.png)
Crimson Bears are ‘Aces’ in state semifinal win over Wolfpack
- Klas Stolpe
- 1 hour ago
- 7 min read
JDHS deals 11-1 run-rule to West Valley, earns state championship game against Service on Saturday
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears dealt the West Valley Wolfpack an unfavorable hand in their Alaska School Activities Association Baseball State Championship semifinal game at Anchorage’s Mulcahy Stadium on Friday.
JDHS threw three aces on the table and West Valley could not bluff their way through an 11-1, five-inning, 10-run rule loss to the Crimson Bears. Juneau (14-2 this season) will play the state championship game at 4:30 p.m. Saturday against Service (20-2), a 6-3 winner over Dimond in Friday’s late game.
“In reality, you know, we gave ourselves a chance,” JDHS coach Luke Adams said. “Right now, this is a bonus. Everybody, we worked all year talking about getting a chance to play in the championship game and this group of boys did it. And now we are going to have a shot, and we are grateful for that shot, and we are not going to take it for granted. I think we are focused and we are humble like always. That was a good West Valley team that was hungry and we just got a good start. So credit to them. But, yeah, we will be ready for tomorrow.”
Adams continued: “The reality is we hoped we would have our most experienced pitchers for tomorrow, and we have that. We are going into tomorrow with our best and that is a credit to the whole group for making that opportunity happen. We put a lot of pitchers in today...Marcus and Chris. And then Cayman is so consistent. He knows when he goes in people are excited because they think they can hit off him, but he is just so consistent.”
JDHS senior Marcus Mendoza needed just one inning to bring the hammer, senior Chris Andersen kept the deck stacked against the Wolfpack for three more and Cayman Huff called it a night.
Marcus Mendoza allowed just two hits and one run, walked one and struck out two — and his power opened some eyes. He also earned one walk at the plate and one run batted in. Andersen allowed two hits and struck out four. He also went 2-2 at the plate with four RBI and earned one walk, receiving the ASAA Player of the Game award.
“It makes me feel great,” Andersen said. “I have always wanted to do really good in, like, good moments. You know like I got that single with the bases loaded, it meant a lot because you always want to do the best you can for your team and I thought I did all that I could...I think tomorrow we will come in a bit different, whether we face Dimond or Service, there is a lot of pressure for both teams, whoever ends up going…We will come into it humble and with confidence and try to play the same ball as we did today. It is very fun being here.”
Huff closed the evening, allowing just one hit and striking out one.
“It was awesome,” Huff said. “We have been through the wringer the last few years. Like, starting with a smaller program, and then combining schools that merged together, and then being able to come up here and show them what we do is awesome.”
Four of the team’s eight seniors — Andersen, Marcus and Madden Mendoza and Ryland Carlson had attended the now-defunct Thunder Mountain High School and were welcomed with open mitts into the JDHS fold as juniors, joining the class of Cayman Huff, Tyler Frisby (Kookesh) and brothers Nate and Riley Fick. Like all the Crimson Bears, they had their starts together in the Gastineau Channel Little League.
“It is hard not to think about, right?” Huff said. “Avenging everything we have been through the last few years and we have a chance to take it all the way tomorrow. We are bringing Juneau and Thunder Mountain to the championship, something like that. I just think we are focused. The whole year we have been focused on getting to tomorrow’s game and it is never enough until we can find a way to take care of it tomorrow. This group of guys is awesome. I think it is one of the best groups I have ever been with as far as, like, just coming together and there are no hard feelings anywhere. We all want it so bad and we all blend really well.”
JDHS showed patience at the plate and put six runs across in the top of the first inning. Junior Hunter Carte earned a one-out walk, senior Madden Mendoza walked, N. Fick walked (freshman course runner Myles Pasion subbed for him on base), Frisby (Kookesh) walked scoring Carte, sophomore Charlie Begenyi walked scoring Madden Mendoza, Pasion scored on a wild pitch, R. Fick walked, Anderson singled scoring Begenyi and Frisby (Kookesh) and sophomore Micah Nelson singled, scoring R. Fick.
In the top of the second inning, Frisby (Kookesh) doubled to score Madden Mendoza, who was hit by a pitch to reach base. In the top of the third inning, Begenyi doubled and scored on an Andersen single for an 8-1 lead.
JDHS put three runs across in the top of the fourth inning as Madden Mendoza singled, N. Fick singled (freshman Parker Katasse pinch ran), Frisby (Kookesh) walked, Marcus Mendoza walked scoring Katasse (sophomore courtesy runner Keaton Belcourt replaced Mendoza), Andersen earned a two-out walk scoring Frisby (Kookesh) and was replaced by junior courtesy runner Kordell Lim, and Nelson walked scoring Belcourt for the 11-1 tally.
The JDHS defense held in the bottom half with Nelson fielding a ground ball to R. Fick at first, and Andersen striking out two batters.
In the bottom of the fifth and final inning, West Valley had a lead-off single, then Huff dictated a line drive that third baseman Marcus Mendoza caught and threw to R. Fick at first base. Huff then struck out the game’s final batter.
Senior catcher Nate Fick handled all pitches dealt.
“This means everything to us,” he said. “I believe we haven’t done it since 2018. It really means a lot for all of Southeast baseball. We are kind of always overlooked, pretty much everywhere we go, like we can’t play baseball. But it is good to be back here and show that southeast baseball is pretty good.”
N. Fick said the team is not overlooking the next opponent.
“We have been humble all year so I don’t think anything is really going to change,” he said. “We know our assignments tomorrow. We just have to do our best to get the victory.”
R. Fick had six put outs at first base, Frisby (Kookesh) had two in center field and Nelson one at second. Nelson also fielded two ground balls and threw to R. Fick. Madden Mendoza, Begenyi, Andersen and Nelson all stopped balls that had fallen in for hits.
“It means a lot,” Frisby (Kookesh) said of the win. “I am super excited about it. I have been working for this moment since freshman year. Us losing the first game three years in a row did not feel good, but now we are the underdogs and we have something to prove. We have lost to many teams before so we know we can’t get too over our heels. We can’t keep our highs too high and our lows too low.”
Either Juneau or Service will become the new champion on Saturday, after reigning champion Stika High School failed to qualify for the tournament.
“It is going to be a very tough challenge,” Adams said before the championship foe was known. “Dimond and Service are both outstanding programs. We are going to have to bring our best to compete.”
The Crimson Bears did not select their team Player of the Game.
“Honestly, it was such a team win that right now, we haven’t even talked about it,” Adams said. “And it is hard because there were so many efforts. And Player of the Game, for us, it is so much about the people that don’t always get on the scoresheet. It is the contributions beyond that.”
• Contact Klas Stolpe at sports@juneauindependent.com
.jpg)
.jpg)