Warriors get a game-ending triple play in victory

WASILLA — In mere moments, the Palmer Moose went from bases loaded to baffled as what appeared to be a routine sacrifice fly ended up as a game-ending triple play.

With the bases loaded and no outs in the top of the seventh inning, the Wasilla Warriors turned the rare-triple play to secure an 11-7 win over the Moose Monday night at Wasilla High School.

With Palmer trailing 11-6 and the bases full, Palmer’s James Nelson lifted the ball into short left field. The Wasilla outfielder initially appeared to make the catch. Palmer’s Anthony Jones, standing on third, tagged and scored easily.

And then came the confusion.

As it turned out, it was ruled a dropped ball and error in the outfield. An error, Wasilla parlayed into the big play. The Warriors got force outs at third, second and then first to end the game.

“The left fielder dropped it. The (runner) at second didn’t go. He thought he caught it. We tagged third for the force out. We went to second and got an out there. The guy at first was halfway down the line. We got the force there,” Wasilla head coach Ken Ottinger said, outlining the final sequence.

Palmer head coach Dave Combs stood puzzled following the game, not convinced that an error was made in the Wasilla outfield. Combs said he thought the catch was clean, and the ball was bobbled as his baserunner at third tagged and sprinted toward home. Combs said he expected to see two on and one out, with his cleanup hitter at the plate, and not the end of the game.

Wasilla used a big fourth inning to breakaway from the Moose, and improve to 8-2. Leading 3-2, the Warriors plated five runs to take the 8-2 advantage. Balas Buckmaster sparked the big inning for the Warriors with a two-run triple. Buckmaster’s deep knock into the outfield followed a Taylon Ottinger bunt single. Cyruss Lovell and James Arend also had run-scoring singles in the inning.

Palmer cut into Wasilla’s lead in the top of the sixth with four runs.

“That’s big for me,” Combs said of his squad’s attempt to come from behind. “I’ve got a really young team.”

Aaron Christiansen legged out an infield single to lead off the inning for the Moose. Jones and Luke Guggenmos followed with consecutive walks to load the bases. Keagen Norman used a ground ball to drive in Christiansen. Nelson got another infield single to drive in Jones. Guggenmos scored on a Cody Grogan ground out. Later in the inning, Nelson scored.

Wasilla was able to add to its lead in the bottom of the inning. Ben Werner led off the bottom of the sixth with a single. Lovell and Arend followed with walks to load the bases with no outs. Dawson White and Jacob Gilbert both drew walks with the bases loaded to drive in runs. The Warriors drove in another run with a fielder’s choice to talk the 11-6 lead.

Lovell led the Warriors with two hits and three runs in the game. Buckmaster tripled, drove in two and scored twice. Werner also scored a pair of runs.

Skyler Hale finished 3 for 3 with a run to lead the Moose. Jones reached base four times, two hits and two walks, and scored twice and drove in two runs.

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