Combined Valley Post 35/15 advances to legion state baseball tourney

WASILLA — Thanks in part to a late-season push, Valley Post 35/15 has earned a spot in the state tournament play.

The Valley squad, a combined team made up of players from the Wasilla-based Alaska Road Warriors (Post 35) and Palmer-based Pioneers (Post 15), finished 5-1 in its last six, and will enter the tournament riding a four-game winning streak. The Valley team, the bracket’s No. 5 seed, opens play today at 3:15 p.m. against fourth-seeded Dimond during the first round of American Legion Alaska State Baseball Tournament at Mulcahy Field in Anchorage.

Earlier this month, the Valley team stood at the .500 mark (6-6 in league) play, but has one five of its last six. The stretch started with a 12-0 win over East Anchorage July 12. The team, which dons the old Road Warriors uniforms, split a pair of games against Juneau July 18. The recent winning streak included a two game sweep of Kodiak, a 1-0 win and 1-0 victory, and a 10-3 win over Ketchikan July 25.

The Valley team finished 11-7 in league play, in a four-way tie with Dimond, Kenai and Fairbanks Post 11. A tiebreaker of fewest runs allowed for all 18 league games was used to separate the group. Dimond allowed the fewest, 73.

Chugiak (17-1) is the top seed in the tournament, and opens play today at 6:30 p.m. against eighth-seeded Fairbanks Post 30 (10-8). Second-seeded Juneau (16-2) meets seventh-seeded Fairbanks Post 11 (11-7) at noon. Third-seed South (12-6) plays sixth-seed Kenai (11-7) today at 9 a.m.

With a win today, the Valley squad would move forward to face the winner of the Chugiak-Fairbanks Post 30 game Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. With a loss, the Valley team would be bounced into the loser’s bracket and would play the Chugiak-Fairbanks Post 30 loser Wednesday at noon.

The five-day double-elimination tournament continues through Saturday. The championship game is slated for Saturday at 3 p.m. at Mulcahy Stadium. The if necessary game would follow.