Road Warriors eliminated from American Legion regional

BOZEMAN, Mont. — The Alaska Road Warriors’ wild 2010 season has come to an end.

The Wasilla-based American Legion squad was eliminated from the northwest regional tournament with a 16-6 loss to the Laurel (Mont.) Dodgers in Bozeman, Mont., on Saturday.

The Road Warriors, who advanced to the regional with their runner-up finish at the Alaska state tourney last week, were swept out of the event with consecutive losses.

Head coach Steve Mossburgh said the Road Warriors simply made too many mistakes.

“They played well over all, just way too many errors,” Mossburgh said by cell phone from Bozeman Saturday afternoon.

Mossburgh said many of those errors were uncharacteristic for a Road Warriors squad that upset three of the top four seeds en route to a runner-up finish at the state tourney.

“We should have been able to compete a lot better,” Mossburgh said. “It’s not like them to make that many errors in a game.”

Wasilla committed six errors during the 10-run loss to the Dodgers on Saturday. Laural took advantage of Wasilla mistakes to score four times in the first and seven runs in the fifth.

One bright spot for the Warriors was right fielder JD Mayo, who finished a double short of the cycle in the loss.

“He was just on fire,” Mossburgh said of Mayo, a recent graduate of Colony High.

Mayo tripled off the top of the center field wall in the third, Mossburgh said. In the fifth, Mayo gave the Warriors a 6-4 lead with a three-run home run.

“He was just hammering the ball today,” said Mossburgh, who estimates Mayo’s dinger was at least 365 feet.

Mayo also singled in the seventh.

“I wanted him to get up (to the plate) again, but he never made it up,” Mossburgh said. “I was hoping he could hit it somewhere in the gap and stop at second.”

Jaron Christensen and Chris Bydlon also scored on the Mayo shot. Christensen led off the inning with a single and Bydlon followed with a bunt single.

The home run gave the Warriors the 6-4 lead, but the Dodgers immediately answered with seven runs in the bottom of the inning.

Eric Washington, David Newman and Josh Grissom also drove in runs during the loss. Newman collected a pair of hits.

The Road Warriors enjoyed a ninth-inning rally on Friday, but the Bonneville (Idaho) Bees held on for the 11-7 win.

Trailing 11-2, Grissom sparked the Warriors with a two-run single in the top of the ninth. Grissom was the fourth straight hitter to reach in the inning. Washington led off with a single and Wes Smith was hit by a pitch. Both scored on the Grissom hit.

Later in the inning, Scott Kramer posted a two-run single of his own. Grissom and Newman scored on the Kramer hit. Kramer scored on an error later in the inning.

“They came back,” Mossburgh said. “They didn’t roll over.”

The Road Warriors also had the bases loaded and the tying run at the plate when the Bees recorded the final out.

Wasilla recorded six of its 11 hits in the ninth. Washington and Grissom led the club with two hits each. Mayo tripled in the loss.

Dylan Kowitz fanned 12 Road Warriors during the complete-game win.

Despite the 0-2 finish in the tourney, Mossburgh continues to be pleased with his team.

“It was a good experience,” Mossburgh said. “I was proud of how they did (this season).”

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