Warriors dethrone Knights for title

SOLDOTNA — Behind their senior workhorse pitcher Tyler Hansen, the Wasilla Warriors claimed their first Southcentral Conference Championship in 13 years after a 4-1 victory over the Colony Knights Friday in Soldotna.

Hansen went the distance with five strikeouts and four hits allowed. He said his game plan going into the game was to keep the ball low and throw a lot of strikes. The southpaw’s only blemish was a solo home run to Colony catcher Kevin Hale in the third inning.

“My curveball was on today, which helped a lot,” he said. “I watched out for certain guys in the lineup because it’s a small field, so I didn’t want to give up any home runs. My defense helped me out, I can’t be more grateful.”

After Hansen recorded the final out, his teammates threw their gloves in the air and mobbed him on the mound. The Warriors included head coach Jason Terryberry in on the celebration and dumped water on him, which left a big grin on his face.

“That felt good,” Terryberry said, and then acknowledged his pitcher’s performance. “(Hansen) is our leader, and having him out there we knew we had the best chance to get a ‘W’, and he came through for us. He has been a rock all year.”

The wind blew from left to right across the diamond as the infield dirt swirled around during the conference title game. In a battle with a trip to state on the line between the two Valley teams, the Warriors struck first blood with two runs in the first and two in the second that chased Colony senior pitcher Ryan Judd after 1 and 1/3 innings.

Hansen drove in the Warriors first run with a single that scored Mitchell Chauvin, and Blake Marks followed with a groundout that scored Jeffrey Forster to take an early 2-0 lead.

After he allowed the first three hitters to reach base in the first, Judd found himself in trouble to start the second. A single by Wasilla centerfielder Nolan Monaghan and a walk to Chauvin sandwiched around a bunt put runners at first and second with one out.

Colony head coach Jordan Chadwell replaced Judd with Logan Sanders and things got worse before they got better. An error and two wild pitches scored the next two runs, and Wasilla had a 4-0 lead.

Sanders settled down afterward and only gave up a double to Chauvin in the fourth but followed that up with a strikeout on Hansen to end the threat. Sanders pitched 4 and 2/3 innings with three strikeouts and two walks. Chadwell said Sanders stepped up and kept the Knights in the game.

“He has been a big help on the team throughout the season and none of that changed today,” Chadwell said. “It could have been pretty ugly early.”

Mistakes by base runners cost Colony opportunities to do more damage at the plate as the Knights were picked off at first base three times in the game. After a single by Colony’s Matt Palmer in the top of the fourth, Hansen threw over to first and caught Palmer between first and second in a failed stolen base attempt. In their next inning, with runners at first and second and Dalton McHugill at the plate, Hansen caught Hale leaning too far off the bag and picked him off to end the inning.

“We were not mentally prepared for the game. We didn’t make good adjustments, and I thought that was part of it,” Chadwell said. “We were on the pitcher from the start, but we couldn’t come around as a team.”

Terryberry said Hansen showed composure in the fifth inning, although he noticed his pitcher started to pay more attention to the runners, so he went up for his only mound visit of the game. He said he told Hansen to not worry about the runners, and with two outs just concentrate on the batter. Hansen then threw over to first for the final out of the inning.

“Colony is a great hitting team,” Terryberry said. “We knew they would hit the ball, and as long as we kept it in the park we had a chance. It’s a good win for Wasilla, and hopefully we will see them down in Sitka (at the state tournament).”

Colony was set to play the winner between Kodiak and Palmer Saturday in the final game of the loser’s bracket. The winner of that final game earns the conference’s second automatic bid to the state tournament, which starts Thursday in Sitka. Results of Saturday action were not available prior to the Frontiersman deadline. See frontiersman.com/sports.