NORTHAMPTON — It’s been two years since the Northampton baseball team was in the postseason, and the last time the Blue Devils were there, they played Cathedral, a school, that no longer exists.
But coming off a good season with strong frontline pitching, Northampton, which earned the No. 5 seed in the Division 1 field at 13-7, was optimistic about a chance to carve out a new legacy.
“We’re confident. West Springfield is an awesome team, but we played two really good games against them,” Hamp coach Mark Baldwin said. “It’s always hard to beat someone three times, but they’re pretty confident that they can get the job done. … This group of seniors hasn’t experienced much success in other sports so I think they’re pretty geared up for the tournament.”
Hunter Salem, who beat West Side twice, will try for the three-game sweep of the No. 4 Terriers when the teams play Monday at 4 p.m. at West Springfield.
“They’ll be familiar with him, he’ll be familiar with them,” Baldwin said. “I’m not really sure who has the advantage there.”
Hamp hasn’t played since falling to Amherst, 2-1, on Saturday, which will give them over a week between its final regular season game and its tournament opener. Baldwin hoped the time off would energize his bats.
“We need to score more than we have the past week or so,” he said. “We got a little tired down the stretch and our bats cooled off a bit. I think this week off will help.”
Baldwin enlisted a pair of alumni arms to help prepare his team. Joe Warner (Skidmore) and Andrew Sadowski (Elms), who both pitched in college this year, have pitched to his squad in practice.
“Their arms are fresh and their curveballs are good,” Baldwin said. “It’s a big deal to face someone they haven’t faced.”
With 10 seniors on a team that’s been one of the more fun groups to be around during his 20-year tenure, South Hadley coach Matt Foley doesn’t want to see this season end.
At 16-4 with the No. 1 seed, the Tigers have a chance to last a while. South Hadley will face the winner of Thursday’s 4 p.m. first-round game between No. 8 Greenfield (11-9) and No. 9 Belchertown (11-7). The quarterfinal is Monday.
“It’s been a very nice cohesive group of players,” Foley said. “We can stay loose and have a lot of fun playing baseball. I hope the season gets extended, because it’s a great group of kids.”
Foley said he thought a tough Hampshire League had his team battle-tested.
“You just want to try to get a home game and you want to try to get a bye because that puts you in a better position as far as pitching goes. The tournament field is very competitive from top to bottom,” he said. “Our league was very competitive and hopefully that prepares us all for the tournament and we all do well. It’s an exciting field. It should be some really good baseball.”
Alex Dragon, who earned a tournament win last year at Drury, will start the first game for South Hadley.
A strong finish by Hampshire Regional (10-8) earned the Raiders the No. 12 seed. They’ll play at No. 5 Monument Mountain (10-10), Thursday at 4 p.m.
Granby coach Jim Woods said his top-seeded Rams (17-3) might be the best team he’s coached in his 14 seasons.
“There’s a lot of little things. We’ve hit the ball better than we have in a long time,” Woods said. “We drive counts deep and really work counts. We do well with two outs and two strikes in the count. We’ve extended innings.”
Granby had won 12 straight before falling to Hampshire in its regular season finale on Friday. Woods hoped his team took a lesson from it.
“That game changed within 10 minutes. In one inning we played bad baseball,” Woods said. “I talked about that situation. That 10 minutes cost us a ballgame. That could happen in the playoffs.”
He thought his team would come out motivated.
“We got whacked around in our last game. The guys didn’t like that,” he said. “They didn’t like that taste in their mouths. It was a good wake-up call.”
Hopkins Academy’s strength of schedule earned it a No. 2 seed despite seven losses, the most of any top eight seed.
Pitchers Jon Morrison and Patrick Michalak give the Golden Hawks (11-7) an enviable top two.
Smith Academy figures to be a scary team as the No. 8 seed. Despite an 8-10 record, the Falcons closed the year winning eight of nine to finish second in the Hampshire East.