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Crimson Bears softball girls fall to Wolves
- Klas Stolpe
- 2 hours ago
- 8 min read
JDHS hosting Sitka in first home games of the season
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears and the Sitka Wolves are back in the Division I Southeast Conference this season and they put on a show Thursday night in the Crimson Bears home opener at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park.
“First home game,” JDHS coach Lexi Razor said. “Exciting, but we had some errors that hurt us. We are back in Southeast, and Sitka and Ketchikan are back in big schools with us. It is exciting to be back playing against them and Sitka is going to be good for a while, they have some good freshmen and stuff so it is going to be exciting.”
JDHS played Division I in the Railbelt Conference last season, earning the state tournament as the RBC top seed. They won their first state game and lost two. Sitka and Ketchikan played Division II in the SEC, with Sitka winning the conference and a trip to state and Kayhi earning an at-large bid to state. Sitka won the state championship. Now all three are DI SEC foes.
“I love that we got Southeast back,” Sitka coach Jael McCarty said. “Because people want to come play us. So we had to get it back to have teams to play and that is the best part.”
Sitka put up an early lead, scoring three runs in the top of the first inning. Senior Alina Lebahn reached on an error and advanced on a sacrifice by senior Ally Mayville to JDHS junior first baseman Brynn Wheeler. Lebahn advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a single by junior Vada West for 1-0. Sitka senior Sadie Saline reached on an error. JDHS senior pitcher Gwen Nizich put down the second out, but Sitka freshman Kensie Phippen doubled to center field scoring West and Saline for a 3-0 lead.
“We know Sitka are good baserunners so we know we have to play good defense,” JDHS coach Razor said. “And really we just have to hit better. We hit OK, but we can hit a lot better.”
JDHS hit the ball in the bottom of the first, but Sitka was at the end of each play. Only JDHS sophomore Sadie Lockhart reached on an error. Senior Alayna Echiverri lined out to Sitka freshman third baseman Kenzie Phippen and Nizich grounded out to Phippen. JDHS junior Taylor Williams hit a hard ground ball that Sitka senior shortstop Ally Mayville handled.
JDHS would put Sitka away in the second inning with Nizich fielding a ground ball, shortstop Lockhart a line drive and junior second baseman June Troxel a ground out.
JDHS would score a run in the top of the third inning as sophomore Ari Ma’ake hit a two-out single to center field, junior Cassie Chenoweth reached on a pop fly error. Senior courtesy runner Reegan Hansen came in for Chenoweth and Wheeler hit a single to center field scoring Ma’ake.
The JDHS defense held in the top of the third inning. Nizich gave up a walk to Mayville, but JDHS junior third baseman Lily Hayes fielded a ground ball to start a double play. Hayes would field the third out as well.
JDHS’ Nizich singled to start the fourth inning and freshman courtesy runner Blythe Lockhart replaced her on base. Junior Taylor Williams sacrificed Lockhart to second. Hayes connected on what looked to be a base hit, but Sitka’s Saline made a diving catch for an out. Sitka pitcher Lebahn fielded a ground ball to out Lockhart heading to third base and Phippen caught a pop-up at third to end the threat.
JDHS shut down Sitka in the top of the fourth with Troxel fielding a ground ball for a putout and Nizich striking out two batters. JDHS then came to bat and tied the score at 3-3. Wheeler reached on an error and advanced on a single by Echiverri. Both advanced on a groundout by S. Lockhart. Nizich hit a two-out single scoring Wheeler for 3-2 and Echiverri scored on a passed ball to tie the game.
Sitka freshmen Taylor McCarty and Payton Bergman reached base to start the fifth inning, but Nizich struck out two batters and Echiverri chased down a fly ball in center field to retire the side.
JDHS led off the bottom half with Hayes reaching base on an error, but Troxel was called out for batter interference. Sitka’s Saline made a second diving catch at centerfield and junior teammate Vada West fielded the third out.
Sitka added three runs in the bottom half with Phippen, T. McCarty and freshman Emery Carley all crossing on wild pitches and a passed ball.
