Warriors win baseball title

HOUSTON — Following upset victories during the first two rounds of the Southcentral Conference Championships, the Soldotna Stars were flying high into the region title game.

But that’s until the Stars ran into the buzz saw known as the Wasilla Warriors.

The Wasilla hitters collected 11 runs off nine hits and starting pitcher Nolan Monaghan tossed his second straight no-hitter, as the Warriors stormed to an 11-1 six-inning mercy rule win over the Stars during the Southcentral title game Friday night at Houston High School.

It was the third straight lopsided win of the tournament for Wasilla. The Warriors outscored their opponents (Kenai, Palmer and Soldotna) 52-5 in three games.

“We’re really starting to peak right now,” Wasilla head coach Jason Terryberry said after the win. “The bats have been hot and cold all season. The pitching has been good all season. The defense has been good all season. And the bats showed up this weekend. We hit the ball and good things happened.”

Monaghan, who has not allowed a hit in more than two weeks, fanned 13 hitters in the victory. He did walk four in the game, and Soldotna scored its lone run when Trayton Bird drew a walk in the top of the fourth and scored on an error in the Wasilla infield.

“He walked a couple guys. He had a few baserunners, but he knows when to get an out when he needs to,” Terryberry said of Monaghan.

Last week, Monaghan threw a no-hitter during a 10-0 victory over Kodiak, a win that clinched the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament for the Warriors. Monaghan said he was excited about the first, and now second no-hitter, of his high school career, but tried not to focus on it.

“I’m just pitching for us,” Monaghan said of his team.

Soldotna was able to coax the occasional walk, but spent most of its time against Monaghan swinging and missing. After walking the leadoff man in the second, Monaghan fanned consecutive hitters to end the inning. In the third, the southpaw struck out the side. He also fanned two in the fourth, the final three hitters of the fifth and two more in the sixth.

“He’s our special lefty,” Wasilla senior Buddy Dale said. “He has a hell of an arm. His curve ball and fastball are unreal for a junior.”

Dale also worked his way onto the Warrior highlight reel in the fourth. He singled to lead off the inning, and after he got to third he got the rare green light.

The Warriors called for the squeeze play, and as Jesse Thomas prepared to lay down the bunt, Dale went sprinting toward home. As Thomas bounced the bunt just beyond home plate, Dale slid across home plate in a cloud of dust to give the Warriors the 9-1 lead.

“It was the first time in my life,” Dale said of stealing home. “(The coach) said look at the sign when I was at third base, because I was not paying attention. I was like, OK. I saw he said steal, and was like, oh crap, I’ve got to run in there. It was kind of nerve wracking, but it was kind of fun at the same time.”

Wasilla took a quick lead in the game, scoring twice in the bottom of the first. Senior Zach Garnett led off the game with a walk, and scored on senior Sam Loyer’s double to left field. Loyer scored on a Monaghan ground out to push Wasilla’s lead to 2-0.

Wasilla plated six more runs in the second inning. Thomas and Jeffrey Forster both singled and scored early in the inning. Garnett reached on a wild pitch and scored. Loyer and Monaghan posted run-scoring singles in the inning, and Monaghan scored on a Soldotna error to give his team the 8-0 lead.

Loyer led Wasilla at the plate, finishing 3-3 with an RBI and two runs. Monaghan helped his cause on the mound with a hit and three RBI. Garnett scored three runs.

With the victory, Wasilla notched its second straight conference title and second straight trip to the state tournament. The Warriors finished third in state last year.

. We peaked at the right time. Hopefully we can carry that into next week as well,” Terryberry said.