South scores sloppy win on soaked field

WASILLA — First came the rain, then came the runs.

South Anchorage scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to post a 7-0 victory over the Alaska Road Warriors at a rain-soaked Lou McManus Field on Tuesday.

On a field that could have easily doubled as a giant Slip ‘N Slide, Ty Calvin and Trevor Allred slid around the slippery base paths to score the late runs and tag the Warriors with the seven-inning mercy rule win.

Alaska starter Cole Smith pitched three strong innings — allowing just one infield hit — but the Wolverines hammered the lefty with four hits and four runs in the fourth.

“He threw pretty good for three innings,” Alaska head coach Steve Mossburgh said. “I don’t know what happened after that. They started hitting him hard.”

South infielder Alex Archuleta bounced a shot off the right field wall to drive in a pair of Wolverines in the inning. Allred and Paul Besousek also drove in runs in the fourth.

Archuleta helped give the Wolverines the win in the seventh. He pushed a ground ball underneath the glove of Alaska shortstop Chris Breck, and Calvin and Allred scored during the ensuing madness.

On a field that had become absolutely soaked since heavy rains hit in the fifth inning, the Road Warriors weren’t able to get a handle on the ball before two runners scored.

Calvin was able to motor around third base and beat the throw to home plate to give South the 6-0 lead, and when Alaska tried to throw out Archuleta at second base, the ball skipped through the muddy infield and into the outfield grass. After the throwing error, Allred was able to cross home plate.

Rain trickled down early in the contest, but starting in the fifth inning, it absolutely poured. Play continued despite heavy rains that plagued the American Legion squads for the remainder of the game.

Following the game as he stared at a torn-up infield, Mossburgh wasn’t quite sure why play was not suspended.

“That’s up to the umpires, that’s not up to me,” the Alaska skipper said. “I’d a called it after the fifth inning.”

Because of the rain, Mossburgh and his players had to play part-time groundskeeper between each half inning. Mossburgh estimates he went through about a dozen 25-games of Play Ball infield conditioner to try to soak up the water on the drenched mound, batter’s box and base paths.

Alaska’s best chance to get on the scoreboard came in the top of the seventh when third baseman Mike Dotson opened the inning with a triple. The former Palmer High School standout knocked a ball off the right field wall of McManus Field, but was stranded on third after Alaska posted consecutive strikeouts and a ground out to end the top half of the inning.

The Road Warriors will have a busy end of the regular season before preparing for the American Legion state tournament. The Warriors host West Anchorage in a doubleheader at 1 p.m. on Saturday. On Sunday, Alaska will face East Anchorage at Oberg Field in Chugiak. The regular season ends on Tuesday when the Warriors host Eagle River at McManus Field at 6:30 p.m.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.