Road ends in finals for Legion team

ANCHORAGE —Throughout the first four rounds of the Alaska American Legion state baseball championships, the Alaska Road Warriors were the talk of the tournament. The fifth-seeded Wasilla-based team posted wins over three of the top four seeds in the tourney en route to earning a spot in the championship for the first time in two decades.

But on Saturday, the Road Warriors’ storybook run through the bracket came to an end.

The Dimond Lynx scored four times in the bottom of the eighth to post an 8-5 come-from-behind win over the Warriors and claim the 2010 state Legion title.

“Both teams played hard,” Road Warriors head coach Steve Mossburgh said. “We just fell a little short.”

The Road Warriors scored five runs in the top of the sixth to take the 5-4 lead, but the Dimond post rallied with four runs in the eighth.

The win was Dimond’s second over the Road Warriors in as many days. Wasilla, 3-0 in the tourney heading into the title round, faced Dimond on Friday and was one win away from clinching a state title. Dimond stayed alive with a 9-2 victory on Friday and earned the chance to play again thanks to the double-elimination format.

After its semifinal loss to Wasilla, Dimond worked its way back into title contention with a win over Chugiak in the final game of the loser’s bracket.

Win or lose, Mossburgh said his team enjoyed a tremendous run through the tourney.

“I’m so proud of them, I really am,” Mossburgh said. “Nobody expected us to play for the championship. We stepped up and played some good games.”

Wasilla opened with an extra-innings win over Chugiak and posted back-to-back victories over top-seeded Fairbanks and second-seeded Dimond in the semifinals.

“We beat the four seed, the one seed and the two seed, we just couldn’t beat the two seed twice,” Mossburgh said.

After falling behind 4-0 early on Saturday, Wasilla exploded for five runs in the sixth. David Newman sparked his team with a triple to right field and Josh Grissom promptly singled to drive Newman in.

Later in the inning, Dusty Wisdom singled to right to drive in Taylor Palmer and cut Dimond’s lead to 4-2. Jaron Christensen doubled down the right field line to drive Wisdom home and later tied the game when he scored on a JD Mayo single.

Chris Bydlon singled and scored on a Dimond balk to give the Road Warriors the 5-4 lead.

Matt Packa, who threw a complete game shutout during the win over top-seeded Fairbanks, earned the start and pitched 7 1/3 innings.

“He came back and pitched a pretty good game,” Mossburgh said of Packa, who was named the tournament’s most outstanding pitcher.

Bydlon earned the tourney’s gold glove award.

With their runner-up finish the Road Warriors earned a chance to play in an American Legion regional tournament in Bozeman, Mont.

“We get to go down there and see what we can do,” Mossburgh said.

The Road Warriors being tourney play Aug. 6.

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