FLORENCE — Nine years of waiting is over.

The Northampton Legion Post 28 baseball team is heading to the Massachusetts Legion Senior State tournament for the first time since 2017, after winning the District 3B playoff division on Wednesday.

Northampton outmatched Sheffield Post 340, 6-2, at Arcanum Field to punch its ticket to the eight-team statewide tournament, which begins on Saturday in Milford.

“I’m so proud of them,” Northampton head coach Adam Krol said. “It’s huge for our community. We have Northampton across our jerseys. You’re playing for your neighbors, you’re playing for your friends, your family, you’re playing from where you grew up. There’s nothing more special than that. It’s huge for us, it’s huge for the community and we’re going to represent our community well out in Milford.”

Post 28’s duo of starting pitcher Tucker Russell (complete game, three walks, one hit batter) and first baseman J.J. Scanlon-Dean were terrific for the hosts. Russell rang up nine batters while Scanlon-Dean smacked a two-run home run to blow the game open for Northampton during the fifth inning. Scanlon-Dean finished with three RBIs.

“Our lineup is exceptionally deep, which is what has helped with this run, but [Scanlon-Dean] has been at the center of it,” Krol said. “When his timing is down, he’s one of the best hitters…that’s what we needed when we needed hit.”

Northampton plated four runs in the fourth inning after being stuck in neutral on offense for the first three frames.

Scanlon-Dean ripped a RBI double down the right field line to drive home Aiden Keeling-Lococo (who lead off the inning with a two-bagger), for Post 28’s first run of the contest.

An RBI single from Pat Millin doubled Northampton’s lead to 2-0, before a booming RBI double over the Sheffield center fielder’s head from Kaleb Jorritsma extended its advantage to 3-0. Post 28 added another for insurance before the third out was made to take a commanding 4-0 advantage more than halfway through.

Scanlon-Dean’s shot over the right field fence pushed Northampton’s edge to 6-0 an inning later, proving to be enough of a cushion despite a valiant seventh-inning comeback attempt from Post 340.

Down 6-1, the visitors loaded the bases twice on Russell, scored once, and even had the tying run at the plate with two outs, but a hard-hit ball from Chase Wendling was caught with a diving snag from Post 28 center fielder Carter Styspeck to end the threat.

“Tucker is the definition of a competitor,” Krol said. “As soon as he’s out there, that’s his mound, that’s his field and he went out there and he lived up to the billing. He pitched great, he attacked the zone, got ahead in counts, when he got in trouble he became unhittable and that’s what we need out of a stud pitcher like him.”

Northampton (14-5-0), which has now won nine straight, will play the District 10 winner on Saturday at Fino Field at 4:30 p.m.

“It is business as usual,” Krol said. “We’re going to go out and we’re going to play our brand of baseball, and we’re going to put a good product on the field. If we play to our ability there’s nobody we can’t beat.”

Sheffield closed out the summer with an 8-8-1 record.