"Little League Baseball" and "Little League" are registered trademarks of Little League Baseball, Inc., Williamsport, PA 17701, and are used here for identification purposes only. If you're looking for the official Little League Baseball home page, click here. Links to web sites for many individual leagues and districts can be found in the links section of this site.
|
(June 2024) -- We have added historical coverage of New Hampshire state tournaments to the Unpage site! Click on the left side of this page to explore past state tournaments and district champions. As part of this expansion, we are commencing our coverage of the 2024 New Hampshire state tournament -- click for details. If you can provide results or pairings for New Hampshire district tournaments that are not listed on this site, please contact the Unpage.
|
Our coverage of the New Hampshire state tournament launched on June 1, 2024. Click to contact the webmaster with any comments or questions about this site.
Little League Baseball first came to New Hampshire in 1950, when leagues were formed in Concord and Manchester. Concord police officer James Ceriello, a onetime Concord High School sports star and then the director of the city's Boys Club sports activities, announced plans to apply for a charter with Little League Baseball, and began organizing sponsors for the community's new league.
On March 1, Concord became the first New Hampshire league to formally affiliate with Little League Baseball. Local city leaders actively supported the league's founding, with Police Chief Arthur McIsaac serving as Concord's first president and city Recreation Director Paul Crowell acting as vice president. Ceriello, who served as the league's director, set about organizing sponsors and equipment for the four team league. Concord's league debuted on June 7, 1950, when the Wonolancet Club edged the Kiwanis Club, 1-0, on Allen Sargent's no-hitter at Rollins Park. The Veterans of Foreign War team blanked the Concord Lodge of Eagles team, 6-0, to secure a win in the day's second game.
Concord's start-up activities included a visit from Little League founder and president Carl Stotz, who met with local organizers in Concord on April 16 as part of an extensive barnstorming tour aimed at extending Little League's growth to newly interested communities. Among those present at the meeting in Concord was Ernest A. (Sam) Harris, a Manchester resident who had long been active in the local sports community in the Queen City. Concerned about the post-World War II decline in the local Sunset baseball league for teens, Harris was working to start a Little League program in Manchester. Harris recruited four sponsors and organized Manchester's first league that same summer. The Lions Club defeated Scotty's Tire, 2-1, in Manchester's first game.
Little League expanded rapidly, both in the Queen City and throughout New Hampshire, in ensuing years. The original Manchester Little League served all of Manchester, but by 1958, interest had grown to the point where the city had expanded to six leagues. Similarly, Concord soon added a second league, and later a third during the 1960s.
Harris, who had become the state Little League administrator, helped to oversee a growth trajectory that soon saw New Hampshire charter over 30 leagues, as other programs were quickly formed in communities in the Merrimack Valley, Seacoast, and Lakes regions of the state. His name, along with that of Ignace Gill (head of Manchester department of Aviation and Recreation in the 1950s, and a longtime Little League supporter) adorns Gill-Harris Field, the longtime home of Manchester Central Little League. Beginning in 1971, the regular season champions from Manchester's six leagues competed for many years in the Sam Harris Tournament of Champions that determined the city's top regular season team.
Manchester and Concord met in the first New Hampshire state tournament, a best-of-three series held at the conclusion of their inaugural 1950 seasons. Concord swept Manchester, 12-6 and 3-2, to become the Granite state's first champion, and advanced to further competition in a Region 1 sectional tournament in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. From this first tournament appearance, New Hampshire leagues have participated in every international tournament. By 1952, there were enough leagues to divide the state into two districts, with the winners of these two districts meeting for the state title. Since 1954, New Hampshire has consistently been organized into these two districts, with one centered around Manchester and the Merrimack Valley, and one centered around communities near New Hampshire's seacoast.
Today, New Hampshire's champion advances to the New England Region tournament, which is held each August in Bristol, Connecticut. The New England Region champion advances to the Little League World Series.
Six New Hampshire leagues have participated in the Little League World Series. Bedford Little League earned New Hampshire's best-ever tournament finish when it finished as the United States runner-up in the 1993 Little League World Series.
| New Hampshire Little League World Series Qualifiers | |
| Year | League |
| 1987 | Dover Northside Little League |
| 1993 | Bedford Little League |
| 2000 | Goffstown Little League |
| 2006 | Portsmouth Little League |
| 2021 | North Manchester/Hooksett Little League (Hooksett) |
| 2024 | Salem Little League |
Click to view a timeline showing the evolution of the New Hampshire Little League tournament structure.
 Alabama |
Illinois |
New Mexico |
| Alaska |
Indiana |
New York |
| Arizona |
Iowa |
North Carolina NEW FOR 2024! |
| British Columbia |
Kansas |
Ontario |
| California (Northern) |
Maine |
Oregon |
| California (Southern) |
Maryland |
Pennsylvania |
| Colorado |
Massachusetts |
Rhode Island |
| Connecticut |
Michigan |
Texas (East and West) |
| Delaware |
Minnesota |
Vermont |
| District of Columbia |
Montana |
Virginia NEW FOR 2024! |
| Florida |
Nevada |
Washington |
| Georgia |
New Hampshire NEW FOR 2024! |
Wisconsin |
| Hawaii |
New Jersey |
Wyoming |
| Idaho |
| Central Region |
Southern Region |
Western Region |
| Eastern Region |
| Region 1 |
Region 4 |
Region 7 |
| Region 2 |
Region 5 |
Region 8 |
| Region 3 |
Region 6 |
Links to tournament coverage