Road Warriors grab top spot

WASILLA — The Alaska Road Warriors scored a key win in the race for a regular season crown. Shane Andrews outdueled South ace Josh Crapps to lead the Wasilla-based American Legion team to a 4-1 win over the Wolverines Wednesday night at McManus Field in Wasilla.

Andrews allowed only four South hits and Jacob Butcher drove in a pair of runs to help the Road Warriors break at tie at the top of the Alaska state standings. The Warriors improved to 16-4 in league play and took a one-game lead over second-place South (15-5).

“It was huge. We were tied (in the standings) for the first time all year,” Road Warriors head coach Myrl Thompson said. “Our backs were against the wall and we played pretty good.”

Wasilla, which played against Dimond late Thursday, closes its regular season Saturday at 1 p.m. against seventh-place Eagle River (9-11) at McManus Field. As the regular season nears an end, the Road Warriors have an eye on first place, which would give the team the top seed in the upcoming state tournament.

With the South win, Wasilla stood with 68 total points in the team standings, three better than South. The Wolverines cap their regular season today against West Anchorage.

Juneau (14-4) is also in the running for the regular season title with 60 total points. Juneau ends its season with a long weekend that included a game against Chugiak late Thursday, a doubleheader against Fairbanks in Anchorage on Friday and another game against Chugiak on Saturday.

“We need to win out and get another team to drop a loss on them,” Thompson said of Juneau.

If Wasilla and Juneau finish the regular season tied, Juneau would hold the tiebreaker thanks to head-to-head record.

Wednesday, Wasilla quickly erased an early deficit. South took an early 1-0 lead, but Russ Ruta singled and scored on a Jonathon Boyer single to knot the score at 1.

Midway through the game, Butcher tagged South with a two-run hit.