Pioneers show confidence in walk-off win over Kodiak

PALMER — During its first two seasons as an American Legion program, the Palmer Pioneers had a pretty rough time when facing South Anchorage. But Thursday, the Pioneers nearly rallied past the Alaska power. Despite falling just short in the 20-19 loss to the Wolverines, Palmer carried some momentum into its next contest and scored a 5-4 walk-off win over Kodiak Friday night at Bartlett High School in Anchorage.

“Last night against South, they were pretty excited about it. They showed up at the ballpark still kind of riding that,” Palmer head coach Tim Rockey said by phone Friday evening.

Skyler Hale reached on a Kodiak error with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning, and James Nelson followed with a double to drive in Hale and give the Pioneers the win.

“Skyler capitalized on the error and got to second, and James Nelson demolished a ball to right,” Rockey said. “It’s nice to have two straight nights with late-inning heroics. Not only were we in the games, but we were battling to win.”

Palmer’s work in the eighth after the Pioneers forced an extra inning with a run in the seventh. Trailing 4-3, Joe Ryan drew a lead-off walk and later scored on an Eli Smith single to tie the score at 4.

The win over Kodiak came a night after the wild 20-19 loss to South, a game that ended with a close play at the plate.

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Zack Satterly drew a walk with the bases loaded to drive in a run and cut South’s lead to 20-19. With the bases still loaded, and veteran Kolten Ketchum on third, Rockey said he made the call to send Ketchum and try to tie the game with a straight steal to the plate.

“I was torn up last night. I wanted to give these kids a chance to beat South,” Rockey said. “I made the call to send Kolten. The (pitcher) had a big wind-up and wasn’t paying any attention to the runner on third. I was pretty confident in Kolten.”

Rockey said it was a close play at the plate.

Rockey said he also had confidence based on how his players continued to respond to challenges throughout the game. The Pioneers trailed 6-1 in the third, 11-3 in the fifth, 15-3 in the sixth and 18-9 in the seventh, but were able to claw their way back to keep the game alive.

“It was awesome to see them keep playing hard for nine hard innings,” Rockey said. “They battled back each inning.”

Rockey said it’s a big difference from Palmer’s experiences against South last year.

“We chalked it up as a win if we got to six innings against South last year,” Rockey said of avoiding the mercy rule.

Palmer scored 13 of its 19 runs in the final four innings, including six in the sixth and seven in the ninth. The Pioneers finished with 18 hits in the game.

“We’ve been hitting the ball really well,” Rockey said.

Nelson finished with four hits against the Wolverines, along with three runs and two RBI. Ketchum and Ryan drove in three each. Hale scored four runs.

Palmer had another 10 hits Friday in the win over Kodiak. Ketchum was 3 for 3 for the Pioneers.

Palmer’s win Friday was its sixth of the season, already better than the four wins Palmer scored during the entire 2016 summer season.

“They’re really firing on all cylinders right now,” Rockey said of his players. “It’s huge for these kids to be able to compete and know they can compete with everybody. They’re out there to win.”

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.