South slugs Road Warriors

ANCHORAGE — The Alaska Road Warriors’ wild ride has come to an end.

A day after the Wasilla-based American Legion baseball squad upset two-time defending state champion Dimond, the Road Warriors were knocked out of play with a 17-11 loss to South Anchorage Wednesday afternoon in consolation bracket action of the 2012 Alaska American Legion State Tournament at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage.

A pair of big innings helped the Wolverines eliminate the Warriors from tourney play and move on to play Kenai. South posted seven runs in the third and another six in the sixth.

“We tried to chip away, but we let them have another six-run inning,” Road Warriors head coach Myrl Thompson said.

Wasilla’s game with South came about 24 hours after the Warriors upset Dimond 8-7 in 10 innings. David Newman scored on Damon Hammer’s walk-off single in extra innings to give the Warriors the win over the Lynx. But with the Wolverines lurking, the Warriors didn’t have much time to celebrate.

“Anytime you play those two teams back-to-back it’s tough,” Thompson said. “Today, we just didn’t get the pitching.”

South Anchorage tagged four Road Warriors pitchers for 20 hits and 17 runs. Leadoff hitter Matt Ilalio was 4 for 6 with five RBIs, Bryan Barker finished 5 for 6 with four driven in, and Josh Crapps was a perfect 4 for 4 at the plate.

“South, they hit the ball hard. They had a couple kids with crazy days,” Thompson said.

The Road Warriors also had a great day at the plate, finishing with 11 runs on 17 hits. Newman capped a stellar American Legion career with a 5 for 6 effort. He also drove in three runs and scored three times. Newman was 3 for 4 with three runs against Dimond.

“(Newman) was off the hook today and yesterday,” Thompson said Wednesday. “He certainly went out swinging. He had a really hot bat, a great tournament.”

Josh Grissom finished 4 for 6 against South and had three RBI. Ian Stormont, Ben Ross and Aaron Butcher collected a pair of hits each.

Wasilla took an early 2-0 lead in the game.

Newman notched a run-scoring triple in the first inning to give the Warriors the first lead of the game, and quickly scored on a Grissom hit to push the Valley squad’s advantage to a pair of runs.

South would answer with runs in the first and second, and slammed Wasilla with seven in the third.

The Road Warriors continued to score runs, despite the deficit, which pleased Thompson.

“The last inning we threw up three more. They’re pretty resilient, even when they’re down by quite a few runs,” Thompson said. “They didn’t give up today.”

Wasilla 8, Dimond 7

ANCHIORAGE — Hammer used a bloop single to drive in Newman and give the Road Warriors an 8-7 win over two-time defending state champion Dimond in 10 innings Tuesday.

Newman scored after leading off the inning with a double.

“Newman got a good jump. I saw him coming and sent him,” Thompson said of the game-winning play in which Newman scored from second base.

Tyler Hansen pitched a perfect 10th inning in relief to get the win. Road Warriors starter Bryce Borngraeber threw nine innings, scattering 10 hits and seven runs.

Newman led Wasilla at the plate, with a 3 for 4 effort and three runs. Hammer was 2 for 3, and Stormont also had a pair of hits.

Wasilla did the bulk of its damage with a six-run fourth inning.

Ben Ross drew a leadoff walk and later scored on a wild pitch. Jacob Butcher posted an RBI-single, and Russ Ruta doubled to drive in another run.

Grissom also had an RBI in the inning, after coaxing a walk with the bases loaded.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com, follow him on Twitter @matsu_sports, and find him by searching Valley Sports Huddle on Facebook.