Warriors open against Ketchikan in state baseball tourney

WASILLA — Last week, the Wasilla Warriors captured their third straight Southcentral Conference baseball championship. Now the Warriors have their sights set on the state tournament. But the focus is still the same.

“We sat down and the beginning of the year and laid down a mission, drew a road map,” Wasilla head coach Ken Ottinger said.

It’s pitch by pitch, game by game, Ottinger said.

The Warriors have turned their attention to their next opponent.

The Ketchikan Kings.

Wasilla opens the 2016 ASAA/First National Bank State Baseball Championships against Ketchikan Thursday at 1 p.m. Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage.

It marks the second straight year that Wasilla will meet the Kings in the state tournament. The Warriors beat Ketchikan 6-4 in the tournament’s fourth-place game last season. Ottinger said the Warriors don’t know much about the 2016 edition of the Kings, the runners-up in the Southeast Conference. But that’s fine with the Warriors. Ottinger said the Warriors are focusing on their own game plan, and will work to be ready to play anyone.

Wasilla (22-2 overall, 13-0 in Southcentral Conference play) enters the state quarterfinals following a conference tournament highlighted by a tremendous collective performance from the Warriors pitching staff. In three games during the region tournament last week in Kenai, Wasilla pitchers allowed only four hits and notched three straight shutouts. In Wasilla’s conference tournament opener, Austin Robertson tossed a one-hitter during a 2-0 win over Kodiak. In the semifinals, Hank Boyer and Jacob Gilbert managed to find a way to top Robertson, combining for a no-hitter during a 17-0 win over Homer. In the championship game, Nolan Monaghan threw a three-high complete game shutout to lead Wasilla to a 5-0 win over Soldotna.

“It was pretty amazing to watch,” Ottinger said. “We didn’t give up a single run in three games against three solid ball clubs.”

The collective performance may seem unreal to some. But after watching his pitchers work throughout the regular season, Ottinger said he was not shocked by it.

Wasilla’s pitching staff, which also includes Koby Burns, has been a big piece to Wasilla’s puzzle. But a big factor to Wasilla’s overall success, Ottinger said, is the Warriors’ ability to successfully put all of the pieces together. Early in the season, Ottinger said he knew he had all of the pieces to build a championship caliber team. It was just a matter of finding the right fit for each piece.

“I think we finally hammered out our lineup. I think we finally got it figured out how to put together,” Ottinger said. “We’re really clicking.”

State baseball seeding is based on conference finish. Southeast Conference champion Sitka meets Southcentral runner-up Soldotna and Mid-Alaska champion Lathrop faces Cook Inlet runner-up South Anchorage on one side of the bracket. The other side features Wasilla, the Southcentral champ, meeting Southeast runner-up Ketchikan, and Cook Inlet champ Chugiak facing Mid-Alaska runner-up Monroe.

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