From pg. 25 of the Nashua Telegraph, 13 August 1984.
(In the photo: Coffey Post's Scott Anderson, left, is greeted at home plate after scoring the winning run in Sunday's championship game.)
KEENE -- With men on second and third, one out and Coffey Post trailing by a run in the seventh inning of Sunday's American Legion state championship game, Coach Dave Hogan approached the mound slowly, contemplating what he might say to the 16-year-old pitcher who held his team's destiny.
But if Hogan had even a fleeting thought of yanking Phil Stephens, it vanished the moment the young right-hander spotted him.
"As soon as I got out there he said, 'You're not going to pull me out of here. This is my ballgame,'" Hogan said. "I wasn't going to yank him, though. I have all the confidence in the world in him."
And, indeed, it was Stephens' ballgame, as was Sunday's first game against Jutras Post of Manchester.
Stephens belted a pair of home runs in the first game in leading Nashua to a 4-2 victory, then went the distance on the mound in game two to nail down a 5-4 triumph, the state title and a trip to the Legion regionals Aug. 22 in Utica, N.Y.
"I've said all along these kids aren't lovers, they're fighters," Hogan said. "Everybody was fighting like dogs."
Nashua had plenty of practice in the role of underdog, having put itself in a hole at the beginning of the season (before winning its final eight district games), losing the first game of the double-elimination state tournament Friday to Manchester Post 79, and falling behind 3-1 in Sunday's second game.
"Everyone thought we were out of it," said Coffey Post's Pat Madigan, whose two-run double in the seventh inning of the second game scored the winning runs. "That's the way things have been for us all year."
Coffey Post's saviors, during the season and the state tournament, were strong hitting and more pitching depth than most Legion teams could ever use. That combination helped Nashua to a pair of wins Saturday (10-8 over Exeter, 8-7 over Post 79) as it made its climb out of the loser's bracket.
"Our arms were hurting,." said Madigan, one of Coffey Post's starting pitchers. "It's tough playing five games in three days."
"Pitching depth is our big strength," Hogan said. "We have kids on the bench who could have thrown this weekend, They (Jutras) only had three pitchers they used."
Still, what Jutras may have lacked in quantity did not affect the quality yesterday. Don Florence went seven innings in the first game, allowing five hits and four runs, and Steve Larose seemed to have the second game under control until Coffey Post pushed across three runs in the seventh.
"Their pitchers are real good," Stephens said, "They were fooling a lot of guys with curves, Every once in a while we just guessed right."
Stephens' best guesses in the first game proved to be the difference. He and Scott Anderson gave Nashua a 2-0 lead in the second inning with solo homers off Florence, who answered with a homer in the bottom of the inning.
Stephens padded the lead with a two-run homer in the sixth, and took the mound in relief of Matt Doucet (the winner after relieving Anderson in the third) in the eighth, stopping a Jutras rally and making Hogan's decision concerning a second game starter easy.
"I just thought that since Phil gave us the chance (for a second game), he should finish it off for us," Hogan said.
Jutras reached Stephens for 10 hits, but could only push across single runs in the second, third (an unearned run), fifth and eighth innings, keeping Coffey Post close.
"My curveball was working real good, They went fishing for a lot of 'em outside," Stephens said.
An unearned run in the fourth put Nashua on the board, and Kevin Pollard cut the deficit to 3-2 in the sixth by doubling home Jeff Fay, who singled to open the inning.
After Stephens justified Hogan's faith by working out of his seventh inning trouble, Coffey Post pushed across the three decisive runs. Gary Britko tied it with a home run to deep center field and with two outs Pollard doubled. Larose then walked Anderson intentionally to pitch to Madigan, who already has two hits in the game.
"He struck me out on three curves the last time I was up, so I was looking for more curves," Madigan said. "But I got a fastball outside."
Madigan took that outside fastball down the right field line for a double, scoring Pollard and Anderson.
Jutras pressed Stephens in the eighth, but a first-and-third, one out situation produced just one run. Stephens retired the side in order in the ninth to end it.
"He may be only 16 but he plays a lot older," Hogan said. "I believe in him. He's gonna be a helluva ballplayer."
Actually, he wasn't too bad yesterday.
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BKgrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9PwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=...
