Legion team wins tourney

WASILLA — In the last several years, the Alaska Road Warriors have established themselves as one of the top teams in the state.

The Valley-based American Legion baseball team advanced to the state title game in 2010 and the varsity team entered the 2012 tourney as the No. 3 seed. That’s a great deal of success for the varsity, or ‘AA’ team. But part of that success can be attributed to what the program’s junior varsity, or ‘A’ team, has been doing.

The Wasilla ‘A’ team rallied to score a 5-4 victory over Fairbanks in the final game of the Alaska American Legion ‘A’ State Tournament at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage on Sunday.

“This is the fourth year we’ve had pretty good success,” said Myrl Thompson, head coach of the Wasilla Legion post. “This will certainly bode well for the varsity in the future.”

Thompson said the Warriors ‘A’ team is 95-20 over the last four seasons. The team also won the regular season title this year. Thompson said he expected this team, which includes local players ages 14-16, to be successful.

“When we did tryouts, I told (junior varsity head coach Gary Skan) at the beginning of the year, it wouldn’t surprise me if you take it all,” Thompson said. “Lo and behold, they did.”

Jaden Sears, a Houston High product, notched the walk-off two-run single in the bottom of the seventh to lead the Warriors to the win over Fairbanks.

Layne Cottingham and Lauren Massie scored on the Sears hit. Down 4-3, the Warriors had loaded the bases with one out in the bottom half of the final frame.

Wasilla used a 4-1 win over Service to advance to the final game.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com, follow him @matsu_sports and find him by searching Valley Sports Huddle on Facebook.