Road Warriors hope to make a move as No. 3 seed

WASILLA — The Alaska Road Warriors were hoping they’d have enough during the final week of the regular season to notch the No. 2 seed in the state tournament. The Valley squad fell just short of that goal. But as it turns out, the Road Warriors found themselves in a pretty good spot.

The Road Warriors will enter the 2012 American Legion Alaska State Tournament as the third seed and open against either Chugiak or West Anchorage Saturday at noon at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage.

“We landed in about as good of place as we possibly could,” Road Warriors head coach Myrl Thompson said.

With the third seed, the Valley squad scored one of three first-day byes in the tourney, which officially starts today at 9 a.m. in Anchorage. The Road Warriors are also on the opposite side of the bracket from Kenai, Dimond and Fairbanks.

“Those are three tough teams. There are certainly tough teams on each side, but these are teams we’ve had some problems with,” Thompson said. “They can knock each other off before we have to worry about them.”

The Road Warriors share the same side of the bracket as second-seeded South Anchorage.

Thompson said he also appreciates having the first day of the tourney off.

“It’s just an extra day off. We can possibly save a pitcher if we keep winning,” Thompson said. “It’s really huge actually.”

Overall, Thompson said he’s pretty happy with where his team is at as the Road Warriors (16-10 overall and 14-6 in league play) head into the tourney.

“The last week or so we were coming together, playing pretty decent ball for the most part,” Thompson said.

The Road Warriors started the season hot at the plate, but it took time for the pitching staff to come together. As the team closed the regular season, pitching is what stood out, Thompson said.

“It’s funny how things change in baseball,” he said.

Thompson is excited about the group of starting pitchers he has to work with, a group that includes Bryce Borngraeber, Josh Grissom and Damon Hammer. Shane Andrews and Jacob Butcher have also emerged to add depth.

Infielder Ben Ross and veteran David Newman have led the Warriors offensively throughout the year. Thompson said players such as Grissom, Butcher, Hammer and Mitchell Chauvin have also excelled at the plate.

The Warriors open with the winner of the West-Chugiak contest, which is slated for today at noon. The Wasilla team is 2-0 against West and 2-1 against Chugiak this year. With a win, The Road Warriors would play Sunday at 3:15 p.m. A loss would me a game in the loser’s bracket Sunday at 9 a.m.

The tourney continues through Aug. 3 in Anchorage.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com, follow him at twitter.com/matsu_sports and find him by searching Valley Sports Huddle on Facebook.