Road Warriors rebound, stay alive in state tourney

ANCHORAGE — On Friday, it was a fabulous start and horrible finish for the Alaska Road Warriors. On Saturday, the Wasilla-based American Legion team lagged through a bit of a shaky start before enjoying a solid finish.

A day after suffering an 11-3 first-round loss to South Anchorage, the Road Warriors rebounded with a 12-1 win over Bartlett at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage to stay alive in the 2011 Alaska American Legion State Championships.

“It was night and day,” Road Warriors head coach Myrl Thompson said after the win over Bartlett.

Seven different players notched at least a hit and Scott Kramer tossed five solid innings to help lead the Road Warriors to the win over the Golden Bears and move the team into the third day of tourney play.

“The whole team played really good ball,” Thompson said of his club, which faces Chugiak today at 9 a.m. at Mulcahy.

Mat-Su took an early 1-0 lead in the first, but exploded for six runs in the fourth.

“We got a little breathing room,” Thompson said. “Before that, it was a little sketchy.”

Infielder Tim Rockey sparked the big inning, leading off with a single in the fourth. After a stolen base and a Josh Grissom bunt single, Rockey scored on a wild pitch to give the Road Warriors the 2-0 lead. Grissom later scored on a Bartlett error to push the Wasilla squad’s advantage to three.

Midway through the frame, John Stormont, Brody Coleman and Taylor Palmer each drew walks to load the bases for the Warriors. David Newman cleared the bases with his key double to left field.

“I called a timeout with the bases loaded and told him this is where we need one,” Thompson said. “He delivered.”

Jonathon Boyer also doubled in the inning and drove Newman across the plate.

Newman led the Road Warriors with three RBI in the win. Coleman and Boyer drove in two runs each.

Coleman, who scored a team-best three runs, smacked a two-run triple into right field in the fifth inning.

Grissom also scored three times in the victory. Rockey and Stormont had two runs each.

“We finally started finding the gap,” Thompson said. “We hit the power alleys in a couple innings pretty hard to get some extra-base hits.”

With plenty of offense, Kramer was effective on the mound, allowing no earned runs over five innings.

“He pitched well,” Thompson said. “He kept the ball around the ball, made them swing and the defense did the rest.”

Kramer also fanned six, while walking only one.

Bartlett scored its lone run, an unearned tally, in the fifth.

On Friday, the Road Warriors led 1-0 after only two South Anchorage pitches. But after two Wasilla runs in the first, South cruised with a pair of four-run innings during the eight-run win over the Road Warriors.

Coleman, Alaska’s leadoff hitter, took the first pitch of the game and smacked a double into left field. Taylor Palmer laid down a bunt on the second pitch, and Coleman came around to score as Palmer reached safely after a South throwing error.

Palmer later scored when Damon Hammer reached on a fielder’s choice to give the Road Warriors the 2-0 lead.

But it didn’t take long for South to answer.

The Wolverines scored four times in the bottom of the first to take the 4-2 lead and open up the game with four more runs in the third.

“Games against tough teams can turn on a dime,” Thompson said. “That’s exactly what happened.”

Josh Crapps pitched seven innings to earn the complete game win.

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