Road Warriors cap tourney play with win over Service

WASILLA — The Alaska Road Warriors have been no stranger to the big inning this season.

Scoring four, five or even six runs in an inning has become fairly common for the Wasilla-based American Legion team this season. But on Sunday, the Road Warriors took it to another level, scoring 11 times in the third inning of a 14-9 victory over the Service Cougars in the final day of the Todd Ryan Memorial at McManus Field.

“We find a lot of ways to score runs,” Alaska head coach Steve Mossburgh said.

The Road Warriors took advantage of Service walks and errors, and sprinkled in a couple of hits during the big inning, to allow the local squad to end its own tourney on a winning note. Alaska scored wins over Eagle River and Service in the tourney, and dropped games to a pair of Outside programs — Napoleon, Ohio, and Las Vegas.

Alaska took an 11-3 lead in the third, but Service answered with six runs in the top of the fourth. Mossburgh said the Warriors have also been on the opposite end of their fair share of big innings this year.

“It seems like we’ll have a big inning and turn right around and give up another big inning,” Mossburgh said.

Service cut Alaska’s advantage to 11-9 in the fourth, but Josh Grissom helped Alaska’s cause with a two-run pinch-hit double during the Road Warriors’ three-run fifth inning. The hit down the left field line helped the Road Warriors add a few insurance runs.

David Newman led the Warriors at the plate with four hits, finishing with three doubles and a single. Newman also drove in four runs and scored two others.

Jonathon Boyer earned the win for the Road Warriors on the mound.

Napoleon won the 2011 Todd Ryan, scoring an 8-2 win over Las Vegas in the championship game. Napoleon is an Ohio power, finishing the Ohio American Legion runner-up in each of the last two seasons. Napoleon has also produced a number of Major League players, including Los Angeles Dodgers starter Chad Billingsly.

Napoleon blasted three home runs during the win over the Las Vegas Lions, a squad that won its region last season and competed in the 2010 American Legion World Series. The River Rats outscored opponents 48-3 in four games.

Napoleon and Las Vegas will each continue their tours of the 49th state with stops at the Bill Miller Tournament in Kenai and the BP Invitational in Anchorage.

In other Todd Ryan action Sunday, Chugiak beat rival Eagle River 11-1.

The Road Warriors jump back into their regular season schedule hosting Dimond tonight at 6:30 p.m.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/matsu_sports.