Road Warriors roll on at state

PALMER — An up-and-down tournament still has more up-side for the Wasilla Road Warriors, who came from behind — then slammed the door — against East on Sunday, 9-3.

“We didn’t hit the ball the first four innings, but we came around and picked up some runs here and there,” said head coach Steve Mossburgh of the Warriors’ second straight win in the Alaska American Legion State Tournament.

Coming off a dominant 9-2 win over West on Saturday, the Road Warriors felt at home at Hermon Brothers Field for Sunday’s contest — maybe too much at home, Mossburgh said.

A sluggish start saw East take an early 2-0 lead, then a 3-2 lead before Wasilla finally found its rhythm in the seventh inning, he said. A pair of runs gave the Road Warriors a 4-3 lead, then a five-run ninth inning iced the game.

“That last inning we really hit the ball good and scored a lot or runs,” Mossburgh said.

JD Mayor drove in three of those ninth-inning runs, and a Tommy Rodamer triple brought two more across the plate.

Matthew Packa pitched 6 2/3 innings for the win, and the Road Warriors are in good shape for the rest of the tournament with their top three arms ready, the coach said. Rhowe Stefanski will pitch today’s game against Fairbanks, which lost 19-4 to Chugiak on Sunday. With a win, Mike Wagner, who earned a win Saturday over West, would get the next start.

“We have to win three more games to get to the finals, but we still got a shot at it,” Mossburgh said. “This isn’t new. We’re right in that area (in the tournament) again. We have a different team than we had last year, a totally different team. … Every year we finish deep in the tournament.”

Having already lost to Service in the tournament’s first round, another loss would mean the end of the season for the Road Warriors.

“We’re still playing, and that’s all that matters,” Mossburgh said. “You lose you go home, you win you keep playing.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.

IF YOU GO

Because Monday’s game between South and Chugiak was postponed due to rain, today’s tournament schedule at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer has changed. The Wasilla/Fairbanks game that was scheduled for 5 p.m. has been moved to 1:30 p.m.