1st-timers from Massachusetts taking American Legion World Series day-by-day

When the season began for Hudson (Mass.) Post 100, veteran coach Ryan Bowen wasn’t sure what to expect from his team.

He had some experienced players but wasn’t sure how they’d fit together or if they could set team history by simply qualifying for the Massachusetts state tournament in a year they didn’t host the event.

Now in the American Legion World Series in Shelby, N.C., Hudson has met if not surpassed whatever expectations they would’ve had.

“As we got about halfway through the year, we realized that getting to the state tournament was a possibility,” said Bowen, who became Hudson head coach in 2017. “Beyond that, we’d never advanced to the state tournament as a non-host so just getting there was big for us.

“So, obviously, thinking beyond that was pretty far in the distance.”

That distance grew closer in a hurry for Post 100, but not without surviving a few scares in the state tournament that sent its champion and runner-up to the Northeast Regional in Manchester, N.H.

Hudson had previously done no better than pick up two wins in three state tournaments it hosted, with the best finish coming in 2011 in Bowen’s third and final year as a player.

This season, after advancing to the 2024 state tournament at Fitton Field in Worcester, Mass., Post 100 lost their opener 10-7 and trailed 5-2 entering the sixth inning in an elimination game before rallying for a 6-5 victory.

After a 13-1 blowout victory, Hudson’s road appeared over in the semifinals as the team trailed 8-0. But Post 100 rallied to win 9-8 and earn a regional berth and a state tournament championship appearance against perennial power Shrewsbury.

Even after Shrewsbury cruised to a 14-3 victory for the Massachusetts title, Bowen was confident his team was poised for the history it was about to set.

“We won three games in the state tournament with our backs against the wall just to get that Shrewsbury game,” Bowen said. “We showed we could battle when we needed to.”

At the regional, Hudson played five games in five days and won them all.

“We played so many games in so few days, we could only do a day-by-day approach,” Bowen said. “That’s really what we’ve done all year. When we got the regional, we felt we were battle-tested.”

With Chase Donahue taking regional MVP honors, Post 100 won four straight games by one run before a seven-run bottom of the sixth inning to overcome a one-run deficit in a 15-9 victory over Cumberland (R.I.) Post 14 to wrap up a berth in the ALWS.

“Obviously in that fifth game, both teams are at the back end of their pitching staff, so we won the war of attrition,” Bowen said. “We thought we had a good group of baseball players. We had a lot of experience. We just had to pull together as a unit.”

Hudson Post 100's pool play schedule (all times ET):

Aug. 15: vs. Troy (Ala.) Post 70, 4 p.m.

Aug. 16: vs. League City (Tex.) Post 554, 4 p.m.

Aug. 17: vs. Fargo (N.D.) Post 2, noon