Warriors advance to semis; Knights stay alive in region softball tourney

WASILLA — Earlier this week, Wasilla closed its regular season by scoring 22 runs during a win over rival Colony.

Wasilla carried that success at the plate into the conference tournament. The Warriors scored a 15-0, three-inning mercy rule win over Lathrop during the first day of the Railbelt Conference Championships Thursday at Wasilla High School.

“We needed to come out string and finish in three (innings),” Wasilla head coach Tyler Gilligan said after the victory.

Gilligan, anticipating a tough second day of the tournament, said it was important to keep Thursday’s game short.

“At minimum, we’ve probably got two tough seven-inning games (Friday),” Gilligan said.

With the victory, Wasilla moved into the semifinals and will face West Valley Friday at 11:30 a.m. at Wasilla High. To get the quick victory, the Warriors piled up 15 runs in just the three innings. Gilligan said he did feel like it was a continuation of his team’s 22-run effort against Colony on Monday.

“The bats came alive. We couldn’t do anything not to get doubles and triples. We had a couple over-the-fencers,” Gilligan said.

The bats stayed alive on Thursday. Five Warriors finished with multiple hits, three different Wasilla players tripled, and eight different Wasilla athletes had at least one RBI and one run scored.

Jordan Malave, Jewel Fleckenstein and Hailey Hotchkiss each had a triple in the win. Malave led the Warriors with three RBI. Fleckenstein collected two singles, a triple, two RBI and two runs scored. Hotchkiss had two hits, two RBI and two runs scored. Wasilla scored eight times in the second and closed the game with six more in the third.

Gilligan said he “absolutely” feels like his team is peaking at the right time at the plate, but also credited Wasilla’s play in the field.

“We’re not necessarily the strongest defensive team, but what we’ve done in the last two weeks, we’ve skyrocketed,” Gilligan said.

Gilligan said his team’s mental approach has also been key.

“What we’ve done on the mental side is the most important,” Gilligan said. “We haven’t fallen over once we’ve made an error or two. We get back in i. I always tell them, you make a mistake, you recognize it, correct it, you forget about it. Those are the three things you do. You don’t dwell on it. They have taken it to heart, and that’s why they’re having success now.”

Wasilla entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed. Earlier in the day, top-seeded West Valley got past Colony, the No. 3 seed. The tourney started with Lathrop, the No. 4 seed, earning a 16-12 win over fifth-seeded Palmer.

Late Thursday, Colony blanked Palmer 15-0 in an elimination game. The tournament continues Friday morning with Lathrop meeting Colony at 9 a.m. After West Valley and Wasilla clash at 11:30 a.m., the winner of the Lathrop-Colony games meets the loser of the West Valley-Wasilla match at 2 p.m.

The conference title game is Friday at 4:30 p.m., with the if-necessary game of the double-elimination tournament slated to start about 7 p.m. if needed.

Lathrop 16, Palmer 12

The Palmer Moose suffered a heartbreaker in the tournament opener.

Lathrop’s Kaylee Bockert used a walk-off, inside-the-park grand slam to lead the Malemutes to a 16-12 win over the Moose Thursday morning at Wasilla High School. Bockert’s big at-bat was part of a five-run seventh that pushed Palmer into the loser’s bracket. Palmer had scored a pair in the top of the seventh to take the 12-11 lead.

Lathrop led 8-1 after the first inning, but the Moose fought back with four in the second and three in the fifth. Alexis Barfield led Palmer with four RBI in the loss. Jenna Sutton scored a team-high four runs. Sally Carr and Janie Besse added three runs each.

Colony 15, Palmer 0

Colony stayed alive and eliminated Palmer with a 15-0 win over the Moose Thursday night.

Alyssa Oswald led Colony with four RBI in the win. Bryanna Scarratt added three RBI and Tesa Finley drove in a pair.

Scarratt earned the win on the mound for Colony.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.