Valley teams fall in state semifinals

SITKA — A pair of Valley baseball teams helped make history Thursday. Both Colony and Wasilla earned first-round wins, marking the first time in the history of the ASAA/First National Bank State Baseball Championships that two Valley teams scored wins during the quarterfinals. Those victories (Wasilla’s 5-4 win over West Valley and Colony’s 7-6 victory over Lathrop) set up the potential for an all-Valley final.

Friday’s semifinals did set up a meeting for the Valley rivals. Not in the final, but the third-place match.

Sage Dudick pitched a complete game shutout to lead South Anchorage to 4-0 semifinal win over Colony. Host Sitka followed with a 14-0 win over Wasilla during the semifinal round.

Dudick allowed only three hits over seven innings against the Knights. Ben Ross led Colony with a double. Matt Palmer and Logan Sanders finished with singles. Colony starter Dalton McHugill also pitched a complete game, scattering seven hits and four earned runs over seven innings. McHugill fanned four and didn’t walk a batter.

South took a 1-0 lead I the second, and added three runs in the fourth.

Sitka used a monster fourth inning to get past Wasilla, the Southcentral Conference champions. Sitka, sparked by a grand slam in the fourth, scored 10 times in the inning, and posted a 14-0 win over the Warriors.

Results of the third-place game were not available prior to press time. See the Tuesday Frontiersman for

more.