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Auke Bay Post 25 split Sunday doubleheader with Chugiak Post 33
- Klas Stolpe
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
Pitching and fielding strong for Juneau, teams split Saturday games as well
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
Juneau’s Auke Bay Post 25 split their second doubleheader against Chugiak Post 33 on Sunday at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park, winning 9-8 and falling 11-5, a day after splitting with their visitors on Saturday, winning 8-7 and falling 10-8.
“These were really well-matched teams,” Juneau manager Joe Tompkins said. “I was happy that the guys never got down on themselves and they kept fighting back. The score kept tetter tottering back and forth, but we kept fighting back. They are a well-coached team, and they hit the ball well and have great plate appearances, but we never gave up.”
Hunter Carte and Madden Mendoza both had three hits in Sunday’s opener, and both scored two runs. Bode Winkelman added two hits and two runs batted in and scored a run. Nate Fick, Micah Nelson and Jacob Katasse each had one hit and one RBI. Noah Lewis had a hit and scored a run among the stats.
Juneau trailed 1-0 in the first inning, but took a lead as Lewis singled, advanced on a Carte single and scored on a Mendoza single. Nelson hit a fielder’s choice ground ball, scoring Carte for a 2-1 lead.
Chugiak led 5-2 in the fifth inning when Juneau again rallied back. Carte singled, Mendoza singled and N. Fick bunted to score Carte. Two outs later Winkelman earned a walk, loading the bases. Mendoza and Brenner Harralston scored on a pickoff error to tie the game at 5-5 and Katasse singled to score Winkelman for a 6-5 lead.
Chugiak took a 7-6 lead in the next inning, but Juneau struck back one last time. Mendoza hit a one-out single and Nelson hit a two-out single that included an error to score Mendoza and tie the game at 7-7. Keaton Belcourt earned a walk and Winkelman doubled to center field, scoring Belcourt and Nelson for a 9-7 lead.
Chugiak would get one run back in the top of the seventh inning, but Juneau third baseman Drew Cadigan-McAdoo caught a fly ball, center fielder Lewis caught another and catcher N. Fick chased down a pop-up in foul territory to end the game and strand two Chugiak runners on base.
Cayman Huff started for Juneau and went 3.1 innings, allowed six hits and four runs, walked one batter and struck out one. Carte relieved (3.2 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 3 SO).
Chugiak’s Jonah Shearer started (4 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 5 SO), Weston Gracey took the loss (1.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 BB) and Cooper Marks closed (0.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 SO). Sampson Young had three hits and two RBI to lead Chugiak bats. Caiden Capozzi scored three runs and Pace Newkirk added two RBI.
“You just have to be ready for every game,” Tompkins said. “We had guys that were missing and guys that were hurt, and we just had to piece it together to fill in the spots.”
Chugiak led 6-0 through the top of the fourth inning in Sunday’s second game. Juneau scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth as Cadigan-McAdoo singled, Lewis singled, Zev LeVine earned a walk to load the bases and Ayden Bergmann earned a walk, scoring Cadigan-McAdoo. Huff walked to score Lewis, and Parker Katasse singled to score LeVine, resulting in Juneau trailing 6-3. Nelson hit a fielder’s choice to score Bergmann and trail 6-4.
Chugiak scored twice in the top of the fifth to lead 8-4 and three times in the sixth for an 11-4 lead.
Juneau’s Nelson led off the bottom of the seventh with a single and advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on a Winkelman groundout to trail 11-5. Juneau’s next two batters went down to end the game.
Nelson led with two hits, P. Katasse, Cadigan-McAdoo, Lewis, LeVine and Bergmann added one each. P. Katasse, Nelson, Winkelman, Bergmann and Huff had one RBI each. Nelson, Cadigan-McAdoo, Lewis, LeVine and Bergmann scored one run each. P. Katasse, Nelson, LeVine, Bergmann and Huff earned one walk each.
Juneau threw five pitchers with Harralston starting (3 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 1 SO), followed by LeVine (1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 SO), P. Katasse (1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 BB), Bergmann (1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 1 BB) and Mendoza (1 IP, 1 BB).
Chugiak’s Cyrus Talbot started for the win (5 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 5 BB, 5 SO) and Newkirk relieved (2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 SO). Young, Jaxson Bowman and Cole Lux led with two hits each. Young had four RBI including a two-run homer in the top of the sixth. Gus Westerlund added 3 RBI, Gracey and Shearer scored two runs apiece.
“Our coaches try and find out what our pitching staff looks like,” Tompkins said of the early season. “Who we can count on in certain situations and at crunch time, which is more important. And what players can play multiple positions. I am happy with the team. I knew coming out of the high school season what I was going to get, I just didn’t know what the younger kids were going to bring and this has been nice to see. We are seeing what we need to work on as a team.”
Juneau travels to Ketchikan Post 3 for games on June 26-28.
“As tough as it is to do we are giving everybody a lot of playing time,” Tompkins said. “We are getting some looks at them…We go deep. And I knew that. The boys just have to be ready and stay positive. Our starters that come out, they have to cheer on the team like our bench does. It is a team effort. Everybody has to be a team player, just like the other players do for the starters...We head to Ketchikan now and they just had a good series against Dimond.”
Ketchikan won three of four games over the weekend against Dimond. Winning 13-2, 12-2, and 10-9 and falling 7-3.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at sports@juneauindependent.com
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