For the first time in years, Amherst Post 148 will not field an American Legion baseball team.
According to District 2 Chairman Mike Quinlan, only eight players came out for Amherst coach Mike Bohl’s first round of tryouts. Very few came out for the second round in late May.
“At that point he decided to not have the team,” Quinlan said.
Legion teams have lost players for various reasons over the last 10-15 years, according to Quinlan.
Amateur Athletic Union programs have attracted the type of players who usually play Legion. Also, athletes in the age range for Legion squads — born on or after Jan. 1, 1997 — have increasingly been focusing on one sport all year rather than playing baseball in the summer.
“I think over the last 10 to 15 years, most districts in the area have lost kids to soccer, lacrosse. A lot of kids play hockey year round,” Quinlan said. “A lot of those things have hurt baseball in general, but Legion baseball too.”
Quinlan said Bohl hopes to field a team next year, but this year, “there wasn’t much he could do.”
It shouldn’t be difficult to register a team next summer should Post 148 have enough players for a team.
“It’s just a matter of the district voting them back in,” Quinlan said. “We’re always looking to help kids play baseball, that’s our goal.”
Most players who intended to come out for Amherst are now playing for Post 239.
“This year with the talent that we’ve picked up from Amherst and some of the returning players and the mix we have, I think we’re going to have one of the strongest teams we’ve had in the past four years,” said coach Tom Kubacki.
Among the players picked up by Belchertown are Stephen McCudden and John Bella-Hunter, who both pitched for Amherst Regional this spring.
Amherst’s Max Hopley could be another key contributor for Belchertown.
Joe LaPorte, of Granby, is “going to really help out on the pitching side too,” said Kubacki.
Carl Teschke and Jason French, who both played for Belchertown High School during the past season, will round out the pitching lineup for Kubacki.
Five veterans return to the field for Easthampton this year, anchoring eight newcomers.
It’s a “good mix” of players from Easthampton and Hampshire Regional High Schools, said coach Joe Dushane.
Two of the team’s captains — Hunter Leveille and Jamie Ryan — played for Easthampton, while remaining captains Max Weir and Ben Fitzpatrick suited up for Hampshire during the regular season.
“Our expectations are to lean on the veterans and continue our hitting,” said Dushane.
Leveille, Ryan and Tyler Vishaway, who also comes from Easthampton High School, could provide the reliable hitting.
Newcomer Garrett Kowal adds to the pitching staff.
“I know our pitching will be more consistent as we go along,” Dushane said. “As long as we minimize mistakes we will be successful, and our goal would be to make the playoffs this year.”
Matt Anthonis figures pitching will be a crucial difference for his South Hadley squad this summer.
“We’ve got a lot of pitching this year, and that’s going to benefit us in the long run,” he said. “The more arms, the better.”
One standout in South Hadley’s pitching lineup: Alex Dragon. In addition to Dragon, Nehemiah Wilson is “going to be very good this season,” Anthonis said.
South Hadley will also rely on some solid hitting this summer. Teddy Doyle, Justin Kleeburg and James Foley could make important offensive contributions.
“Everybody’s got qualities that are going to help us,” said Anthonis, who’s in his second year coaching at South Hadley. “Everybody’s going to contribute in one way or another for this team.”
Northampton coach Chuck Holt will look to “a nice group of personalities,” this summer, he said, with a team made up of mostly Northampton High School veterans and a few key players from other schools in the area.
“One thing that I’m excited about is that the depth that we have in our pitching staff,” Holt said. “We’ve got some inexperienced guys, but we’ve got a lot of arms, so Ii’m looking forward to that aspect as well.”
Hunter Salem of Northampton High returns to Holt’s squad this summer. “He will hopefully be one of our top pitchers,” Holt said.
Kevin Banas could also be an important contributor in Northampton’s pitching lineup. Banas, Holt said, “will be our other top pitcher.”
Christian Smiarowski and Joe Afflitto, also of Smith Academy, could be offensive threats for Northampton this summer.
“I think our strength will be our offense and our depth at pitching,” said Holt. “I think that we can improve our defense and keep running the bases well.”
Tim Horton and Andrew Serio, who come from Northampton, are veterans of Holt’s legion team and could also make some key contributions at the plate.
“We have high hopes, we have high expectations this summer, because we’ve got a lot of good players,” said Holt. “We have a really interesting mix of guys from different places.”