Taconic Baseball Gets Rematch with Pope Francis

The Taconic baseball team will not have to wait long to avenge its only loss of the regular season.

 

Taconic pulled down the No. 5 seed in the Western Mass tournament in the pairings that were released on Tuesday evening. That means it will face No. 4 Pope Francis in the sectional quarter-finals.

 

On Saturday at Springfield’s Forest Park, the Cardinals edged Taconic, 2-1, to spoil its bid for a perfect regular season.

 

If Taconic wins on Monday, it could have another rematch on looming in the semi-finals, but that will require Pittsfield winning a pair of games to get their.

 

The ninth-seeded Generals (11-9), the last team to make the field in Division 1, open the tournament on Thursday at No. 8 Longmeadow (12-8). The winner of that game will take on top seed Westfield (14-6) on Monday.

 

Despite its sterling 19-1 record, Taconic is not the highest-seeded Berkshire County nine going into the post-season.

 

That honor belongs to Wahconah (14-6), the second seed in Division 3.

 

Wahconah received a bye into the quarters, where on Monday it will face the winner of Thursday’s first-round game between No. 10 Mahar (10-10) and No. 7 Palmer (13-7).

 

All three county teams in the D3 draw have a bye into the quarters.

 

No. 5 Mount Greylock (14-5) and No. 6 Hoosac Valley (13-7) already know their opponents in the quarter-finals, scheduled for Monday. The Hurricanes will travel to face No. 3 Fontier (13-5); the Mounties head out the Mohawk Trail to face Mohawk Trail (15-5), which is seeded fourth in the 10-team field.

 

The first day of the baseball playoffs will feature a rematch from one of the first games played this season when No. 9 Mount Everett (12-7) visits No. 8 McCann Tech (15-5) in the first round of the Division 4 tournament. Way back on April 7, the Eagles edged the Hornets, 3-2, down in Sheffield. The rematch is slated to be played under the lights at North Adams’ Joe Wolfe Field.

 

No. 5 Lenox (11-9), which beat McCann Tech in last spring’s D4 final, opens its sectional title defense at home against 12th-seeded Smith Vocational (10-10).