Colony bows out in coach’s last game

ANCHORAGE — Olivia Martin picked the right time to swing a hot bat, but the senior’s first-inning home run was not enough to keep the Colony Knights alive in state softball play.

The Knights suffered a pair of losses and were eliminated Friday from the ASAA/First National Bank State Softball Championships Friday. Colony lost 20-0 in four innings to East Anchorage to open the tournament Thursday, and dropped a 9-3 decision to West Valley in five innings on Friday.

In the final game, the Wolfpack answered Martin’s homer in the bottom of the first inning when Shiana McLean blasted a three-run dinger of her own deep over the left field fence to give the Wolfpack a lead they would not give up. West Valley would also score another run in the first.

West Valley put three more on the scoreboard in the second inning, taking advantage of Colony errors.

In the third, Colony would attempt a rally as Mallonie Lawton walked and scored on a Mack Everett single.

But West Valley answered again, also with two runs in the third. From there, the Knights would hold the Wolfpack to those nine runs, but could not muster enough offense of their own to chip away at the lead.

“We had a couple errors, but (West Valley) is a good hitting team. I’m proud of my seniors, they put out a good effort,” Colony head coach Mike Stewart said. “Getting here is what it’s all about.”

For the seniors on this season’s Colony squad, this was their fourth state tournament and the loss to West Valley saw Stewart coach his final game for the Knights after 15 years at the helm. Stewart took Colony softball squads to the state tournament each of the last six years and 12 times overall.