Burke County Post 21's Madelyn LeMaster makes contact at the plate during a 2025 home game at Patton High School. Post 21's senior legion squad opens its 2026 season on June 2 at McDowell, while the junior team opened at Cherryville late Thursday and remains on the road twice next week.
The Burke County Post 21 American Legion Lady softball team last week released the 2026 schedules for both its senior- and junior-level squads.
The Post 21 senior squad returns to action for a second consecutive summer after not fielding a team in 2023 or ’24. Last year’s squad finished with a 3-5 overall record following a strong run in which Post 21 had won its division title in three of its first four seasons after being founded in 2017.
The Post 21 senior schedule features 10 regular-season games, while the junior squad will play 16 games. All playing dates will feature two five-inning contests, and Post 21 for a second straight year will play its home games at the Patton High School field.
The senior squad opens next Tuesday (June 2) at 6 p.m. on the road against border rival McDowell Post 56. The teams also opened last season versus each other, splitting a doubleheader hosted by Burke.
Post 21 centerfielder Maria Medrano makes the running catch for an out during a 2025 home game.
From there, Post 21 visits Hickory Post 48 (June 9) before hosting games on back-to-back Tuesday evenings against Wilkes County Post 31 (June 16) and Gaston County Post 144 (June 23). After taking a week off for Independence Day, Post 21 then ends its regular season at Wilkes County Post 31 on July 7.
The Post 21 senior squad will again be coached by Mike Hasson, who will be assisted by Wesley Hasson and Leah Bostian.
The Post 21 juniors opened late Thursday night at Cherryville Post 100 and remain on the road twice next week to take on Rutherford County Post 423 (June 1) and Wilkes (June 5) before their home opener against Caldwell County Post 29 on June 8.
The Post 21 junior team also has home doubleheaders scheduled for June 15 (vs. McDowell) and July 6 (vs. Shelby Post 82). Brad Buff returns as junior legion head coach, assisted by both Hassons and Bostian.
The Post 21 juniors finished 11-6 and were runners up at last year’s N.C. state tournament hosted by Salisbury.
This year’s senior and junior state tournaments will be hosted by the town of Sawmills in Caldwell County starting July 20. Baird Park will serve as the primary game site, with either Veterans Park or South Caldwell High School most likely serving as a secondary site.
