As the Greenfield Post 81 Senior Division Legion team looks to repeat as District 3 champions, it’ll be doing so with a mix of new and veteran players.
Post 81 lost 12 of their 18 players from last year’s team that not only won the district title, but went on to finish fourth in the American Legion Senior State Tournament.
Still, Greenfield returns plenty of talent and continues to mix in younger talented players on the roster. First year coach Julian Diamond said he loves the potential of this group, which started the season on a high note with a 22-1 drubbing of Ludlow on Monday despite not having their full arsenal of players available with the high school baseball season still ongoing.
“I think they look great so far,” said Diamond. “It’s a team that has the potential to compete at the highest level of Legion ball. I can’t wait to see what we can do with the Pioneer guys now that they’re with us after doing so well without them [on Monday].”
Diamond — a 2016 Mohawk Trail graduate — is a Post 81 alum and said he has great respect for the program. He said playing on Post 81 was a privilege and getting to come back and coach is a dream come true.
“Playing on this team was the highest honor,” Diamond said. “It’s the best baseball around. Anyone who was a real ball player had the Post 81 hat. They were the coolest thing. It’s pretty amazing to be coaching this team. There’s no team I’d rather be coaching. Playing for Post 81 was the best time of my life. Baseball was everything to me and Legion was the highest level. Being able to coach this team feels like a dream.”
With the talent on the roster, Diamond said he is just trying to do what he can to put them in the right position to succeed without getting in the way of their success.
“You want to step in and do as much as you can as a coach,” Diamond said. “These kids have so much talent that you feel like the top priority is just not getting in the way. A big part of coaching Post 81 is creating an environment where the kids are comfortable being the talented, experienced athletes they are. You want to allow them a loose, fun environment to do that but you also need to have an environment that’s structured. We expect them to be disciplined athletes before they get here. As a coach I just want to give them the space to be the athletes they are.”
It helps when the two top arms from last year are back on the Post 81 roster. Greenfield High School alum David Carey will once again be the squad’s ace while Frontier alum Tyler Baranowski got the opening day start on Monday and looks like the same lockdown pitcher he was last spring and summer.
Pioneer alum Jason Quinn, another returner, and Carey will be the top bats in what looks to be a potent Post 81 lineup, where Diamond will never be short of strong options to turn to at the plate.
“We have so many really good hitters,” Diamond said. “Jason Quinn was the top bat last year and hopefully he can do that again. We have some of the best hitters in Western Mass. on this team. When I’m making the lineup card I keep thinking that any of these kids would be suitable three or four hitters in the lineup.”
Tyler Podolski, a Greenfield High School grad, returns as another arm Diamond can turn to while fellow GHS alum MJ Paulin is another big bat in the lineup. Ethan Quinn, who played for Post 81 as a freshman last year, is looking to parlay his season on the mound and at the plate for Pioneer into success this summer.
“Having veterans back is huge,” Diamond said. “Being able to talk to those guys has been helpful since I haven’t played Legion since 2016. It gave me a sense of how things are going.”
While Post 81 lost players from last year, it had a group of Junior Legion players from a season ago who were ready to move up a level after reaching the Junior Legion District 3 finals a year ago.
John Marchefka and Caleb Thomas were key cogs for a Greenfield varsity team that reached the MIAA Div. 5 quarterfinals this spring, and both will play roles for Post 81 this summer. Marchefka opened the season with a 4-for-4 performance Monday.
Ethan Quinn welcomes fellow Panthers Ethan Mauthe, Luc Belhumeur, Ian Simpson and Ben Werner onto the Post 81 squad, all of which started for a Pioneer team that reached the Div. 5 semifinals for the second straight year.
Two players from a Frontier team that reached the Div. 5 quarterfinals will also play for Post 81 this summer. Liam Skribiski-Banack was the Redhawk ace and will also contribute at the plate for Greenfield while Jesse Dubreuil excels at the plate and in the field. Mahar’s Sam Connors and Turners Falls’ Dylen Richardson showed well during the high school season, with Connors adding a bat and Richardson another pitcher to Post 81.
Smith Vocational’s Cayden Payne and Carter Blanchette, who helped lead the Vikings to a 21-3 record and a state vocational title, round out the Post 81 roster this summer.
While Greenfield figures to be strong at the plate, its depth on the mound will be key if it hopes to make another long postseason run.
“It’s a really solid bullpen,” Diamond said. “When I was playing, pitching was always where we had the least depth and where we ran out the quickest in the postseason. It’s great to see we have so many arms.”
As for the goals of this team?
“We want to take it one game at a time and win every game we play,” Diamond said.
Greenfield Post 81’s Junior Legion team is 2-0 on the young season after victories over Longmeadow and North Adams this week. The club will be coached by Alex Siano this summer.