Having produced three of the last four state American Legion baseball champions, Zone 3 can rightfully boast having the most competitive baseball schedule among Maine’s five zones.

Zone 3 opens its season with doubleheaders on Saturday, although the opening day docket is somewhat truncated due to conflicts with the state high school tournament.

Action continues through July 17, with  games slated for every Tuesday and Thursday and doubleheaders every Saturday. The zone tournament is July 19-21, with the championship game to be played at St. Joseph’s College. The regular-season champion and zone tournament champion (or runner-up, if they are the same team) advance to the double-elimination state tournament, which is July 30-Aug. 3 at Husson University.

Defending zone champion Pastime Club of Lewiston, Bessey Motors of Oxford Hills and the Windham Merchants have been perennial contenders and figure to be in the hunt this year. But some new contenders could emerge to challenge that trio this summer.

“I would say Oxford (Bessey) is the team to beat. Everybody else is younger,” Pastime coach Dave Jordan said.

Bessey has perhaps the most experienced and talented team in the zone. Post-grad pitchers Ryan Godin and Mike Mageles bolster an already strong pitching staff from Oxford Hills’ Eastern A semifinalists led by Dalton Rice and Riley Chickering and Mitch Lorenz of Western C semifinalist St. Dom’s.

“I like our depth, but who knows what the league has?” Bessey coach Shane Slicer said. “I expect the league to be a little younger than it was last year, which makes us a little more mature.”

Pastime returns post-grad Ryan Riordan to lead a pitching staff that also includes Lewiston’s Matt Poulin and Lisbon ace Kyle Bourget. Caleb Dostie of St. Dom’s adds depth to the infield.

Windham recovered from the bizarre and controversial ending to last year’s zone tournament and went on to win the state title, its first. Since coach Brody Artes, who is also head coach at Windham High School, uses the team as a development tool for his high school program, the Merchants traditionally have a lot of turnover to their roster, opting for undergraduates over recently-graduated seniors and post-grads.

New Auburn’s Rogers Post returns post-grad John Simpson to complement a team stocked with talent from Edward Little, including Nate Pushard and Mike Hammond.

“With losing two post-grads from last year who were leaders on and off the field, we are looking for some of the younger guys to step in to a combined leadership role,” New Auburn coach Troy Crane said. “With most of last year’s team returning, we look forward to building on what we started last season.”

The teams from Dixfield and Locke Mills/Bethel merged and will be known as Locke Mills, splitting home games between Dirigo High School, Rumford’s Hosmer Field and Gould Academy in Bethel. With a core consisting of two-time defending champion Dirigo, Locke Mills could be a dark horse in the zone.

Tri-Town has a talented nucleus from Western B semifinalist Poland High School from which to draw and could challenge.

Brunswick, Smith-Tobey of Bath, Highland Green of Topsham and Leavitt-based Andy Valley will battle for the rest of the zone’s eight tournament slots.