Local talent named all-stars

WASILLA — Tim Rockey knows there aren’t too many more innings left in his baseball career.

The 2011 Palmer High graduate played four seasons with the Moose and is back on the diamond for his final summer with the Alaska Road Warriors American Legion baseball squad.

After the legion season, Rockey will hang up his spikes before heading off to study journalism at the University of Montana.

But on Thursday night, Rockey had the chance to realize one of his baseball dreams. Rockey stood at the plate, stared down a college pitcher and sent a sharp single through a hole in the left side of the infield.

Rockey was one of six Alaska Road Warriors on an Alaska American Legion All-Star team who faced the Alaska Baseball League’s Anchorage Bucs Thursday at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage.

The Bucs posted an 8-0 win over the Alaska All-Stars, but regardless of score, the opportunity has become a treasured memory for the lifelong baseball fan.

“It’s probably the highlight of what I’ve done as a baseball player,” Rockey said.

Rockey was joined by Road Warriors teammates Jonathon Boyer, Dusty Wisdom, David Newman, Scott Kramer and Josh Grissom in the game.

Newman started the game in right field, Grissom was the starter behind the plate.

Rockey, Boyer and Wisdom each earned hits in the game, collecting three of the team’s five hits.

Boyer knocked a single up the middle and Wisdom blooped a ball over the head of the Bucs’ first baseman.

At one point in the game, the Legion all-stars featured an all-Valley infield, with Rockey at third, Boyer at shortstop, Kramer and second and Wisdom at first.

The Road Warriors were selected to play in the game after participating in the Bill Lierman College Coaches Clinic. Legion players from across the state received instruction from college coaches from around the country during the four-day clinic in Anchorage.