The ConVal stands were decked out with big silver balloons spelling out “2022” as the Cougars took the field for their senior game Monday afternoon. By the time the game was over, each of those balloons had floated off into the wind-swirled skies; without a miracle, ConVal’s postseason chances might, too, be hopelessly out of reach, disappearing into thin air.

ConVal coach Matt Harris said Monday’s game was one they definitely needed to win, with Lebanon in town and Souhegan and Milford coming up to close out the season. The Cougars are still hovering near the outside edge of the Division II playoffs; as of Tuesday morning, they were one of six teams with five wins, and Harris figured they’d need two more wins to get in as the 14th-and-final seed or better.

The Cougars got what they needed out of senior starter Eric Stapelfeld, who got into the seventh inning, striking out 11 Raiders and getting out of several big jams. Stapelfeld struck out back-to-back hitters in the third to strand runners on second and third and kept another two baserunners from scoring in the fifth. He’d help his own cause as well, going 2-2 with a first-inning double, a walk, and then a sixth-inning single that turned into ConVal’s only run after a stolen base and a pair of passed balls.

“Eric got on base,” Harris said. “Eric pitched. He did a lot of stuff – and we’ve got to find that next person.”

The Cougars’ struggling offense has cost them during the course of this season. ConVal is averaging 4.8 runs per game, but removing their two blowout wins over Plymouth and Stevens makes it just 3.25 per game, near the bottom of DII. Monday’s game was no exception, as ConVal scored just the one run in the sixth.

“Our bats were complacent,” Harris said. “Before the game, during BP, we were roping the ball up the middle, left and right. Pounding the L screen with line drives or whizzing them right by my head. And we get into the game and it’s like we forget the mechanics.”

ConVal’s defense played well, and ultimately, it was a bloop hit that did them in. Scoreless in the sixth, Lebanon popped one into no-man’s-land behind second base, perfectly placed between charging centerfielder Joe Gutwein and retreating infielders Austin Knight and Sam Scheinblum. An RBI double followed, and a grounder that bad-hopped Scheinblum scored another; that was all the offense Lebanon needed.

Senior catcher Elias Niemela provided an offensive spark for ConVal, singling in the third and fifth and then nearly coming up with the game-tying RBI in the final inning.

“He’s a leader who wants to be vocal,” Harris said, “but he does a lot of talking with his skills. He’s a wall behind the plate and he talks with his bat. He knows when we need a big hit, he normally is the guy that will come up with a big hit and get things going.”

Down 2-1 with Ollie Theriault on first and no outs, Niemela sent a rope to left-center that looked like a gapper double off the bat. The ball screamed straight into the left-fielder’s glove, and the throw back to first caught Theriault scrambling back after an aggressive send for a Lebanon double-play to all but end the game.

“That’s been the story of the latter half of the season,” Harris said. “We’ve been squaring the ball up, but we would square the ball up right at people… You always can say they’re eventually going to fall, but the season always comes to an end.”

The Cougars (5-9) need a win or two in their final two games to extend the season for the five seniors they honored at Monday’s game: Stapelfeld, Niemela, Scheinblum, Remy Hall and Austin Knight.

“It was definitely a tough one, especially for these five seniors,” Harris said. “They’re a fun group. All 11 guys I’ve got here, they’re all a very fun group, all like the game and they definitely don’t like losing, but it’s kind of been our trend lately and we’ve just got to get out of the funk.”

ConVal hosts Souhegan Tuesday and travels to Milford Wednesday.