Wasilla finds a way to get past Chugiak

WASILLA — It’s probably not the way the coaching staff would have scripted it on the drawing board, but the Wasilla Road Warriors found a way to score a walk-off win over Chugiak. The Warriors capitalized off a pair of Mustangs blunders in the bottom of the seventh inning to salvage the 4-3 American Legion baseball win over Chugiak Saturday at McManus Field in Wasilla.

Wasilla’s Matt Palmer helped keep the final inning alive when he reached on an error in the Chugiak outfield, and Jeffrey Forster scored the go-ahead run when teammate Hank Boyer reached on another dropped ball at first base.

“That last play was pretty crazy. A very unique way to walk-off,” Palmer said after the victory.

With the bases loaded, Boyer tapped a fielder’s choice to the right side of the infield. On a play that could have ended the inning, and sent the teams into the eighth, Boyer managed to reach on the error at first. That came two batters after Palmer lifted a high pop fly into right field, that was dropped, allowing Palmer to reach.

“That pop up to right. I thought, oh no,” Palmer said. “I saw they shifted me, and I was trying to go the other way. I popped it up super high.”

Wasilla head coach Ken Ottinger said he was proud his team found a way to cement the victory, but said the Warriors have formed a bad habit in recent games.

“We shouldn’t have been in that situation,” Ottinger said of the Warriors, who had built a 3-0 lead in the game. “The problem is, in the last week we’ve been letting people back into ball games. For some reason we’ve left the door open when we had a chance to slam the door shut and win a ball game.”

Ottinger said it’s something Wasilla needs to address quickly, with the 2016 American Legion state tournament only a week away.

“We need to learn to close the door,” Ottinger said.

Austin Robertson pitched seven strong innings on the mound for the Warriors, to earn the complete game victory.

“Austin did really well. He’s one of my up and coming pitchers,” Ottinger said.

Robertson scattered six hits over seven innings. Two of Chugiaks’ three runs were unearned.

“(Austin’s) a pitcher not a thrower. He hits spots and locations,” Ottinger said. “He makes the ball move where he wants to.”

Palmer helped give the Warriors the early lead, using a single to drive in Ben Werner in the first.

The Warriors added to their lead in the second. Boyer led off the inning with a double, and scored when Jimmy Arend reached on an error. Later in the inning, Arend scored on a Werner single to give Wasilla the 3-0 lead.

Palmer paced Wasilla at the plate, finishing 4 for 4 with an RBI.

Twins sweep Pioneers

The Kenai Twins swept Palmer in a doubleheader Saturday in Kenai.

Palmer’s Cooper McLauglin collected two hits, two RBI and a run during an 8-4 loss to the Twins. Frank Urbano was 2 for 2 in the loss. Jared Yanez, Joe Ryan and Trace Severson also scored runs.

Yanez scored the lone run, in the other game, an 11-1 loss to Kenai.

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