SPRINGFIELD — Hampshire Regional has been a top-four seed in the Western Massachusetts Division 3 Tournament since 2015. The Raiders have reached Curry Hicks Cage for the semifinals the past two seasons.
Saturday at Springfield Central, Hampshire was named the tournament’s top seed for the first time during that run.
“I’ve been in the program for so long and I’ve never had the No. 1 seed before,” Hampshire senior Katelyn Pickunka said. “I think it sets us up well.”
But it guarantees nothing.
Hoosac Valley (18-2) is the five-time defending champion in Division 3 and seeded third.
“They came in really hungry from the start,” Hampshire coach Amy Cyr said of her team.
South Hadley, which beat Hampshire in last season’s semifinals, is seeded No. 2. The Tigers (16-4) and Hampshire (18-2) split their regular season meetings.
A higher strength of schedule from playing in the Suburban League filled with Division 2 teams helped the Raiders and South Hadley.
“It’s loaded,” South Hadley coach Paul Dubuc said. “I think there are seven teams that can win this.”
Granby is the fourth seed and earned the last bye to the quarterfinals. The Rams were realigned into Division 4, but coach Tom Burke petitioned for Granby (15-5) to continue to play in Division 3. The Rams benefited from playing a challenging nonleague schedule that included multiple Division 1 teams.
Those top four teams will host quarterfinals Thursday.
Greenfield earned the fifth seed despite being 19-1 because the Walker System, which is used to determine the seeds, takes into account strength of schedule and record against tournament teams. The Green Wave host No. 12 Drury (10-10) on Monday. The winner plays at Granby on Thursday.
Frontier (14-6) is the ninth seed and will travel to No. 8 Palmer on Monday in the opening round. It’s the second consecutive tournament appearance for the Red Hawks. That winner travels to Hampshire for the quarterfinals.
No. 6 Wahconah (17-3) and No. 7 Monument Mountain (11-9) host No. 11 Narragansett (12-8) and No. 10 Mahar (13-7), respectively. The Wahconah/Naragansett winner will play Hoosac Valley, while South Hadley hosts the survivor of Monument/Mahar.
Northampton played a predominantly Division 1 schedule and claimed the top seed in the Division 2 tournament by a wide margin after moving down in the most recent round of realignment.
The Blue Devils (17-3) reached the Division 1 semifinals last year. They will begin their run in the final four this season after receiving a bye through the quarterfinal round of the seven-team tournament.
“I didn’t think with our strength of schedule that there was any way we wouldn’t have it,” Northampton coach Perry Messer said. “You always have a target on your back when we’re playing. The one thing I love about this group of kids is they always compete.”
They’ll face the winner of No. 4 Quabbin (14-6) and No. 5 Pittsfield (13-6) next week.
Amherst (8-12) reached the playoffs for the first time since 2012 after tying for second place in the Central League. The Hurricanes will travel to No. 3 East Longmeadow (13-7) on Thursday.
The winner will play either No. 2 Tantasqua (13-7) or No. 7 Sci-Tech (15-5) in the semifinals.
“I’ve pretty much seen everybody play,” Messer said.
Smith Academy (13-7) will host No. 10 North Brookfield on Monday after receiving the No. 7 seed. The winner will face No. 2 Putnam (17-3) in the quarterfinals
No. 12 Gateway (12-8) is traveling to No. 5 Mount Everett (11-9) in the opening round. No. 4 Turners Falls (12-8) awaits in the quarterfinals.
Monson (13-7) is the No. 1 seed.
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com.