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
2 min read
WASILLA — The Wasilla Warriors ran away with a victory Friday night.
Literally.
Wasilla scored three early runs off Skyview passed balls, and cruised to an 11-2 win over the Panthers at Alcantra Fields.
“We’re teaching them to run, see an opportunity, take it,” Wasilla head coach Donell Polk said. “Be aggressive.”
McKenzie Jenkins, Reagan Pickworth and Venna Allen scored consecutive runs off passed balls in the second inning to give Wasilla the 3-0 lead.
Wasilla, particularly the top of its lineup, also hit the ball well. The Warriors first four batters combined for nine hits in the victory. Ambriel Sandone led the Warriors with three hits, and was 3 for 4 from the plate. Elisa Gamez, Johnna Elkins and Cassidy Edwards collected a pair of hits each.
Edwards, a freshman, doubled twice in the win.
“Cassidy hit the ball hard again,” Polk said.
Edwards also scored twice and drove in a run. Jenkins and Emily Woods also finished with an RBI each.
Gamez pitched a complete game to earn the win.
After taking a 3-0 lead in the second, Wasilla padded its advantage with three more runs in the third. Elkins led off with an infield single and scored on one of Edwards’ two doubles. Celina Duffy drew a walk and later scored on Jenkins’ ground out.
Wasilla added four more runs in the fourth. Sandone led off with an infield single and scored on a Gamez double.
Edwards also doubled and scored in the inning.
Skyview scored its runs in the top of the fifth inning.
Wasilla used the win to rebound from a 7-3 loss to West Valley earlier in the day. North Pole beat Wasilla 7-6 on Thursday.
Despite the losses, Polk praised his young team’s improvement against the Interior teams.
“They’ve made great improvement. We played two of the Fairbanks teams that blew us out last year. We’re getting confidence from their coaches saying how much we’ve improved,” Polk said.
In other action, North Pole beat Palmer 6-2.
Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.
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