Good morning!
Post 81 baseball boss Bill Phelps boasts that American Legion baseball is “Top of the line nationally.” Indeed the best game in town happens every summer at Vets Field and across the country, where over 3,500 teams remain devoted to “sportsmanship, citizenship and loyalty” playing the grand old game.
Luckily for Franklin County hardball fans, Post 81’s two teams are the best in the Pioneer Valley. At this writing the 19-and-under Seniors were 6-0-1 and outscoring opponents at a 72-12 clip, and the U-17 Juniors coached by Kyle Phelps were 5-0 and outscoring opponents 50-8.
“We’re good and the other teams aren’t so good, it’s a combination of both,” said Post 81 Senior coach Alex Siano.
On Wednesday at Quigley Field in West Springfield, Post 81 beat Post 207 by a score of 7-2, while a few miles away at Jachym Field in Westfield, Post 124 defeated previously undefeated East Springfield Post 420, 4-3, making Post 81 the only undefeated team in Zones 3A and 3B.
The Seniors have unfinished business against East Springfield which is coached by Eduardo Colon and named in honor of Springfield native Harold Marney who was killed aboard the PT109 commanded by John F. Kennedy when it was sunk by a Japanese destroyer.
Their first head-to-head game was suspended by darkness, and Monday’s contest was rained out and a makeup date hasn’t been set.
The ‘old-fashioned’ way
American Legion baseball is played the old-fashioned way. There’s no team mascots or kiddie games between innings and the PA announcer (if there is one) reads the lineups without the pomp and circumstance of college bloviators who try to make everything into a world championship.
That said it could do better in the communications department. Despite good coverage from the Recorder’s Adam Hargraves, casual fans still need CIA clearance to access hitting and pitching stats.
The 18 players on each of Post 81’s two rosters are arguably the best ballplayers in Franklin County. The winnowing process began with T-ball and continued up to the Greenfield Minor and Newt Guilbault leagues to the 14-U Sandy Koufax and 16-U Mickey Mantle leagues to the American Legion where they gradually learned to play clean and fundamental baseball.
According to Phelps, “Conner Bergeron and Bodie Burke have been playing well on both teams and so has Nick Prasol. The leading pitchers on Seniors are Aiden Shea, Arthur Fitzpatrick, Tsipenyuk and Burke. Our leading hitters have been Hunter Donahue, Ethan Mauthe, Luca Siano, Jackson Campbell and Bergeron.
“The top pitchers on Juniors are Joe Bobala and Theo D’Urso. The leading hitters are Colton Kingsbury, Cody Yetter, Bodie Burke and Bergeron.
Eyes on the Tarheel State
Post 81 Seniors have four home games left at Veterans Field before the playoffs — against Westfield on July 3, Longmeadow on July 6, Monson on July 8 and West Springfield on July 10.
The Juniors host East Longmeadow today, Belchertown on Tuesday, West Springfield on July 7, Pittsfield on July 11 and Belchertown on July 16.
The games start at 5:45 p.m. and there is no admission, though Phelps will pass the hat for a 50/50 raffle, asking fans if they’re feeling lucky.
The playoffs will be in mid-July and the state tournament will be in Milford which is south of Worcester about 85 miles from Greenfield.
Like all teams, Post 81 is striving to go to the American Legion World Series. Sixty-four teams will compete across eight regional sites and the winners will advance and play at Keeter Stadium in Shelby, North Carolina starting Aug. 13.
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The New York Racing Association hopes to kickstart the early opening of its Saratoga thoroughbred meet by giving away Stars & Stripes Saratoga tumblers next Friday and Saturday.
Other giveaways include Saratoga soccer jerseys on July 10, belt bags (July 17), “Meet Me at the Spa” pins (July 24), Saratoga straw cowboy hats (Aug. 2), lawn jockey mini statues (Aug. 23), and Saratoga flannel shirts on Labor Day, Sept. 7.
General admission is $10 on race day. If you’re staying more than one day you can buy general admission tickets in advance for $7. Children 12-and-under are allowed in for free except for the big events like the Travers Stakes.
Lawn chairs, picnic baskets and coolers filled with or without beer are allowed, and the track opens its gates at 7 a.m. for fans to stake out picnic tables. The gates will then close and reopen two hours before the first race (usually 11 a.m.). Win or lose, a trip to the Spa is a day well remembered.
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Even casual fans were glued to last weekend’s 0-0 draw between heavily favored Ecuador — 29th in the FIFA rankings — and 83rd-ranked Curacao. “Most famous result in Curacao football history, a complete and resolute display defensively,” wrote one observer.
Ecuador controlled the ball for 75 percent of the game, as attested by its 589 accurate passes to Curacao’s 159, and 37-year-old goalie Elroy Room made 15 saves, a World Cup record.
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SQUIBBERS: St. Albans native Ava Giroux will be lacing ‘em up at Dartmouth next season after helping Deerfield go 21-5-2 this year. A ferocious two-way player, Giroux is helping Joe Elias run Bement’s hockey camp. Her dad Brady Giroux was a goaltender at St. Lawrence. … The NCAA preseason D-1 field hockey poll won’t be released until Aug. 25. The Minutewomen finished 13th of 82 teams last season with a 16-4 record, highest of any New England team except Harvard (4th) and Yale (12th). … Despite having only the 15th-best regular season record the Toronto Marlies beat the Chicago Wolves in five games to win the AHL’s Calder Cup. Marlies is short for the Toronto Marlborough Athletic Club in honor of the Duke of Marlborough, in case anyone asks. … Leave it to the Americans to find a way to interrupt the World Cup for commercials. “Let’s call it a hydration break!” … ESPN analyst and former MLB infielder Todd Walker during the CWS: “If you wanna be great at baseball at the highest level, you gotta be good at lying to yourself,” said Walker who had over 5,000 MLB plate appearances. “When I’m 0-for-20 I know I got a bunch of hits coming.” … The 7.6-mile Mt. Washington Auto Road Race is today. Runners, walkers and stragglers will have three hours and 30 minutes to reach the summit which is 6,288 feet above sea level. Thursday’s noontime conditions were decent — 50 degrees and 17 mph winds. … Wow. Sonny Gray is 9-1 and a Cy Young candidate. You can’t knock Craig Breslow for that move, but trying to win with pitching in a hitter’s ballpark is like putting the navy in the Mojave desert. … Spotted Lou Grader at MGM on Sunday, probably headed to the casino cage to cash his winnings. … On Wednesday at Citi Field, Cubs reliever Gavin Hollowell came in for starter Shota Imanaga after he’d given up three home runs. Bo Bichette hit Hollowell’s fourth pitch into the upper deck. “Hung a slider,” said SNY’s Ron Darling. “Imanaga said I coulda done that.”