Palmer, Wasilla win first-round games

MAT-SU — The double elimination Region III Baseball tournament started Thursday at Houston and Bumpus fields, with state berths allotted for the winners and runners-up.

Semifinals

Wasilla 18, Palmer 2

The margin between the Moose and Warriors was close at Houston until the later innings, when Wasilla opened up scoring. Palmer had more runs than their opponents going into the seventh inning, but Wasilla boasted five hits in the top, and earned a number of their points through errors and walks. Wasilla now has two opportunities to earn a state berth, once in the winners’ bracket and another if they lose in the championship.

Preliminaries

Soldotna 6, Colony 4

Colony opened up strong against the Stars, but ultimately fell to the Peninsula team after Soldotna made a major comeback later in the game, which ended with Soldotna's 6-4 victory.

Both teams got on the scoreboard in the first inning. Soldotna’s Tyler Covery earned a walk to get on base, stole second and then proceeded to third and home on passed balls.

Colony’s Logan Sanders opened the team’s run count in the bottom of the same inning, on an RBI from Robert Cottingham. Cottingham was brought home after Matthew Palmer hit the only home run of the game.

Colony scored for the last time in the next inning, before Soldotna earned five runs in the sixth inning. In one case, SoHi player Justice Miller tagged home after Colony’s catcher lost the ball on the opposite side of the plate. Key to the Stars’ win were solid pitching by Joey Becher, who was on the mound for the entire game, and a complete performance from first baseman Terrance Slats.

“Our pitching was strong,” said SoHi coach Robb Quelland, and “we used our entire bench because each player is important to us in their own element.”

Colony head coach Jordan Chadwell will now have to work through the losers’ bracket.

“I’d like to see a lot of fight out of the boys … it’s one-and-done for us in the rest of the tournament,” Chadwell said.

Palmer 16, Homer 9

The Moose, as third seed in the north, defeated the southern division’s second-seed Homer handedly.

Palmer head coach Dave Combs was disappointed with a lack of focus in the middle of the game, which he said lead to a number of Homer runs.

Still, he appreciated the strength of his pitchers.

“Austin Reeder pitched very well and got us into the later innings,” Combs said.

Then “Cody Grogan came in and slammed the door for us,” Combs added.

Wasilla 22, Kenai 1

The Warriors ran away with a win against Kenai, scoring 16 runs in the first inning.

“It was a solid team win … everybody contributed,” said Wasilla head coach Jason Terryberry. “Everyone was hitting the ball well and [Kenai] made a few errors that we were able to capitalize on.”

Kodiak 12, Houston 2

Fourth seed Hawks fell to first seed Kodiak, sending the latter team on to face Soldotna in the semifinals. Houston will challenge for second place in the losers’ bracket on Friday.

See Frontiersmam.com for updated scores and schedules

Contact Kaden Weaver at 352-2270 or kaden.weaver@frontiersman.com