Shenendehowa has gone from the outside looking in to the

No. 1 Suburban Council seed for the Section II Class AA baseball tournament.

Plainsmen coach Jim Carrese

believes this turnaround story could get even better.

“I’m extremely happy with this group of kids, in terms of their mental toughness,” Carrese said Wednesday after pairings for the five-class, 59-team event were

released. “When they’ve been challenged, they’ve fought back. It’s a special group that way. They’ve done it all year.”

Shenendehowa fought last year, too, but the positive results never materalized, and one of Section II’s most successful programs missed out on postseason play. The Plainsmen lost eight one-run games, and finished with five league wins and nine victories in all.

“That was only the fifth time in my 18 years that we didn’t make the playoffs. We’ve gone from

9-12 to 20-4, and that speaks to their mental toughness and the way they play together,” Carrese said. “The team chemistry is the strongest I’ve had in 12 years.”

Carrese was referring to his 1996 team that won the school’s second Section II championship in three years, and went on to reach the state title game. Shenendehowa got back to the sectional finals in 2005 and 2006, only to drop one-run, extra-inning contests.

“Their performance level is high. Their confidence level is high. If you can weather the Suburban Council like we did, you have to be confident,” said Carrese, whose Plainsmen, with only five seniors, won their 12th Blue Division title under his direction. “We feel good about ourselves going into the tournament, but we’re approaching it one at a time. We’re not looking any further than Saturday.”

That’s when Shenendehowa

(11-3, 20-4) will make its tournament debut against either Niskayuna

(8-6, 16-7) or Amsterdam (9-7, 11-11) in the quarterfinals. Those teams play today in one of five Class AA first-round contests.

“To me, it’s a positive,” Carrese said of the first-round bye, which was also granted to five-time Big 10 champion LaSalle (16-0, 23-0) and Suburban Council Gold Div­ision winner Bethlehem (11-3, 17-5). “That says the kids went through the grind of the Suburban Council and found a way to separate themselves the last two weeks. They did it by executing. By performing.”

Shenendehowa has received some fabulous performances from its senior pitching of tandem of Jeff Carter and Jon Shippee, who sport 5-2 and 7-0 records, respectively. Shippee hurled a four-hitter with 10 strikeouts in a recent 3-1 win over Saratoga Springs that clinched the league’s No. 1 seed for postseason play.

“Right there lies the strength of our team,” said Carrese. “With them, we have two of the best four or five pitchers in the area. They’re a security blanket for us, offensively and defensively.”

Shenendehowa’s starting cast includes freshman second baseman Brandon Cogswell, sophomore catcher Bryan Marotta, junior shortstop David Balsalmo and

11th-grade outfielder Tim Jones, the only holdover from the 2006 team that lost to Colonie in nine innings, 2-1, in the Class AA final.

LaSalle (16-0, 23-0) will enter the tournament as Section II’s only unbeaten team, and with a No. 1 state ranking. The Cadets will host either 2007 champ Guilderland (7-7, 13-11) or Schenectady (8-8, 10-14) Saturday.

“You don’t go through a season unbeaten unless you’ve got some kind of a baseball team,” Carrese said of the Cadets, the 2005 Class AA champs. “They’ve got two outstanding pitchers in [Dave] Rosenboom and [Kyle] Charron, and their kids will compete. They get after it. They’ll come to play.”

Schenectady was among the tournament’s surprise teams a year ago when it beat Ballston Spa, 3-0, before blasting four home runs in a 9-8, eight-inning quarterfinal win over Columbia.

“We don’t want to go one and out,” said Schenectady’s Ryan Ziel­inski. “We definitely want to win some games.”

Today’s Niskayuna at Amsterdam first-round game is a rematch from 2006, when the Silver Warriors outlasted the Rams in a 14-inning thriller, 5-3. Albany (13-3, 17-7) will see playoff action for the first time since 1999 when it hosts Colonie

(7-7, 13-9), while Columbia (9-5, 15-9)

hosts Queensbury (7-7, 11-12), and Christian Brothers Academy (11-5, 13-6) entertains Shaker (7-7, 11-11).

“There are a lot of good teams in Class AA,” said Section II baseball chairman Al Roy. “On any given day, almost anyone can beat anyone.”

Other top seeds are South Glens Falls (12-2, 17-6) in Class A, Chat­ham (16-2, 21-3) in Class B, Lake George (12-2, 18-4) in Class CC, Fort Plain (18-1, 20-3) in Class C and Loudonville Christian (9-3, 13-5) in Class D. Fort Plain is the lone defending champion among the group, and the 2007 state titlist.

“It’s been kind of a tough year for us,” said Fort Plain coach Craig Phillips, whose Hilltoppers won the Western Athletic Conference’s Northern Division banner.

“Everywhere we go, we’re reminded of last year. It’s not good enough to just win. There’s been a lot of pressure on the kids.”

There will be more come Saturday, when the Hilltoppers host postseason rival Salem (8-8, 10-10), the team it beat in three of the last four Class C finals. Salem beat Fort Plain for Class C honors in 2005, as well as in 2003.

“Salem has a pitcher who threw a perfect game and struck out 16 in his last two games,” Phillips said of Dylan Miller, who authored his perfect game against Argyle last week. “They’re the eight seed, but not with him on the mound.”

Salem is the only team in the Class C team field that did not win at least 10 league games. Central Hudson Valley League champion Waterford-Halfmoon (11-1, 21-3) and WAC Southern Division winner Duanesburg (16-3, 18-4) are seeded No. 2 and No. 3 behind the Hilltoppers, and each owns a victory over the reigning state champs.

All quarterfinals are Saturday, semifinal double-headers are Tuesday and Wednesday at various locations and three-game champ­ionship blocks will be staged next Thursday and Friday at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium in Troy.