May is officially upon us, and with that, so is tournament season. The Western Massachusetts baseball and softball tournaments will begin later this month. Some teams are over halfway through their regular season schedules, and others have a loaded back-half slate to make up for a handful of rain outs earlier this spring.

To get in the spirit of postseason play, we will go over each Hampshire County baseball and softball team’s state tournament ranking, as the MIAA released its first edition of the 2025 power rankings on Tuesday. But first, let’s take a look at a handful of teams that have impressed on their respective diamonds of late.

Several local teams have been playing terrific baseball/softball either all season or in recent weeks. Here are a few standouts thus far.

NOTE: This does not include the results of Wednesday’s games.

Hampshire, Hopkins hold long win streaks

It sounds absurd to say considering the quality of teams Raiders head coach Brian McGan has had over the course of his 18 years in Westhampton, but this year’s Hampshire softball squad may be up there as one of his best. The Raiders are currently 11-0, and they hold the No. 2 seed in Division 4 as of Tuesday. Hampshire has the perfect combination of hitting and pitching, the exact recipe to make a deep run in the big dance.

Ryanne Dubay is as good as they come in the circle. The sophomore has recorded over 100 strikeouts already this year and hasn’t given up more than six hits in a game (she’s only surrendered that number of hits once, all the way back in Hampshire’s season opener on March 28. Behind Dubay is a stellar defense, with CC Thayer and Rachel Hickox leading the outfield and Lucy Trombley and Kalin Dubay vacuuming up everything up the middle.

At the plate, each and every Raiders players is a threat with the bat. Teagan Charles and Thayer provide a ton of power at the top while Reagan Dubay and her two sisters are always making solid contact with the ball as well. Hampshire has reached double-digit runs in six games this year, while holding teams to an average of 2.72 runs per contest.

For Hopkins, its story is very similar. The Golden Hawks have their ace Cassandra Dion, who is on the verge of recording her 400th career strikeout as a sophomore, and strong supporting cast around her. After starting the season 1-2, Hopkins has ripped off 10 straight triumphs – most recently a 15-5 win over Monson on Tuesday.

Maggie Potter, Alayna Bailey, Lily Ellia and Dion are not only fantastic defensively, they also all can hit for power and contact. Bailey has ripped a handful of home runs already this year and can change any game with one swing of the bat. Throw in Isabella Bramucci, Olivia Earle and many others for Hopkins, and it’s quite clear why this team has scored 12 or more runs six times on this winning streak.

Perhaps the scariest part for the rest of western Massachusetts? Hampshire just has two seniors and Hopkins only has one. These two programs aren’t going anywhere.

Smith Voc still undefeated, Belchertown hitting its stride

Last week, the Gazette’s baseball notebook mentioned the stellar season the Smith Vocational baseball team is having behind the dominance of senior ace James Lavallee. Since then, the Vikings’ historic season has continued with wins over South Hadley (13-9 in extra innings) and St. Mary’s (2-0). They’ve sky-rocketed up to No. 8 in the Division 4 state power rankings and are showing no signs of slowing down this spring.

Smith Voc’s next test is on Thursday against Springfield International Charter School at Arcanum Field in Florence.

Belchertown probably carried the most hype out of any team in Hampshire County coming into the season. The Belchertown Post 239 baseball team won its second straight Western Mass. title over the summer, and many of those players are now suiting up for the Orioles this spring. So the hype was certainly warranted, although the start to the season maybe didn’t go as head coach Evan Berneche had planned.

Four losses in five games hit Belchertown right out of the gates, but the Os responded in style with five consecutive victories. Belchertown is outscoring its opponents 51-6 over that span. Ian McDonald, Josh Misiaszek, Thatcher Rudnik, Jake Waller and Kamden Houle have all had big seasons so far as the Orioles look to keep stacking Ws in May.

MIAA power rankings as of April 29, per MIAA website

BASEBALL

Amherst (1-10): No. 55, Division 2

Belchertown (6-4): No. 29, Division 3

Easthampton (2-9): No. 33, Division 5

Frontier (8-4): No. 14, Division 4

Gateway (2-4): No. 36, Division 5

Granby (1-8): No. 49, Division 5

Hampshire (4-4): No. 24, Division 4

Holyoke (3-8): No. 51, Division 2

Hopkins (8-6): No. 8, Division 5

Northampton (0-11): No. 52, Division 2

Smith Academy (1-7): No. 39, Division 5

South Hadley (5-6): No. 40, Division 4

Smith Vocational (8-0): No. 8, Division 4

SOFTBALL

Amherst (0-9): No. 61, Division 2

Belchertown (5-2): No. 46, Division 3

Easthampton (1-10): No. 42, Division 4

Frontier (6-4): No. 10, Division 4

Gateway (1-6): No. 48, Division 5

Granby (6-4): No. 26, Division 5

Hampshire (11-0): No. 2, Division 4

Holyoke (4-7): N0. 55, Division 2

Hopkins (10-2): No. 13, Division 5

Northampton (4-6): No. 51, Division 2

Smith Academy (1-9): No. 52, Division 5

South Hadley (5-4): No. 15, Division 4

Smith Vocational (4-1): No. 35, Division 4