Knik 9/10 boys bow out of District I
play with 4-3 loss to AOR Monday
The Knik Little League 9/10 Baseball All-Stars wrapped up their season losing to Abbott-O-Rabbit National, 4-3, in single-elimination championship bracket Monday.
Manager Greg Keith reported that the team has emerged as the Eastern Pool Play Champions after posting a 4-0 record against opponents. Wins included a 16-1 lashing of Valdez, a 5-4 nod over Nunaka Valley, 18-5 defeat of City View, then a 3-0 win over AOR National.
Receiving a first-round bye as the top seed, Knik played AOR, which had defeated Anchorage West in the quarterfinals, 12-2.
Keith said the semifinal game was hard fought.
“They had to use their top two pitchers and error-free fielding to keep us from advancing,” he said.
Keith said Knik pressured late in the game with runners left on base in each of the last two innings. The team likewise played error-free ball.
“In my opinion, the best game of the tournament was played tonight (Monday) and unfortunately we came up just short,” said Keith, adding that all 13 players on the team contributed to their outstanding All-Star season.
Eagle River baseball team
hard-luck losers in trio of games
The Eagle River baseball team has had a rough go of things in the win-loss column, taking on another three losses, including a 2-0 shortfall to league-leading Chugiak July 15 at Oberg Field.
Through Monday, the team has a 2-16 record, with lone wins over East and West.
The team has a full docket this week, with five games, including contests Monday through Thursday, then one each in Fairbanks this Saturday and Sunday.
Head coach Ken Wooster said the team rounds out their regular season with a makeup game against Wasilla, to be held in the Valley on Tuesday.
“We are striving to be competitive,' said Wooster, who said that the team still struggles with consistency at times.
One place that Eagle River has been solid has been on the mound, particularly behind incoming senior Paul Grotelueschen.
“He's been getting a lot of time from us. He's a smart pitcher,” Wooster said.
Grotelueschen pitched against Chugiak, then threw a complete game against Bartlett four days later.
Wooster said that his outing against the Mustangs was one of his best outings to date.
“We played one of the best teams in the state and it was a very competitive game,” said the Eagle River Post coach, adding that a pair of back-to-back doubles in the fifth inning by Chugiak provided the difference.
“We like playing Chugiak. It's a healthy cross-town rivalry,” Wooster said.
Things were not as close Monday however, as Chugiak upended Eagle River, 8-1, in eight innings in another game played at Oberg Field.
After games against Bartlett Tuesday and Service Wednesday, the Wolves host Dimond tonight at Oberg at 6:30 p.m.
Chugiak JV team now at 21-0,
regular season ends Saturday
The Chugiak Mustangs American Legion junior varsity baseball team continued their run of the table this season, defeating Kenai in a pair of games, 8-4 and 8-6, during a double-header Saturday.
Assistant coach Steve Haynes reported that while the team used a host of pitchers in each game, hurler Alex Watson was credited with the win in the first game of the twin-bill and Chase Foster pitched up the win in the second.
The team played Service Tuesday. Results were not available.
The league-leading squad completes their regular season with a double-header with Fairbanks this weekend before opening the eight-team state tournament bid next Tuesday.
Chugiak Post 33 baseball team
closes in on top-tournament seed
With only four games remaining to their regular season, the Chugiak Post 33 Varsity American Legion baseball team came one game closer to securing top-seed in next week's state tournament with an 8-1 win over Eagle River Monday at Oberg Field.
After narrowly beating Eagle River on the same field, 2-0, the previous week, the Mustangs used a bevy of pitchers, with four, to beat the Wolves soundly in the shortened, eight-inning game.
Garrett Balen picked up the win with two scoreless innings before Tyler Belk came on in frames three and four. Zack Morse threw the fifth through seventh innings, with Matt Sullivan pitching in the eighth.
The Mustangs had eight hits including two, both doubles, by Tim McCollum. Matt Geurts and Morse also recorded two-baggers. Chugiak capitalized most however on Eagle River's miscues, with four errors extending a couple innings for the league-leaders.
Steven Aumack pitched seven innings, giving up only two earned runs, on 105 pitches.
Chugiak left nine runners on base, and Eagle River, seven.
Knik junior boys finished third, among 18 teams
The Knik junior boys All-Star team, managed by Dean Cimmiyotti, placed third among 18 teams competing in the District 1 tournament, held at Far North Bicentennial Park last week.
After defeating the host team 16-6 Saturday, with the win on the mound from 13-year-old Conner Cimmiyotti, the team suffered a tournament-ending exit after losing to Abbott-O-Rabbit, 13-7, Sunday in the single-elimination championship bracket.
“We were making a rally at the end,” Coach Cimmiyotti said.
During a very long game Saturday, the coach commended the fine play of catcher Angelo Ortiz. Ortiz gunned out Far North players trying to steal second in each of the first two innings.
Knik 10/11 boys finish 2-2 in District 1 pool play
The Knik Little League 10/11 All-Star baseball team, coached by Martin Walters, lost in their first round of the single-elimination championship bracket, following to Dimond-West, 13-2, July 16.
After going 2-1 in pool play through the first three games, Walters said that he opted to conserve some of his pitching.
“We had been guaranteed of advancing, so we got some other players in,” said the coach.
After a meager turnout for tryouts, Walters said the program opted to hold a second tryout to pull in the requisite number of players.
“I was very pleased with the team — they came a long way. We worked them pretty hard in practices. They improved a lot,” Walters said.
Picking up the two wins on the mound for Knik were Brock Fitzgerald and Vivian Walters.
Local swimming rip it up in pool in2008 Speedo Long Course Championships
Several members of the Knik Aquatics Swim Team, coached by David Maker, fared well in the Bartlett pool during the 2008 Speedo/ASI Long Course Championships held July 11 through the13.
Complete results were not made available until this week.
Emmie Jennings, age 10, and Jordyn Caldwell, age 15, paced all locals with multiple first-place showings.
Jennings had seven wins — in the 200m individual medley (IM), the 50 breaststroke, 50 freestyle, 100 free, 100 breast, 50 backstroke and 400 free, while Caldwell had five top finishes — in the 1,500m free, 200 free, 100 free, 200 IM and 400 free.
Recent Chugiak graduate Brogan Beyette placed second in the 200 free and third in the 400 and 800 free and 200 breast.
Other club members in the meet included Tanner Armstrong, Cailee Caldwell, Marcus Card, Jared Delara, Rachel Fore, Lianna Pope, Christine Shedd, Jessica Shoemake, Jeremy Sieg, Matt Williams, Mariah Fox, Greg Hall, Katrina Hall, Christine Jarupakorn, Jennifer Jarupakorn, Pearl Jarupakorn, Anna Jennings, Richelle Johnson, Skye Johnson, Ryan Kinney, Kaityn Mondl, Becca Oswald and Hayley Patin.
Sperry and Crow place one-two in Bear Paw 9-11 age group
Nathan Sperry and Keegan Crow, both of Eagle River, placed one-two in the boys 9-11 age division of the Bear Paw 5K held July 12.
Sperry, who just turned nine, won the 3.1 mile race in 25 minutes, 13 seconds, with Crow second in 25:38. Both of the athlete's results were omitted from the race results reported last week.
The pair also took part in the 2008 Tom Spurr Memorial Hill Climb, aka, the Bird Ridge Run, faring well in the boys Halfway Race, with Crow seventh overall, and Sperry, 16th. Sperry's older brother, Connor Sperry, was 10th.
Eagle River's Ben Russell won the division with a time of 24 minutes, 56 seconds.
Reach the reporter at editor@alaskastar.com
