Warriors face tough test

ANCHORAGE — Without playing a game, the Alaska Road Warriors survived to see another day.

The Valley team’s loser’s bracket elimination game against Dimond slated for early Monday morning was rained out, and the Road Warriors now play the Lynx today at 2 p.m. in consolation action of the Alaska American Legion State Tournament at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage.

The extra day might do the Road Warriors some good. Their opponent is the two-time defending state champion, and a team that is perfect against the Road Warriors this year.

“We’ve played everybody pretty close, but they’re the one team we haven’t beaten all year,” Road Warriors head coach Myrl Thompson said. “The guys are looking forward to playing them.”

The Road Warriors are probably not surprised to see Dimond, but Thompson certainly didn’t expect to face the Lynx in the loser’s bracket. His team entered the tourney as the No. 3 seed. Dimond was seeded fourth. Both the Wasilla team and Dimond fell victim to upsets that have ruled the tourney. Five-seed Fairbanks edged Dimond on the first day of the tourney. Sixth-seeded Chugiak beat the Road Warriors. Top-seeded Kenai was upset in its first game, and second-seeded South Anchorage have also been tossed to the loser’s bracket.

“It’s downright bizarre,” Thompson said. “I don’t think anybody I’ve talked to would have predicted it.”

A couple of neighbors, Eagle River and Chugiak, have been the stories of the 2012 tourney. Eagle River powered through East Anchorage, Kenai and Fairbanks en route to a spot in Wednesday’s semifinal round. Chugiak scored wins over West Anchorage, Wasilla and South, and will face rival Eagle River Wednesday at 2 p.m.

Wasilla stayed alive with an 11-2 win over East in an elimination game on Sunday.

“Everybody contributed. Almost every position scored,” Thompson said of the Road Warriors. “A lot of people got to play.”

Nine Road Warriors crossed home plate during the lopsided victory over the Thunderbirds. Josh Grissom and Morgan McJimsey each scored twice. Russ Ruta drove in three runs for the Road Warriors, and Grissom added two RBI.

Ruta also earned the win on the mound in relief, working a scoreless 2 1/3 innings.

The winner of the Dimond-Wasilla game moves on to face South.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com, follow him at twitter.com/matsu_sports and find him by searching Valley Sports Huddle on Facebook.