JDHS had three hard hits in the bottom of the sixth. Unfortunately two were diving catches by Sitka’s Saline and the third a line drive to Sitka’s West at second.
“Sadie has been waiting her whole career to have diving catches like that,” Sitka coach McCarthy said. “She got one the other day in Chugiak and now it is like every other ball feels like it comes to her. She was complaining early in the season that she hadn’t gotten a single ball in, like, six games and now all of a sudden I am like, ‘I really hope they hit it to Sadie.’”
Sitka opened the top of the seventh with a hard shot to right field by Lebahn. JDHS sophomore Kiki Galletes-Swafford chased the ball through the warning track and the home run fence, just missing the catch and Lebahn had a trot around the bases for a 7-3 lead.
“Alina had the game of her life,” McCarty said. “With the home run too. And she was pitching hard against hard hitters to get out. The defense played behind her. She let them put the ball in play and trusted her defense, and that is all you have got to do.”
JDHS would get a final run in the bottom of the seventh. Nizich hit a single and two outs later junior June Troxel reached on an error that scored Nizich. Sitka shortstop Mayville fielded the final out and threw to junior first baseman Bristol Clifton to end the game.
“This is only our second series,” Razor said. “I think this is their fourth or fifth series. They have been playing a lot of games. We are still trying to find our legs and find who we are as a team on the field. I think our team is communicating better than we have in the last couple years and we are working hard. I think we have everything that we need to really come together and do well, we just have to find a way to click. We are getting there, but we’re just not there yet.”
Nizich led JDHS with a 3-4 night at the plate, and one run batted in and one run scored. Echiverri, S. Lockhart, Ma’ake and Wheeler had one hit each. Echiverri, Ma’ake and Wheeler scored one run each. Wheeler had an RBI, Echiverri a walk.
Nizich took the loss in seven innings, allowed nine hits and seven runs, walked four batters and struck out seven.
Sitka’s Lebahn went seven innings, allowed seven hits and four runs, walked on and struck out two.
Phippen led Sitka, hitting 2-3 (2 RBI, 1 R, 1 BB). Lebahn, Mayville, West, Saline, Blankenship, T. McCarty and Bergman had one hit each. Lebahn scored two runs, West, Saline, McCarty and freshman Emery Carley one each. Lebahn and West had one RBI apiece.
In a non-conference game nightcap, JDHS topped Sitka 10-4. Wheeler went three innings, allowed two runs, walked two and struck out one. Freshman Maisey Mar went four innings, allowing four hits and two runs, walked four and struck out five. Sitka senior Delayna Barry went six innings (9 H, 10 R, 7 BB, 2 SO).
JDHS’ S. Lockhart led with three RBI, Echiverri, Nizich and sophomore Ryann Oliva two apiece and Hayes one. Echiverri and S. Lockhart had two hits apiece, Nizich, Hayes, Troxel, Chenoweth and Oliva one each. Echiverri, B. Lockhart and Mar scored two runs each, Nizich, Hayes, Troxel and Oliva one each. Hayes earned three walks, Echiverri, Hansen, B. Lockhart and Mar one each. Sitka’s Lebahn scored two runs, Mayville and McCarty one apiece. Lebahn, Blankenship, Phippen and McCarty had one hit each. Lebahn had two walks, West and Barry one apiece.
Two of the three SEC teams will qualify for the state tournament. Thursday night’s action shows that the competition will be fierce. The region tournament will be held in Sitka from May 28-30.
“We always love playing Juneau in Southeast and their brand new field is beautiful,” McCarty said. “It is always great games in Southeast, and Juneau has a great team and a great coaching staff that has been here for years so it is always a battle…There were great plays by both teams and it was kind of a battle of who was going to make the next great play.”
Sitka is 7-3 overall and 3-0 in the SEC. JDHS is 3-2 overall and 2-1 SEC. The two squads play a conference game at 7 p.m. Friday.
“My team this year has a heavy group of senior leadership,” McCarty said. “And then I have a huge group of freshmen coming in and they are just fun. The freshmen are eager to learn and the seniors are eager to teach, so I don’t have to do much.”
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com.
