A little help from her friends

DARRELL L. BREESE/ Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA - One good pitcher is often enough to carry a team through the brief high school season. But if that pitching ace takes a couple innings to get started, it's nice to have a solid defensive play as a backup.

Wasilla pitcher Chelsey May was happy to get a little help from her friends Wednesday, in the first two innings, of the Warriors' 11-2 win over Colony at Bumpus Fields.

"I was throwing strikes," May said. "Colony was just hitting everything. I can't say enough about how the defense played behind me. They made some big plays to keep them off the bases."

Kristen Loan, the Knights lead-off batter, hit the ball on a rope toward Wasilla's Tex Viertel. The shortstop made a leaping catch to rob her of a base hit. Carlie Douglas ran down a Desi Diselrod bunt on the third-base line, and managed to throw her out at first. Breanna Mahoney ended the inning, filled with stellar defensive moments, when she raised her glove to catch a linedrive shot off the bat of Amy Libis.

Douglas came up big in the second inning, defensively, as she scooped up the ball after it deflected off the base of May's glove. She fired the ball across the diamond to record the second out of the inning.

"That shot really got my blood going," May said. "The adrenaline just kicked in and got me into the game."

Finally, May took control. She struck out nine batters and yielded just one hit over the remaining four innings.

"The girls in the infield were terrific," Wasilla coach Sam Korsmo said. "Their gloves were hot. Then Chelsey just caught the fire the infield started."

With May racking up the strikeouts and the infield making the big plays, Wasilla managed to hold the Knights hitless until the bottom of the sixth inning. Diselrod reached safely on a bunt to break up the no-hitter.

The Warriors didn't need any time to get warmed up offensively, as they scored two runs in the first inning. May stole a pair of bases. Catcher Jordan Elkins and second baseman Kalia Korsmo each posted run-scoring singles.

"I think getting those runs in the first set the tone for the rest of the game," Sam Korsmo said. "The girls were relaxed after that, knowing they had a lead."

The Warriors built on its lead, scoring three runs off four hits in the third inning. Wasilla added two runs in the fourth and six Warriors crossed home plate in the sixth.

"Everything was working just right tonight," Korsmo said. "We were hitting, our pitching was on and the defense was outstanding. Games like this make my job easy."

With nine games left in the regular season, the win puts the Warriors one step closer to achieving their part goal set at the start of the season.

"We wanted to beat Colony. They've been the top team in the Valley for so long.," Korsmo said. "(Then) beat a team from Anchorage. We've done that too. All that is left is qualifying for state."

The Warriors (6-3) need to win three of their remaining nine games to reach the state qualifying standard.