CHS says farewell to 3-year starters

PALMER — Seven Colony seniors walked off Hermon Brothers Field for the final time following a 9-8 loss to West Anchorage on Saturday, and four of those players factored into much of the success for the three-time Southcentral Conference champion Knights.

JD Mayo, Colter Peterson, Kody Ziter and Mike Wagner all leave the program as three-year starters for the Knights.

“That group of four seniors is going to be tough to replace,” Colony head coach Jamie Mayo said. “You look at those four guys and what they’ve done in the last three years — the consistency of the average, the power, playing defense, pitching — I don’t know if we’ve ever had a group of four players who have played that well.”

The four, who represent spots 2-5 in Colony’s batting order, all hit over .400 and at least one home run during the senior season. Peterson and Wagner were Colony’s top two pitchers this season.

Following are the Colony head coach’s thoughts about the four seniors.

• Mayo on JD Mayo: “Hitting second for us, he’s put in three real solid years. He’s played great defense and come up with a lot of big hits. I’m real pleased with what he’s been able to do.”

• Mayo on Colter Peterson: “That’s a kid I’ve coached since he was 9 years old in Little League. He’s a heck of a competitor. He’s easily one of the best pitchers we’ve had at this school. He’s also one of our better hitters.”

• Mayo on Kody Ziter: “Holy cow, the guy just crushes the ball. He’s a lot faster than people think. He’s a very good catcher with a great arm.”

• Mayo on Mike Wagner: “Mike Wagner can do so many different things for a team — play the outfield real well, play the infield real well, he pitches real well, hits the ball real well.”