Greenfield Post 81 isn’t ready to see its summer season come to a close.
After winning the American Legion District 3 championship, Greenfield is moving on to the state tournament as one of eight district winners battling to be crowned the Massachusetts Senior Division champion.
Post 81 kicks off the tournament Saturday, taking on Sandwich Post 188 at 12:30 p.m. at Fino Field in Milford.
“Everything now is pretty much gravy,” Greenfield manager Kyle Phelps said. “Winning the western Mass. championship was awesome. I still feel our team is built for tournaments like this with all our pitching. With our experience, who knows what can happen.”
All season long, Post 81 has proven it is never out of games.
The team has consistently found ways to win close games, finishing district play with a 7-2 record in one-run games. That included an 8-7 win over Wilbraham Red in the championship game on Tuesday night.
Winning those tightly-contested games, as well as making comebacks, has given the team confidence that no lead is safe against them.
“I don’t think we’ve had a game yet where we’ve just let up and rolled over,” Ben Arnold said. “We’re not a team that gives up.”
A 12-4 record earned Greenfield the No. 2 seed in the district tournament, where it won five of six games. As a result, Post 81 enters the state tournament with plenty of confidence.
“We’re feeling great,” Phelps said. “They’re sky-high. All along this whole season, it’s been such a tight-knit crew. They pick each other up and they’re having a lot of fun. They just wanted to win that tournament so bad. For all the other outside stuff that was going on, they won it for each other and won it for the coaches and their teammates.”
To win districts, Post 81 was forced to play six games in six days, including a doubleheader Tuesday for the championship. This forced Phelps to use a plethora of pitchers due to pitch-count limits, providing experience to players who weren’t regulars on the mound throughout the regular season.
In a similar tournament where a lot of games can be played in a short amount of time, Phelps feels his pitching depth will give the team an advantage in the double-elimination state tourney.
“If you get into Monday in these tournaments, anything can happen,” Phelps said. “That’s when teams are starting to go with their third or fourth pitchers. That’s where I feel we have an advantage. We know we’re going to be facing some awesome teams and some top-notch college pitchers in the first couple games.”
After the opener against Sandwich, Greenfield plays again on Sunday. Phelps says that Ben Arnold and Owen Phelps will pitch the first two games, but he hasn’t decided which hurler will throw which day yet.
After that, Kalen Evans showed in the championship win over Wilbraham that he is capable of throwing deep into ballgames. Connor Waitkus proved he can be thrown in to close matchups if needed, while reliable pitchers Joel Peabody and Jacob Berry will also figure into the equation.
While Post 81 is riding high after the district win, they aren’t staying complacent, wanting to prove their talent at the state level.
“We want to win the tournament,” Colin Cloutier said. “We’re going to do our best. We know there’s going to be some good teams there, but I think if we play our best baseball, we can compete with anybody.”
Cloutier and Arnold, along with Owen Phelps, have state tournament experience, giving them a leadership role heading into the bigger event. Playing against the best teams in all of Massachusetts, their leadership on the diamond will be counted on when tough situations arise.
“Owen and I have been in three [state tournaments],” Arnold said. “Colin’s been in four, so we have a lot of guys who have stepped into a big role in terms of leadership. There’s only so much a coach can do. When we’re on the field, it’s been big to try to get everyone back in the game and have people who have been around for so long.”
“We try to lead our guys into battle every game,” Cloutier said. “We try to pump them up and do whatever we can but it’s about each and every guy contributing to a win. We do our best but they also do their best and it’s what makes us win.”
For the younger players, playing in a tournament with a lot of eyes on them should be a great experience.
“These guys want to be there,” Kyle Phelps said. “The majority of this team, some are already playing in college and a lot of them are going to college next year to play baseball and the younger kids are striving to play in college. They know this is what they want to be. There’s going to be hundreds of scouts down there watching these guys so this is why they wanted to get to this point.”