The 1942 Turners Falls High School baseball team, and its head coach, continue to be recognized for their accomplishments. 

The Western Massachusetts Baseball Hall of Fame announced its 11th Hall of Fame class this week and the 1942 team was selected for induction.

The Turners team won the 1942 state championship, beating Arlington, 5-4, at Fenway Park to capture the title. Turners went undefeated on the season to reach the championship game.

The championship came at a time when there weren’t population-based divisions, meaning the Powertown competed against schools much larger than them. 

“It’s a good honor,” George Bush, the lone living member of the 1942 squad, said on Wednesday. “It’s an achievement. The team was already inducted into the Hall of Fame at Turners Falls High School so it’s nothing new. It’s nice that this one is all Western Mass. so people from all over Western Mass. will know about it and not just people in Franklin County.”

Earl Lorden, the head coach of that 1942 Turners team before becoming the baseball coach at UMass from 1948-1966, will also be inducted into the Western Mass. Baseball Hall of Fame this year.

Lorden won 189 games with the Minutemen, good for third on the school’s all-time list, and the ballfield that the current team plays on below the Mullins Center was dedicated in his honor back in 1971. He was selected to the UMass Hall of Fame in 1982, and passed away in 1984 at the age of 87.

The induction ceremony and banquet is scheduled to take place on Thursday, March 7, at 6 p.m. at Twin Hills Country Club in Longmeadow. 

Tables and tickets are available at www.valleybluesox.com or valley-blue-sox.square.site. Tickets must be purchased from those links as tickets won’t be sold on site at the banquet. Ticket cost is $65 while tables of eight can be purchased for $450 and tables of 10 can be purchased for $550. 

The remainder of the Hall of Fame Class is comprised of Jeff Reardon, Mark Simeone, Bob Taylor, Don Strange and Ron Chimelis. 

Reardon attended Wahconah and went on to play 16 years in the MLB as a relief pitcher, where he made four All Star teams. Simeone is entering his 28th season coaching baseball at Springfield College, where he has compiled 484 victories. Taylor played 16 years in professional baseball, appearing in 63 MLB games with the Giants. Strange, who hails from Springfield, played college baseball at UMass before reaching Triple-A with the Atlanta Braves. Chimelis was given the Garry Brown Sports Media Award after serving as a longtime columnist and reporter with the Springfield Republican.