Warriors draw Chugiak in state tourney

WASILLA — As the top tier of Alaska American Legion baseball jockeyed for spots in the standings and top seeds in the upcoming state tournament during the final weekend of the regular season, the Wasilla Road Warriors ultimately found themselves locked in a tie with Chugiak with identical 14-4 conference marks.

But after Juneau, South Anchorage Kenai all leapt the Warriors and Mustangs in the standings, there’s no need for a tiebreaker. Regardless of seed, Wasilla and Chugiak are in the No. 4 versus No. 5 match of the first round of the Alaska American Legion State Tournament, and will meet Tuesday at 3:15 p.m. at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage.

It’ll mark the third meeting in two weeks for the Southcentral squads, which met up for a pair of spirited battles during the second week of July.

“This is a heated rivalry right now,” Wasilla head coach Ken Ottinger said following his team’s 4-3 walk-off win over the Mustangs July 16 at McManus Field in Wasilla.

Days before, Chugiak clipped the

Warriors 5-2.

After the win over Chugiak, in which the Mustangs rallied from a 3-0 deficit to tie the score in the final inning, Ottinger said the Road Warriors have a issue to fix before the state tournament starts.

“The problem is, in the last week we’ve been letting people back into ball games. For some reason we’ve left the door open when we had a chance to slam the door shut and win a ball game,” Ottinger said.

Ottinger and the Road Warriors watched another lead disappear July 21, during a 5-4 loss to Kenai. Wasilla led 4-2 in the sixth, but the Twins scored three runs to jump ahead.

Kenai used small ball to find a way to have success against Wasilla starting pitcher Koby Burns, and get by the Road Warriors.

“Base hits weren’t working, so we went to small ball,” Kenai head coach Robb Quelland said. “We’ve got the speed.”

The first five Kenai hitters in the sixth reached. Kenny Griffen, Gavin Petterson and Cody Quelland each reached with bunt singles. Paul Steffenson led off the inning with a single to center field and later scored on a single to right field by Calvin Hills. Griffen scored on a wild pitch, and Hills scored the game-winning run after Quelland’s bunt.

“We’re kind of designed that way. We can go with either aspect of the game,” Quelland said of his team’s approach at the plate.

Kenai’s three-run sixth came after Burns retired 12 straight Twins.

“It’s the second time we’ve faced (Burns) this year, and he’s handled us both times,” Robb Quelland said of Burns. “His curve is something we haven’t seen in a while. He’s good. He was dominant when we faced him a couple of weeks ago.”

Burns pitched seven innings in the loss. Five of the nine hits he allowed came in the sixth inning.

Kenai took a quick 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Josh Darrow led off the game with a single and later scored. Steffenson reached on a Wasilla error and scored to give the Twins the two-run advantage.

Wasilla tied the game in the bottom of the second. Jimmy Arend walked early in the inning and Kyle Graham was hit by a pitch. Ben Werner punched a ball into center field to drive in both base runners.

Wasilla used a pair of runs in the third to take the 4-2 lead. Matt Palmer drew a lead-off walk, and later stole home to give Wasilla the 3-2 lead. Pinch runner Gavin Hannasch scored later in the inning to give the Warriors the 302 lead.

Darrow and Hills led Kenai with two hits each in the win. Petterson earned the win on the mound in relief, working the final 4 2/3.

Juneau (17-1) enters the state tournament as the top seeded followed by second-seeded Kenai (16-2) and third-seeded South Anchorage (15-3). The double-elimination tourney continues through July 30.

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