PORTSMOUTH — The first year of American Legion baseball for Portsmouth Booma Post 6 was sometime in the 1930s, according to program manager Matt Gladu.
Booma won its first New Hampshire state championship in 2008, and then again in 2021, advancing to the New England regional tournament in both years.
With a win on Tuesday, Booma will advance to the New England regional, scheduled for next month at Gill Stadium in Manchester, for the third time in program history.
"It would be just a really cool opportunity to put yourselves against the best of the region," Portsmouth head coach Geoff Jablonski said.
Booma is 20-1 on the season and the top seed in District B. It enters Tuesday's state championship game with a 3-0 record in the double-elimination state tournament, beating Bedford Stevens-Buswell Post 54, 7-2 on Friday and Lebanon Post 22, 7-4 on Saturday before Sunday's 9-2 win over Nashua Coffey Post 3.
"The guys have really bought in," Jablonski said. "They've showed up to play, they've been ready to play and the record reflects it."
In Tuesday's championship game at Holman Stadium, Booma will either face Salem Post 4, Lebanon or Nashua. Salem and Lebanon were scheduled to play Monday at 4 p.m. The winner of that game will face Nashua at 7, and the winner of that game will advance to the championship, needing to beat Booma twice. Tuesday's first game is scheduled for 4 p.m. with the potential second game scheduled for 7.
Jablonski said having to beat a team twice in one day requires a lot of pitching.
"It just turns into having to have 14 really good innings," Jablonsky said. "And that's hard to string together for anybody, even for us. It's hard to string together two perfect games in a row. It's nice to be in the driver's seat so someone has to do that against us. If we play our game, we think we're going to be OK."
Booma rolling along in 'driver's seat'
A 7-3 loss to Exeter Post 23 on June 21 is the only hiccup from Booma this summer. Against potential state championship opponents, in the regular season, Portsmouth won all four games against both Salem and Nashua, outscoring Salem, 23-7, and Nashua, 30-11. Booma did not play Lebanon (District A) until the state tournament.
"(This team) never looks past anybody," Jablonski said. "They're doing a great job of just focusing on the task at hand. Each at-bat, each pitch, each defensive play. They're winning one play at a time, and they're staying focused and that's allowing them to piece it all together and win these games."
It is the first time in Jablonski's four years as head coach that Booma won its first three games of the tournament.
Striking first, and the hitting and pitcher leaders
Portsmouth has scored in the first inning in all three games of the tournament - one run each against Bedford and Lebanon, and a three-spot against Nashua.
"We've gotten ahead early, and that's kind of allowed us to play from out front," Jablonski said.
Matthew Minckler has eight hits, including a home run and three triples, and has scored eight runs in the first three games of the tournament. Others leading the way offensively include Evan Gaffney (five hits, three runs, two RBIs), Elliot Miles (five RBIs), and Duncan Cullinane (three hits, three RBIs).
Jason Pinsonnault allowed one earned run over 3 2/3 innings on Friday, Jones Vicinus allowed three runs and stuck out six in 4 2/3 innings against Lebanon, and Jake Carlisle went five innings of two-run ball on Sunday against Nashua. Sebastian Lampert, Devin Driscoll and Minckler have all been effective in relief.
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