Knights finish 3rd in tourney; Hawks get first conference win

WASILLA — The Colony Knights finished third in the Rally in the Valley softball tournament in Wasilla.

Colony capped its weekend with a 6-4 win over Lathrop Saturday. Bryanna Scarratt earned the win on the mound, working 5 2/3 innings. Scarratt fanned eight in the win. Hallie Willeford finished 3 for 3 at the plate for Colony. Alyssa Oswald stole four bases. She also finished with a hit, run and two walks.

Earlier in the day, Colony beat Delta 6-3. Delta scored all three of its runs in the fourth inning. Oswald earned the win on the mound.

Colony beat West Valley 5-3 on Friday. Oswald was 3 for 3 with three runs scored. Brooklyne Aga had two hits and an RBi.

Colony split a pair of games on May 2. The Knights beat North Pole 8-4 and suffered an 8-6 loss to Homer.

Homer won the tournament. Wasilla finished seventh and Palmer was ninth.

Hawks earn first conference win

The Houston Hawks began a six-game conference week on Wednesday at home against a tough Kodiak Bears team.

Kodiak earned a 23-9 win, led by catcher Cameron Bolen (3 for 4 with a HR and 2 RBI) and first baseman Leslie Spear (3 for 2 with a triple and 1 RBI). The Hawks were led freshman Annika Weber (2 for 3 and 2 RBI and seniors Cambrie Schulz (1 for 3 and 3 RBI) and Mackenzie Moore (1 for 2 and 2 RBI). Game two started with a bang for the Hawks playing 10 runs in the first inning. But the Bears answered emphatically with 12 runs in the bottom half of the same inning. The Bears prevailed 25-10 after shutting down the Hawks the rest of the way. Houston was led by Brandy Luafulu (2 for 2 with 5 RBI) and Kodiak was powered by Bolen (3 for 3 with a single, double, and triple and 5RBI).

The Hawks traveled to Kenai Friday to face the Kardinals. Game one was a nailbighter with Kenai prevailing 17-16 on a beautiful Sunny Kenai evening. In the loss, Houston was pace by sophomore catcher Kaitlin Norton who pounded in 5 RBI in 2 for 4 effort including a timely double.

Game two saw the Lady Hawks earn their first conference victory under coach Brian Mitchell with a s ore of 22-3. With freshman pitcher Darian Dicang in the circle, Houston handled an injury-depleted Kenai team that had to end the game with just eight players. The Hawks were led offensively by senior Mackenzie Moore (3 for 3 with 2 doubles and 4 RBI) and freshman Annika Weber (2 for 2 and 4 RBI). Kenai coach Beau Manley congratulated Mitchell on his victory saying, “I am very happy you got your first win, I just wish it wasn’t against us.” The Hawks celebrated this milestone and hope to build on this success.

Saturday pitted the Hawks against conference foe Soldotna Stars. While the Hawks hung close though 4 innings, the Stars took care of business with a 13 run 5th and closed out the victory 20-5. The Hawks struggled at the plate and had one hit each from freshmen Darian Dicang and Annika Weber and sophomore Kaitlin Norton who was thrown out t the plate trying to stretch her triple into a home run. A strong fielding effort by the Stars was led by outstanding third baseman Bailey Berger.

Game two started differently. The Hawks jumped out to a quick 6-run lead in the top of the first, but a disciplined SoHi team responded with 5 of their own. A strong SoHi half of the second inning saw the Stars cruise to a seeming comfortable 15-8 lead. But the Hawks didn’t go away. Twice the ladies from Houston closed the gap to tree runs but came up short after a strong Soldotna 6th inning sealed the victory 21-13. Dicang pitched a complete game for the loss while going 2 for 3 at the plate. SoHi pitcher Casey Earll pitch complete games in both contests. Coach Mitchell said the in spite of the losses, he is proud of the fight in his players. “We are a young team in regard to experience in a young program but these never gives up! And we have people willing to do whatever is asked of them to help the team.”

The Hawks resume play Tuesday at Redington against Chugiak in a nonconference game before hosting Thursday’s doubleheader against the Homer Mariners in their final conference games before the region tournament.

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