Monster inning pushes Warriors past Moose

PALMER — Thanks to the winds that howled through Hermon Brothers Field, playing in the outfield proved to be an adventure Wednesday night. But in the seventh inning, Wasilla center fielder Eric Washington really didn’t mind the wind.

Washington tripled to deep center field to drive in the go-ahead runs and spark Wasilla’s 14-run seventh inning during a 20-8 come-from-behind win over the Palmer Moose at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer.

“The wind helped me out a little bit,” said Washington, who was down to two strikes before smacking the hit deep into the outfield.

Washington tripled and singled in the 14-run top of the seventh, which featured 17 Wasilla batters, seven walks and six hits.

“We were hitting, feeding off each other and kept it going,” Washington said.

Wasilla’s offensive explosion in the final inning helped the Warriors overcome an early deficit. Palmer scored five runs in the bottom of the first and took a 7-0 lead in the third.

“They had us on the ropes,” Wasilla coach Myrl Thompson said. “It looked like they were going to put it away.”

But before Palmer could seal the victory, Wasilla used a late effort to steal the win. The Warriors scored three times both the fifth and the sixth innings to cut Palmer’s lead to 7-6.

In the top of the seventh, after David Newman followed Jaron Christensen-Vavalis’ lead-off walk with a single to center, Marshall sent a drive into center field. The ball looked like it may drop, but carried well over the head of the Palmer outfielder. Newman and Christensen-Vavalis scored on the play to give the Warriors the 8-7 lead.

The Washington RBI were the start of six consecutive runs for the Warriors, who took a 12-7 lead before recording their first out of the inning.

“We were definitely confident that once we get rolling, not a lot was going to stop us,” Washington said. “It just takes that first hit, or first two or three hits to get it started.”

Washington and Newman each finished with three hits, three runs and three RBI in the victory. Keith Pulver and Dusty Wisdom also scored three times in the victory. Wisdom and Robert Rodamer drove in two runs each.

After Palmer tagged Christensen-Vavalis, Wasilla’s starter on the mound, for five runs in the fifth, reliever Eric Marshall worked his way through the final six innings.

“Marshall’s always pitched well against Palmer,” Thompson said.

Marshall allowed four hits and two earned runs, while fanning seven, in six innings of relief.

Isaac Courson and Greg Prickett each used singles to drive in a pair of runs during Palmer’s five-run first.

Tommy Brown and AJ Corbin drew back-to-back walks to open the bottom half of the first. Palmer clean-up hitter, Tim Rockey, used a bloop single to center to drive in Brown.

Kevin Montgomery followed with a single, and Courson drove in a pair of runs to give the Moose the 3-0 advantage. Prickett pushed his team’s lead to five with a two-run single of his own.

Courson was 3-for-3 for the Moose, with three RBI and two runs scored. Prickett was 2-for-2 with two RBI and two runs scored.

Courson also started on the mound for Palmer and retired 12 of the first 14 batters he faced. But the Warriors were able to get to the senior right-hander in the fifth. Thompson said the key for his team was working deep into the pitch count.

“Once they started laying off that first pitch, he had to deliver a ball they could hit,” Thompson said. “They started getting their pitches and hitting them.”

Wasilla scored all 20 of its runs during the final three innings.

“Sometimes the wheels just fall off,” Thompson said. “It’s happened to us. It happened to us in Soldotna, almost the same thing.”

Last week, Wasilla watched as its early lead was erased during a 20-8 loss to Soldotna.

“Exactly the same score (as tonight), which is a little weird,” Thompson said.

Big inning lifts Hawks

HOUSTON — The Houston Hawks used 10 runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to score a 13-10 win over the Palmer Moose at Houston High School on Monday.

Josh Grissom finished 5-for-5 with two runs scored and six RBI to lead the Hawks. Russ Ruta was 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored.

On Thursday, Greg Schmidt went 3-for-4 to lead Houston to a 6-3 win over Eielson in the Interior.

Knights edge Warriors

PALMER — The Colony Knights scored a 6-4 win over the Wasilla Warriors at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.