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GCLL Majors open state tourney with win
- Klas Stolpe
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Juneau tops AOR 9-0, one win away from championship, regional qualification
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
Gastineau Channel Little League Major All-Stars pitcher Cash Stekoll silenced Anchorage’s Abbott-O-Rabbit Little League bats and Juneau smashed the ball for a 9-0 win Saturday in game one of their best-of-three game series in the 2026 Alaska Little League Baseball State Tournament, on Ketchikan’s Dudley Field.
Juneau started their scoring early.
Eli Mulvey stroked the first hit of the state tournament with a leadoff single in the top of the first inning. He advanced on a passed ball and a wild pitch and scored on a ground out by Landon Love for 1-0.
Stekoll got the first two Abbott-O-Rabbit batters to pop out to third baseman Gavin Ludeman and ground out to first baseman Sebastian Nelson. AOR’s Titan Nerland was hit by a pitch, George Andary earned a walk and Weston Arnold singled to load the bases, but Juneau’s Nelson fielded another fly ball to retire the side.
Juneau added a run in the top of the second inning as Cooper Duval earned a walk, advanced on a one-out single by Stekoll, stole third base and scored on a catcher’s error for 2-0. AOR went down with a ground out back to pitcher Stekoll, a ground out to Ludeman at third and a strikeout by Stekoll.
The game momentum was set and Juneau added a run in the fourth inning as Carter Talatoa led off with a double, Colt Winkelman earned a one-out walk, Indiana Strong walked to load the bases and Duval walked to score Talatoa for 3-0.
Juneau added three runs in the top of the fifth inning with Ludeman hitting a leadoff double and stole third during two outs, and scored on a ground ball hit by Max Metzger that was mishandled at third for a 4-0 lead. Evans Mallott and Mulvey earned walks to load the bases, and Talatoa doubled to clear the bases for a 7-0 lead.
Juneau added two runs in the top of the sixth inning with Stekoll earning a two-out walk, Ludeman doubled, Charlie Boghosian earned a walk, and Kalon Herman hit a double scoring Stekoll and Ludeman for 9-0.
Stekoll pitched the first out of AOR’s final at bat, forcing a fly ball out to first base. Mulvey came on to close out the game and forced a fly ball to second base and a ground ball to third base to end the game.
Stekoll faced 22 batters, struck out two and walked three, and allowed just four hits. He also fielded two putouts.
Ludeman (two doubles), Winkelman and Talatoa (two doubles) had two hits each, Mulvey, Stekoll and Metzgar had one single each. Talatoa had three RBI, Herman two, Love and Duval one each. Mulvey and Ludeman scored two runs apiece, Metzgar, Mallott, Talatoa, Duval and Stekoll one each. Duval earned two walks, Boghosian, Mallott, Winkelman, Strong and Stekoll one each.
AOR used six pitchers. Kim Bevegnai faced 15 batters (5H, 3R, 4BB, 6SO), and Landon MacKinnon (1H, 2R, 2SO), Federico Lozano (2R, 1BB), Connor Mueller (2H, 3SO), Augustus Witthoeft (2H, 2R, 2BB) and Reid Homerding all went to the mound. Wes Arnold, Keeton Perkins, Bennett King and Leo Peterson had one hit each.
Juneau and AOR play game two at 5 p.m. Sunday.
Juneau is now one win away from advancing to the Northwest Regionals in San Bernardino, California, Aug. 8-14 with the state winners from Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
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
