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Gastineau Channel Little League Majors fall in state title game
- Klas Stolpe
- Aug 3
- 9 min read
Abbott-O-Rabbit wins 10-2, will represent Alaska at Northwest Regionals
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
The Gastineau Channel Little League Major All-Stars fell behind early in Monday’s third game in their best-of-three series against Anchorage’s Abbott-O-Rabbit Little League at the Alaska Little League Baseball State Tournament on Ketchikan’s Dudley Field, and could not recover, losing 10-2. GCLL won game one 9-0 Saturday and lost 12-2 in game two Sunday.
"The key for us is these kids understand they each play a critical role on this team," AOR manager Tom Mueller said. "They put the team first. They pick each other up when things are less than perfect and they treat individual success like team success. Juneau has a great team and a great coaching staff. They punched us in the mouth in Game one. I am beyond proud of how our boys responded. We emphasize focusing on making the next play and not dwelling on a mistake. The same goes for a loss. We hit the “reset button” and went to work in preparing for the next game."
AOR advances to the Northwest Regionals in San Bernardino, California.
“We have had an incredible run and things did not work out like we wanted,” GCLL manager Ron Winkelman said. “They should be proud of themselves. Years from now they will not remember the score. They will remember the friendships they made and hopefully the life lessons along the way. They have dealt with adversity along the way. We reminded them about POW and the tragic situation that community has had to endure.”
Winkelman was referring to an ATV accident that killed two teens on Prince of Wales Island two days before the district tournament. One was a sibling of a Prince of Wales player. The team found hope in attending the tournament and played their best ball to a third-place finish. The Ketchikan Little League did a moment of silence at the district opening ceremonies. They felt the importance of acknowledging when tragedy happens.
“Baseball is a game,” Winkelman said. “Hats off to the POW team for showing up and playing like they did at our district tournament.”
Winkelman acknowledged the strength of his GCLL team and how they endured into the state tournament.
“We decided early on that we were not going to have any captains,” Winkelman said. “What we had were team leaders and that was on a rotating basis almost every day. More of a team concept.”
AOR's Mueller said his team's bats came alive in Game 2.
"We had a great team win," Mueller said. "Juneau is going to hit the ball well, our defense did a great job supporting some great pitching. The team was fired up, but just like a tough loss, we can’t dwell on a big win. We went back to work and focused on the next game. Game 3 was very similar to Game 2 in that every single player contributed offensively while our defense backed up a great pitching performance. Regardless of the score, we never took Juneau for granted and we didn’t take our foot off the pedal. We knew Juneau was capable of putting big points on the board."
On Monday, AOR’s Kam Bevegni earned a lead-off walk, advanced to second on a fielder’s choice hit by Connor Mueller, and to third on a Titan Nerland hit that was mishandled to load the bases. George Andary hit a hard ground ball and reached on an error that scored Bevegni and Nerland for 2-0.
GCLL put the bat on the ball in the bottom of the first but their hits went directly to defensive players for putouts.
GCLL pitcher Gavin Ludeman kept AOR off the bags in the top of the second inning as his pitches resulted in a fly out to Landon Love at second base, a fly out to Cash Stekoll in center field and a ground ball to shortstop Colt Winkelman, who threw to Sebastian Nelson at first base to end the inning. In the bottom half of the second inning, GCLL had two runners on with two outs, but the inning ended with a close call at third base on a steal attempt that stopped a rally.
AOR added runs in the top of the third, with Keeton Perkins earning a lead-off walk, advancing to third base on a double by Federico Lozano and scoring on a fielder’s choice hit by Leo Peterson to GCLL shortstop Winkelman, who only had time to throw out the runner advancing to third base. AOR’s Bevegni followed with a single and Connor Mueller earned a walk to load the bases. A single by Nerland scored Peterson for 4-0. George Andary reached on an error, scoring Bevegni for 5-0. West Arnold singled, scoring Mueller for 6-0, and Gus Wittheft hit a triple, scoring Nerland, Andary and Arnold for 9-0. Bennett King earned a walk and Wittheft scored on a steal at home plate for 10-0.
GCLL had the highlight of their state tournament in the bottom of the third inning as Cooper Duvall put a two-ball, two-strike pitch over the left field fence to trail 10-1.
That momentum carried into the top of the fourth, as GCLL relief pitcher Sebastian Nelson recovered from a lead-off single and relied on his fielders to make plays. Indiana Strong fielded a ground ball and threw out the lead runner for one out. Center fielder Stekoll fielded a hit and threw out a runner advancing to second base, and Stekoll caught another fly ball to end the inning. GCLL could not get more than a walk in the bottom half of the fourth inning and left Evans Mallott on base.
GCLL’s Nelson struck out the first two AOR batters in the top of the fifth inning and the third out was a fielding catch in center field by Stekoll. In the bottom half, GCLL started a two-out rally with Strong and Ludeman earning walks and Nelson reaching on an error to load the bases. Stekoll singled to center field, scoring Strong to trail 10-2, but three runners would be stranded on base with a strikeout to the next batter.
