Prep baseball: Palmer, Wasilla swept by conference foes

KODIAK — The Kodiak Bears earned a two-game sweep of the Palmer Moose during Southcentral Conference baseball action on Kodiak Island last week.

The Bears pitched a one-hitter and blanked Palmer 10-0 in five innings on Thursday, and followed with a 12-2 win in six innings on Friday.

“I’m pretty sure we gave them about seven runs with two outs,” Palmer head coach David Combs said of Friday’s loss. “That really was the case in both games.”

Combs said a certain highlight for the Moose was junior Sterling Nielsen’s towering home run on Friday.

“No doubt it would have been out of Hermon Brothers,” Combs said of the solo dinger. “It was a shot.”

Sophomore Tommy Brown collected Palmer’s lone hit on Thursday.

Palmer has just one night of action left in the 2008 season. The Moose, already eliminated from postseason consideration, face Colony in a doubleheader at Hermon Brothers Field on Friday.

The first game starts at 5 p.m., while the nightcap, the annual ‘Wood Bat Game’ is slated for 7 p.m.

Stars sweep Warriors

SOLDOTNA — The Soldotna Stars swept visiting Wasilla 6-3 and 9-4, Saturday in Soldotna.

The Stars, who beat Palmer last week, finish the regular season 4-1 against Mat-Su Valley teams. Soldotna’s lone defeat to Valley competition, an 8-3 loss to Colony on Friday, cost the Stars the conference title.

Wasilla returns to the Valley, and will host Colony on Wednesday in a doubleheader at Carl Fritzler Field. The Warriors also faced Homer during the trip to the Kenai Peninsula, but results were unavailable prior to press time.

Prep softball

North Pole tops Wasilla, Colony

WASILLA — The visiting North Pole Patriots swept a pair of Mat-Su Valley opponents at the Bumpus Ballfields Friday in Wasilla.

The Pats opened with a 17-3 win over Wasilla, and edged Colony 5-4 later in the evening.

Wasilla freshman catcher Kaley Lyles led the Warriors with a two-run double in the loss to North Pole.

— Jeremiah Bartz