Warriors earn baseball wins over SoHi, Kenai

WASILLA — Wasilla’s six-run lead late in the game may have appeared comfortable. But the Soldotna Stars made things interesting.

Soldotna scored three times during the final inning and had the go-ahead run at the plate, but the Warriors held on to grab a 10-7 Southcentral Conference victory over the Stars Saturday afternoon at Wasilla High School.

As the Stars stood with two outs, the bases loaded and a man at the plate, Wasilla caught a base runner off the bag to get the final out and the victory.

“It’s high school baseball. Anything can happen,” Wasilla head coach Ken Ottinger said after the win.

But Ottinger was certainly thankful for a few insurance runs Wasilla picked up after taking the lead with its six-run third inning. The Warriors scored two in both the fourth and the sixth.

“Anytime you can tack on more runs, I’m going to,” Ottinger said. “Those were big runs definitely.”

The Warriors took a 10-4 lead into the seventh. The Stars tagged the Wasilla bullpen with two hits, two walks and three runs in the inning. Soldotna also had a player hit with a pitch and another reach on an error.

“It’s still early in the season. There’s a lot of learning,” Ottinger said.

Cody Quelland used a leadoff double to spark Soldotna’s attempt at the rally. David Michaels followed by reaching on an error, and Quelland scored to cut Wasilla’s lead to 10-5. Brandon Crowder was hit by a pitch, and with one out, both Michaels and Crowder scored on a Logan Smith single.

With two outs, the bases loaded and Jeremy Kupferschmid at the plate, Wasilla was able to catch a SoHi baserunner between third and home to grab the final out.

“I’d rather win ugly than lose beautiful,” Ottinger said.

Wasilla senior James Arend cashed in with the bases loaded during his team’s big third inning. With the Warriors trailing 3-0, Arend used a bases-clearing triple to tie the score at 3. Later in the inning, Arend scored on a Soldotna error to give the 4-3 lead. Taylon Ottinger also added a run-scoring single in the third.

Soldotna initially took a lead with three runs in the top of the second.

Arend led Wasilla with two hits and three RBI. Jacob Gilbert drove in two runs. Clayton Boyett, Kyle Graham and Ben Werner each scored twice.

Kupferschmid and Hunter Thompson drove in two runs each for SoHi. Quelland and Crowder had two hits and two runs each.

Warriors blast Kards

Wasilla used a five-run first to score a 12-2 Southcentral Conference win over the Kenai Kardinals Friday evening at Wasilla High.

Balau Buckmaster and Jacob Gilbert each finished with three RBI for the Warriors. Buckmaster, Kyle Graham and James Arend scored two runs each.

Warriors, Stars tie

The Soldotna Stars scored three late runs to force a 5-5 nonleague tie against the Wasilla Warriors Thursday night at Wasilla High School.

Jeremy Kupferschmid scored on a Cody Quelland ground out with two outs in the top of the seventh to tie the game at 5.

Wasilla led 5-2 through five innings.

Clayton Boyett scored in the bottom of the first on a ground out to give Wasilla the early 1-0 lead. Wasilla added a pair of runs in both the fourth and fifth innings.

Ben Warner drove in a pair of runs to lead Wasilla. Kyle Graham had a team-high two hits.

Warriors beat South again

The Wasilla Warriors are enjoying their time against South Anchorage early in the 2018 season.

Sparked by a four-run first, Wasilla posted an 11-3 win over South Wednesday night at Wasilla High School.

It marked Wasilla’s third victory of the season against South. The Warriors also beat the Wolverines twice during a tournament in Kodiak last week. James Arend and Jacob Gilbert each drove in three runs to help Wasilla improve to 3-0 against the Cook Inlet Conference power this season. Clancy O’Donnell drove in a pair of runs.

O’Donnell used a two-run single to help Wasilla grab an early lead in the first. Gilbert drove in a pair with a single during Wasilla’s five-run sixth.

Ben Werner led Wasilla with three runs scored. Kyle Graham and Balau Buckmaster scored two runs each.

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