GCLL showed true grit in the top of the sixth inning, as Nelson walked two batters and relief pitcher Colt Winkelman hit the next batter to load the bases. Winkelman struck out the next two AOR batters and the third out came via a ground ball to Ludeman at shortstop to end the at-bat.
GCLL had a final shot in the bottom of the sixth inning as Charles Boghosian earned a lead-off walk and Max Metzgar reached on a hard one-out single to left field. But a freak baseball play saw Mallott pop up a bunt attempt that AOR catcher Bevegni caught in the air and threw to first baseman Arnold, catching Metzgar off the bag to end the game.
GCLL used three pitchers. Ludeman (2.2 innings pitched, six hits, 10 runs, two walks and one strikeout), Nelson (2.1 IP, 1 H, 3 BB, 2 SO) and Winkelman (1 IP, 2 SO). Stekoll, Nelson, Duval and Metzgar had one hit each. Strong and Duval scored one run apiece. Stekoll and Duval had one RBI apiece. Strong, Ludeman, Stekoll, Boghosian and Mallott earned one walk each. Eli Mulvey, Carter Talatoa, Love, Stekoll, Duval, Herman and Metzgar had two at-bats each, Winkelman, Strong, Ludeman, Nelson, Boghosian and Mallott one each.
GCLL’s Winkelman earned five put outs, three at second base and two strikeouts, and fielded two ground balls; Nelson had four put outs, two at first base and two strikeouts, and fielded two ground balls; Stekoll three put outs in center; Strong and Love one put out apiece at third and second, respectively, and Strong fielded a grand ball. Ludeman had a strikeout and a putout while pitching, a putout at shortstop and fielded two ground balls, and Herman had a putout at second base.
Manager R. Winkelman said, “I am so thankful for this team and for coaches Nick Nelson and Spencer Stekoll.’
AOR pitcher Nerland earned the win (4.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 6 SO) and Mueller closed (1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 SO).
AOR’s Andary and Witthoeft led with three RBI apiece, Nerland, Arnold and Peterson one each. Nerland had two hits, Bevegni, Arnold, Witthoeft, Perkins, and Lozano one each. Bevegni and Nerland score two runs apiece, Mueller, Andary, Arnold, Witthoeft, Perkins and Peterson one each. Bevegni, Mueller, Arnold, Landon MacKinnon and Bennett King earned one walk each.
AOR’s Arnold had seven putouts at first base; Nerland had seven strikeouts (one was a dropped third strike with the runner thrown out) and one putout in the field. He also fielded two ground balls. Mueller had one strikeout and fielded two ground balls at shortstop. Catcher Bevegni had a putout and threw out a runner stealing third and a runner heading to first on a dropped third strike. Perkins had a putout at third base and King at second base.
AOR had gone undefeated in their District 1 tournament, but GCLL gave them a first loss to open state play, 9-0. AOR responded with a 12-2 win on Sunday and the state title 10-2 win Monday.
“Getting the win is just huge,” AOR manager Tom Mueller said. “The team showed a lot of resilience… First day here, getting through the transition, trying to get used to Ketchikan and the flight, and the very next day we are out here in the rain and Juneau beat us up pretty good… Those kids hit the ball really well… It was the first loss for our kids, but just so proud of the way they responded. They bounced back, they kept it light, kept it loose. We teach them to forget about it, the next game’s the next game, whether it was a win or a loss… It is just always a team effort and that is what you know we are really big about, focusing on team and everybody, nobody has to do it themselves… After tonight's game I told the team, 'You did it! You believed in each other, you supported each other, you picked each other up, and every single one of you congributed to becoming the 2026 Alaska Little League State Champions!"
AOR advances to the Northwest Regionals in San Bernardino, California, beginning Saturday, with the state winners from Idaho, Oregon and Washington. AOR will face Idaho at 9 a.m. Saturday and Oregon faces Washington at 6 p.m. The regionals are a double-elimination format.
"It is a great opportunity to represent AOR and the families and players that make that league run," AOR manager Mueller said. "it is an incredible baseball/softball organization. More than that, we are all proud to have the opportunity to represent the great state of Alaska on a national stage. We only have two days to prepare for the Regional Tournament. Our plan is to take advantage of the great facilities here in Ketchikan. They have been an incredible host to us. We will be hitting the batting cage hard over the next couple days. We anticipate a jump in pitching speed so we will work on that and some live hitting at the Upper Dudley field.
Defensively we have a few things to work on in preparation for San Bernadino."
The region winners from the Great Lakes (Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio), Metro (Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island), Mid-Atlantic (Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C.), Midwest (Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin), Mountain (Colorado, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming), New England (Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont), Northwest (Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Washington), Southeast (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia), Southwest (Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas East, Texas West), and West (Arizona, Hawaii, Northern California, Southern California) advance to the World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, Aug. 19-30, along with 10 teams from international locations.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at sports@juneauindependent.com
