eighth with a nine-pitch walk that pushed Ketola over 100 pitches on the afternoon, and that was all the spark Conant needed.
“We’re solid through our lineup,” Seppala said. “Andron, when he does get his at bats, he has one of the highest batting averages, he puts the ball in play or at least has a good at-bat every time. So when we can do that all the way through the lineup, that can make us a solid team.”
Kirby bunted the runner over to second and Seppala drove him in with a single for the game’s first run. Braeden Dion added another run with a single that knocked in Chance Derosier, and that was plenty to put Conant ahead for good and the eventual 2-0 win. Ketola singled to start the bottom of the eighth but Kirby sat down the next three hitters to finish the game. Maddox Nordahl had two hits for Conant, while Grady Krook, Chuck Phillips and Isaiah Blais did all the hitting for Mascenic. It was another close game in the longtime rivalry; last season, the Vikings had a 10-run loss to the Orioles and then beat them 3-2 in the rematch; this year, Conant beat Mascenic by 10 in Cooperstown and then squeaked by in extras Friday.
“Last year we had the same kind of situation with Conant,” Coach Bartelson said. “We came out on top of that, one-run game our way last year. I think this game will still propel us the same way as it did last year, knowing that we’re right at the top of our division and we can play with anybody when we show up.”
Mascenic (7-3) is currently seventh in Division IV, though they’re only one game back of third. They were set to take on a good Epping team Monday afternoon and then host Concord Christian Friday.
Conant (8-2) has just the two losses to Derryfield on their record but has some good competition coming up as they sit fifth in Division III. They’ll play three games this week, all at home: Monday against Fall Mountain, Wednesday against Campbell and Thursday against Monadnock.
“We go game by game by game,” Seppala said. “So if we keep doing that, we just get the job done every day. Don’t look past any teams. Just get a win at a time. At the end of the season, we’ll have a good record. Be a good seed, hopefully.”