Retiring teacher, coach urges Colony grads to ‘find their 68’
By Jeremiah Bartz Frontiersman.com A football coach using a hockey reference as the centerpiece for his keynote address may
3 min read
WASILLA — Last season, the Alaska Road Warriors American Legion baseball program was within reach of winning a state title.
Dimond needed four runs in the eighth inning of the 2010 championship game to steal the game and the crown from the Road Warriors. But based on what he’s seen during the first week of the 2011 season, head coach Steve Mossburgh believes he has another squad ready to contend for a championship.
“I think we’re going to have a pretty strong team again,” Mossburgh said.
Last season, the fifth-seeded Road Warriors upset three of the state’s top four teams en route to moving into the title game. This year, the Warriors return nine players from that team.
“They were the core group that played a lot,” Mossburgh said.
The Warriors are off to a 3-1 start this season, earning a win over Bartlett last week and a doubleheader sweep of West Anchorage on Saturday. Win or lose, the Road Warriors have proven they have no problem putting the bat on the ball and runners on the bases. In the first four games, the Road Warriors have had at least 20 base runners in each.
“Guys up and down the lineup can all hit the ball fairly well,” Mossburgh said.
And the pitching has been there also. Mossburgh said it’s been the hitting that has stood out the most, but he’s been impressed by the pitchers as well.
The Road Warriors return three players a year removed from high school, including one who played college baseball during the spring. Wasilla High graduate Dusty Wisdom returns to the Valley after playing his first year at Brown Mackie College in Kansas. Two other 2010 graduates, Eric Marshall (Wasilla) and Isaac Courson (Palmer) also return.
The Road Warriors, the lone American Legion team in the Valley, includes talent from all four Valley high school programs. Taylor Palmer, Dominic Comerate, Jacob Butcher, Jonathon Boyer and Damon Hammer come to the Road Warriors from a Colony program that finished first in the Southcentral Conference North Division during the regular season. Brody Coleman, David Newman and John Stormont are the Wasilla Warriors on the Road Warriors squad. Houston High incoming seniors Scott Kramer and Russ Ruta are on the squad along with former Hawks Patrick Fitzgerald and Josh Grissom. Tim Rockey represents the Palmer Moose program.
Mossburgh said he has a dugout full of talent he clan place on the mound at any time. Wisdom, Boyer, Comerate, Courson and Kramer are among the top candidates to start. Butcher, Marshall and Ruta are also in the mix. Newman, a lefty, could be one of the top arms coming out of the bullpen.
Grissom and Palmer will share time behind the plate.
The Road Warriors are deep with middle infield talent — Kramer, Ruta, Hammer and Boyer are among the players Mossburgh can plug in at shortstop or second. Grissom, Comerate, Stormont and Rockey can play the corners.
Coleman, Fitzgerald, Butcher and Newman are among those who will play in the outfield this year.
“They’re all good players,” Mossburgh said of his roster. “We don’t lose anything if we take a guy out of one position and fill with another. They’re all quality players.”
Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/matsu_sports.
Read next
Going home sore and soggy
By Kyle Wilkinson Kyle in the outside Our spring bear hunt was bittersweet this year. We’re heading home without
Valley athletes earn region track and field titles
Frontiersman.com Valley athletes earned titles during the Region III Championships track and field meet last week at Colony High
Athletes of the week
Leila Petersen Palmer Moose Leila Petersen, a member of the Palmer track and field team, has been named a Frontiersman
The end of an era
By Jeremiah Bartz J’s World August would have been the start of my 25th year as an editor at