It was about as ideal a start as the Belchertown Post 239 senior legion baseball team could have asked for on Monday evening on the road against West Springfield Post 207, as Belchertown earned a 4-1 win to start the 2025 season fresh off its second consecutive District 3 title.

Evan Ferguson and Alex West stole the show on the mound, with the two arms combining to give up just one hit and one run (not earned) over the course of seven innings. Ferguson struck out three and walked three in three innings, while West struck out three, walked none and surrendered the one hit in four innings of work.

Post 239 scraped across one run in the first, one in the third, one in the fourth and another in the sixth as they pieced together enough offense to support their two pitchers. Thatcher Rudnik collected a hit, walked and scored a run, Spencer Waite notched a hit and a run and Josh Misiaszek tallied the lone RBI for Belchertown in the win.

Canyon Charron also added a hit while West, Jacob Smith (run) and Jake Waller (run) each drew walks for Post 239. Belchertown will play in its home opener on Wednesday afternoon against Westfield Post 124, with first pitch scheduled for 5:45 p.m. at Belchertown High School.

Northampton Post 28 10, Longmeadow Baseball 0 (5) — Only five innings were needed for Post 28 in their senior legion season opener at Arcanum Field in Florence on Monday. After a scoreless first frame, Northampton plated one run in the bottom of the second before hanging four on Longmeadow in the fourth.

A five-run bottom of the fifth prompted the mercy rule as Post 28 put a bow on a fantastic all-around contest to kick off the summer.

James Lavallee got the ball for Northampton, and he gave up only three hits and one walk on four strikeouts in his five-inning shutout – picking up right where he left off after a strong senior season at Smith Vocational.

Lavallee’s fellow Viking teammate Patrick Millin had the two-out big hit in the four-run fourth, clearing the bases with a three-run double to break the game open. Lavallee, Liam Flynn and Andrew Gagne scored on the Millin hit. Matthew Walko added two RBIs for Northampton, Gagne scored three runs while Matt Vassallo tallied a hit, and RBI and scored twice.

Post 28 hits the road on Wednesday as they travel North to take on Greenfield Post 81 under the lights at Vets Field (7:15 p.m.)