The Baseball Circuit

Top Baseball Towns in New Hampshire

Ranked on championships won since 2000 — high school state titles and Little League district, section and state titles counted together, with recent wins weighted more heavily. 64 towns have won something.

Portsmouth leads New Hampshire, scoring 25.49 almost entirely on youth titles, and not narrowly — Portsmouth is clear of Goffstown by 8.09 points. 64 towns have won something since 2000.

The top ten in New Hampshire are Portsmouth, Goffstown, Bedford, Londonderry, Concord, Exeter, Newmarket, Litchfield, Sunapee and Bow. Between them they account for 55% of every point scored across the 64 towns on this list.

Size is doing a lot of work here. Sunapee is in the top ten on a population of 3,459, while Concord has 44,674 to draw on — roughly 13 times as many people. That is why the tables below are also split into population bands: a town should be measured against places its own size before it is measured against a city.

Recency matters in this table — a title's weight halves every 12 years, so the standings drift on their own every season. Portsmouth, Bedford and Exeter have won something in the last two seasons, which is why they sit where they do.

One caveat worth reading before you argue with the order. The youth half of this score is Little League only, because Little League is the only organization that publishes a championship archive — every district, section and state champion back to the 1950s. Cal Ripken and Babe Ruth publish nothing below the World Series. 17 towns in New Hampshire run Cal Ripken or Babe Ruth ball with no Little League program at all, and they score zero youth points here no matter how much they win. Towns that run both lose the Cal Ripken half the same way. If your league has a record we're missing, tell us and we'll add it.

#TownScorePopulationHS titlesLL stateLL districtWon by
1Portsmouth NH
Rockingham County
25.4922,9387714Portsmouth High School · Portsmouth Little League
2Goffstown NH
Hillsborough County
17.418,488469Goffstown High School · Goffstown Junior Baseball
3Bedford NH
Hillsborough County
15.1823,856159Bedford High School · Bedford Little League
4Londonderry NH
Rockingham County
8.0627,1015——Londonderry Senior High School
5Concord NH
Merrimack County
7.9844,674213Concord High School · Concord Little League
6Exeter NH
Rockingham County
7.9216,2054——Exeter High School
7Newmarket NH
Rockingham County
7.489,5284——Newmarket Jr.-Sr. High School
8Litchfield NH
Hillsborough County
7.088,5545——Campbell High School
9Sunapee NH
Sullivan County
6.483,4594——Sunapee Sr. High School
10Bow NH
Merrimack County
5.478,3973——Bow High School
11Amherst NH
Hillsborough County
5.3111,9143——Souhegan Coop High School
12Derry NH
Rockingham County
5.0534,0622——Pinkerton Academy
13Manchester NH
Hillsborough County
4.62116,386224Manchester Central High School · Manchester Memorial High School +1
14Hooksett NH
Merrimack County
3.8915,377—12North Manchester Hooksett Little League
15Contoocook NH
Merrimack County
3.79—3——Hopkinton High School
16Rye NH
Rockingham County
3.775,663—24Rye NH Little League
17Lisbon NH
Grafton County
3.681,6384——Lisbon Regional School (High)
18Littleton NH
Grafton County
3.576,0322——Littleton High School
19Brookline NH
Hillsborough County
2.955,8151.50 ⌗——Hollis-Brookline High School
20Hollis NH
Hillsborough County
2.958,7461.50 ⌗——Hollis-Brookline High School
21Gorham NH
Coos County
2.672,6731——Gorham High School
22Nashua NH
Hillsborough County
2.1591,8512——Nashua High School South · Nashua High School North
23Pittsfield NH
Merrimack County
2.124,1422——Pittsfield High School
24Fitzwilliam NH
Cheshire County
2.122,4831 ⌗——Monadnock Regional High School
25Gilsum NH
Cheshire County
2.127861 ⌗——Monadnock Regional High School
26Richmond NH
Cheshire County
2.121,2391 ⌗——Monadnock Regional High School
27Roxbury NH
Cheshire County
2.122251 ⌗——Monadnock Regional High School
28Swanzey NH
Cheshire County
2.127,4631 ⌗——Monadnock Regional High School
29Troy NH
Cheshire County
2.122,1981 ⌗——Monadnock Regional High School
30Alton NH
Belknap County
2.066,0512——Prospect Mountain High School
31Windham NH
Rockingham County
1.9916,2081—1Windham High School · Windham Baseball and Softball League (WBSL)
32Dover NH
Strafford County
1.6333,9092——St Thomas Aquinas High School
33Farmington NH
Strafford County
1.596,8062——Farmington Senior High School
34Rochester NH
Strafford County
1.5933,5981——Spaulding High School
35Moultonborough NH
Carroll County
1.425,2432——Moultonborough Academy
36Jaffrey NH
Cheshire County
1.425,5491——Conant High School
37Carroll NH
Coos County
1.288390.60 ⌗——White Mountains Regional High School
38Dalton NH
Coos County
1.289120.60 ⌗——White Mountains Regional High School
39Jefferson NH
Coos County
1.281,0600.60 ⌗——White Mountains Regional High School
40Lancaster NH
Coos County
1.283,2120.60 ⌗——White Mountains Regional High School

By town size

A championship out of a town of 6,000 is a different achievement from the same title in a city of 600,000. Same scoring, ranked against places of the same size.

Under 10,000

  1. 1NewmarketNH7.48 · 10k
  2. 2LitchfieldNH7.08 · 9k
  3. 3SunapeeNH6.48 · 3k
  4. 4BowNH5.47 · 8k
  5. 5RyeNH3.77 · 6k
  6. 6LisbonNH3.68 · 2k
  7. 7LittletonNH3.57 · 6k
  8. 8BrooklineNH2.95 · 6k

10,000–25,000

  1. 1PortsmouthNH25.49 · 23k
  2. 2GoffstownNH17.4 · 18k
  3. 3BedfordNH15.18 · 24k
  4. 4ExeterNH7.92 · 16k
  5. 5AmherstNH5.31 · 12k
  6. 6HooksettNH3.89 · 15k
  7. 7WindhamNH1.99 · 16k
  8. 8KeeneNH1.12 · 23k

25,000–75,000

  1. 1LondonderryNH8.06 · 27k
  2. 2ConcordNH7.98 · 45k
  3. 3DerryNH5.05 · 34k
  4. 4DoverNH1.63 · 34k
  5. 5RochesterNH1.59 · 34k
  6. 6MerrimackNH1 · 29k
  7. 7SalemNH0.79 · 32k

Over 75,000

  1. 1ManchesterNH4.62 · 116k
  2. 2NashuaNH2.15 · 92k

How this is scored

Only titles since 2000 count, each one's weight halves every 12 years, private-school titles count for 0.75 of a public one, and a regional school's championship is split between the towns it serves.

Full method, sources and what the rankings can't see →

By county in New Hampshire

Counties with enough towns on the board to rank. Smaller counties are folded into their state list rather than given a page of three rows.