Former AAU player Chase Donahue helps Hudson Post 100 make history with spot at Legion states

HUDSON – His first and only season will go down in history.

Chase Donahue celebrated Wednesday night with a burger and fries at Applebee’s after throwing 107 pitches in a dominant performance at Riverside Park. The University of Southern Maine rising sophomore is only on this Hudson Post 100 Legion team due to the recruitment of captain Bobby Long.

And because a nearby program waffled.

Donahue, who played AAU ball the past few summers and lives in Shirley, inquired about joining the Leominster Post 151 team. He said he was put on a waiting list. This is where Long stepped in.

“He reached out and said, ‘hey, you interested in playing for Hudson Legion? We really want you,’” Donahue said after striking out 11 North County batters . “That was enough for me.

“And the second the Leominster coach got back to me, it was too late.”

Donahue’s complete-game five-hitter lifted Post 100 to an 8-0 victory over North County and into the American Legion state tournament for the first time as a non-host team. The 2023 Bromfield graduate was nearing his pitch limit in the final inning and badly wanted to finish what he started.

“I was not going to come off this mound; you had to physically drag me off,” said Donahue, who drove in two runs. “When I finished off the second out of the seventh inning, I looked in (to coach Ryan Bowen) and just (thought) ‘please stay on the sideline.’ You had to kill me to get me off the mound.”

After right fielder Brendan O’Brien caught the final out of the game, Donahue thrust both arms into the air as Post 100 won the best-of-three series 2-1.

“Chase, he’s our guy. When we have a big game, it’s Chase’s ball,” Bowen said. “He’ll be pitching as soon as he’s eligible in the state tournament.”

Hudson will face Lowell Saturday morning at 10 to begin States at Fitton Field in Worcester.

“He was good,” North County coach Gregg Picucci said of Donahue, who threw 70 strikes. “We didn’t hit. We had guys on base and we didn’t get them in when we needed it. If we put a little more pressure on them, it would have been better. It was their night.”

Marshall Kehlhem (1 for 3, 2 runs, 2 stolen bases) was again the catalyst for Hudson. The Catholic Memorial rising senior and leadoff hitter from Marlborough singled in the first inning, stole second, advanced to third on a two-out grounder, then slid head first into home on a double steal to put Hudson ahead for good.

Dan DeMirjian’s single later plated Donahue to make it 2-0. Long’s RBI single and four walks put Post 100 up 5-0 after two.

North County’s biggest threat was quickly snuffed out. Ty Curtis and Johnny Losordo led off the fifth with back-to-back singles, but Post 100 shortstop Anthony Moura started a 6-4-3 double play before Donahue got Corey Aubuchon to fly out to Kehlhem in center.

Chase Barrett’s double highlighted a two-run sixth for Hudson, who turned to Donahue to take care of the rest.

“It meant the world to me to have the ball in this game,” Donahue said. “To have a coach, who I never met before this summer, have that much faith in me in a game like this where we can go down in the history books means the absolute world to me. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Tim Dumas is a multimedia journalist for the Daily News. He can be reached at tdumas@wickedlocal.com . Follow him on Twitter @TimDumas.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Former AAU player Chase Donahue helps Hudson Post 100 make history with spot at Legion states