After falling in the American Legion district tournament final last year to Greenfield Post 81, Belchertown Post 239 got some redemption on Thursday night, taking down Westfield Post 124, 9-3, to advance to the next stage of the legion playoffs — the Department Senior Tournament.

Eight teams will vie for the title in a double-elimination tournament held at Mahan Field in Natick, with Belchertown’s first game scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m. against Sandwich Post 188. The other teams competing in the tournament are Shrewsbury Post 397, host Natick Post 107, Beverly Post 331, Walpole Post 104, Fall River Post 464 and defending state champion Franklin Post 75. The winner of the state tournament will receive a berth in the Regional Tournament, to be held in Shrewsbury beginning Aug. 2.

Belchertown has gotten through the first three games of the Legion playoffs by relying on its depth. Different players have stepped up in each game – Marshall Ingram, Ryan Schneider, Tyler McDonald and Andrew Fijal, to name just a few. Post 239 doesn’t rely on one superstar to carry the team, and everyone has elevated their games at the right time in order to pull off the successful postseason run thus far. 

“I said to these guys, if we all play together the way that we're capable of, and I said this on day one in practice, we're gonna win a lot of games,” Belchertown head coach Todd McDonald said. “I didn't realize we're gonna win all the way through the tournament. So it's a relief, but it's a testament to the hard work that these guys have put in.”

The team’s offense has also gotten to work the past few games – over the last three games, Post 239 has scored 19 runs against its opponents. It hasn’t always been hits – Belchertown has capitalized on the occasional error, and the team has also worked smart at-bats to draw walks. Once the team gets on base, that’s when things get dangerous for whoever Belchertown is playing. Many on the roster are aggressive base runners, and that skillset put them in prime position on Thursday night to earn the win against Westfield for the championship. 

One thing Post 239 will have to pay close attention to in the state tournament is pitching management. McDonald said that they planned their pitching rotation a week before their first game of the tournament to make sure they had enough arms ready, and that nobody was going to go over their pitch count. But now that they have more baseball to play, it’s going to take some more careful planning in a short period of time.

“We’ve got to travel up to Natick and figure some things out. We managed our pitching very well this week, but it also takes a lot out of us to be able to turn around and play two days later so we’ve got to take a look,” McDonald said. “We still have pitchers that we can throw, I'm not worried about it. But we’ve got to figure out our rotation.”

Regardless of who’s on the mound, Belchertown has also been able to rely on its rock solid defense during the tournament, particularly its outfield which has made some truly spectacular plays at pivotal moments across the postseason. Center fielder Andrew Fijal in particular has made a handful of diving catches and critical throws to end innings and halt the other team’s momentum.

“We saw the same thing against Wilbraham in South Hadley, [Fijal] makes a big throw to end that game. He made a couple big throws [Thursday against Westfield]. We know we can count on his arm,” McDonald said. “The range that our entire outfield has — we know when a ball goes in the air, the odds are it's going to be caught.”

And while they’re hoping to keep winning, just getting this far is something that the players will remember. While most of the team is new to Post 239 this season, there are a handful of returning players, including Fijal and Schneider. Now in their final year of Legion eligibility, they’re enjoying the late season success this new group is having. 

 “Coming off a loss last year in the district championship, it's good to come out here with a different group of guys, some of the core from last year, but I think we've all gotten pretty close,” Fijal said. “We’ve just gotta keep going getting some wins.”

Hannah Bevis can be reached at hbevis@gazettenet.com. Follow her on Twitter @Hannah_Bevis1.]]>