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The boys and girls of summer are back
- Klas Stolpe
- May 2
- 7 min read
Gastineau Channel Little League celebrates its 74th season
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
“I just like hitting and pitching,” Riley McNatt, 5, said as he stood among hundreds of his peers Saturday at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. “I like my bat. I am a home run hitter.”
America’s game was in full swing Saturday as the Gastineau Channel Little League’s 40 teams, 438 players and 124 volunteers swarmed the park’s field — in front of friends, family and fans — for opening day ceremonies and the beginning of their 74th season.
“Opening day is always a special day because we get all the kids into one place all together,” GCLL president Lexi Razor said. “And the families are there. It is the only time that happens. Throughout the season, kids are at different fields and not really together. So this puts some excitement in baseball and softball coming together like that.”
The love of the sport between the players and the community was evident as wide-eyed GCLL youth were high-fived by members of the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears softball and baseball teams.
“Having the high school teams that the kids run through is a long-standing tradition,” said Razor, who is also the JDHS softball coach. “All those high school players on the field, 90% of them played Little League and ran through the high school pyramids. It is always a fun event.”
Razor grew up playing GCLL in the 1980s and was on one of the first girls’ All-Star softball teams for Juneau. At that time, team names were based on who the sponsors were.
“My first was a green and yellow team,” Razor said, trying to recall the name. “I just remember for All-Stars my first season we played in boys’ jerseys. So, now, to see girls get their own things and softball has become so huge in Juneau it just warms my heart. It is such a good experience to see how far it has come since I was a kid playing. I don’t remember my opening day, I just remember I loved Melvin (Park). I was always at Melvin and I loved playing.”
The entire JDHS softball coaching staff and players stood on each side of the left chalk line from home plate to third base, and JDHS head baseball coach Luke Adams, his coaching staff and their entire team lined up from home plate to first base along the right chalk line.
The future of both JDHS programs ran, skipped and jostled through their heroes. Tiny tee-ball players bravely charged ahead, hardly tall enough to swat a palm twice the size of their own, and gradually the ages rose until the base paths were filled in a rainbow of jersey colors and enthusiastic boys and girls of summer.
After the singing of the national anthem by Lily and Malia Maller, an invocation by Mick Ewing and the reading of the Little League Pledge by JDHS freshman Tayzia Galletes-Swafford and GCLL players Lena McGuan, Cash Stekoll and Zach Ritter the season officially began with ceremonial first pitches by JDHS assistant softball coach Quincy Bates and JDHS assistant baseball coach Kasey Watts.
“I am so blessed, so honored to be able to be here helping out the programs that shaped me into an athlete, broadened my horizons and got me to where I am,” Bates, 28, said before her attempt. “I am so happy to be here. I remember a few of my first teams. I was on the Giants, the Tigers, Fury, just a whole lot. This is about excitement and everything to start the season with rain or shine — and we have rain today. Still exciting!”
Bates was a GCLL four-year All-Star in majors and juniors, qualifying for western regions in San Bernardino and Tucson. The JDHS 2013-16 star helped the Crimson Bears win state in 2014. She went on to pitch and play third base at Dakota State University, helped coach JDHS to a state title in 2021, went back to college and returned to Juneau as a chiropractor to share her knowledge and experiences of the game with Juneau’s softball community.
Bates underhanded her pitch — minus the windmill motion — to Crimson Bears freshman Victoria Petrie.
“It means a lot to me,” Petrie, 14, said before the catch. “I have always wanted to do it because I have always seen people do it and it seemed really cool. And I remember being that little kid watching all these high school kids doing it, and now I am in high school and it means a lot to me. It is a lot of pressure not to drop it (laughs). So I just try to keep calm and carry on.”
Kasey Watts was also a GCLL All-Star, traveling to the 2012 majors western regions in San Bernardino and the 2013 juniors western regions in Vancouver. The JDHS 2014-18 star helped the Crimson Bears win state in 2018 and also won three American Legion Baseball state titles from 2017-19. He played for Arizona’s Mesa Community College and now shares his love of the game with Juneau’s baseball community.
“It means everything,” Watts, 26, said. “I grew up here and played baseball in Juneau my whole life. To be back out here coaching, and to have the opportunity to throw the first pitch in Little League, which I grew up doing my whole life, is pretty special. I remember playing single A for the Rays, then the Braves in majors and the White Sox, and in juniors I played for the Mariners, my favorite team, so that was always cool. The things I was told to do as I kid — now I can see why, as an adult — my parents and coaches were telling us kids to do that. So to be able to do that, give my experiences of being in their shoes not too long ago, and say, here are the right steps to be a better person and baseball player, is special for me.”
Watts threw his famous left-hand change-up to Petrie’s Crimson Bears sophomore cousin Callen Walker.
“It means a lot to me because I have been doing this since I was very young,” Walker, 16, said before his catch. “And seeing all the older kids being able to do this, it seemed very fun to me. It was really something for me to look forward to and hopefully I will be able to catch the first pitch. It is really just an inspiration for me, and to be an inspiration for younger kids as well.”
Standing together, Walker and Petrie were asked who is the better player.
“That would be me,” Walker laughed.
“What?” an equally entertained Petrie replied. “Don’t drop it.”
Many attending JDHS players were versions of their older siblings, and now role models for younger relatives.
“It means a lot to me,” JDHS Crimson Bears senior Alayna Echiverri said as she posed with team Mariners cousin Bryce Blasco, 9, and team Rainstorm cousin Maddy Blasco, 6. “I like to see all my family coming together. And just seeing everything grow all at once, it is really cool to see that. I remember when I was about Maddy’s age actually, and I was running and high-fiving my older sister, Alondra, and my older brother, Bryson. So, yeah, it is definitely nostalgic. I think the first team I remember running out with was the Raptors, I’m not sure, it was a purple team.”
Teams of all colors had arrived early at the field.
“I like playing catcher,” Develyn Dalman, 9, of team Douglas Dingers said. “You can control everything in the game, the entire game. Did you know there has never been a team I have been on that my mom has not been my coach?”
Dalman was sitting near the Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park’s namesake bronze plaque with Charlotte Gulling, 9, and Harvey Gulling, 6,
“He is my brother and he is in tee-ball,” Charlotte Gulling said. “I am a better player. I never played tee-ball, but I help him.”
Players gathered for team photos or used a placard with various poses for personal shots.
Harper Yadao, 12, chose to drape her bat along her shoulders.
“It looks the most professional,” Yadao said. “It felt like the right one. My entire family plays and I am going to carry on the tradition, but I will be the best one in the family.”
The day began much like most game days in little leagues around Southeast: a slight rain building to bouncing pitter-patters of wetness.
“It is fun to play in the rain,” Mariners player Zack Ritter, 13, said. “It is really fun to slide in because all the mud goes on you, and you can drag it in your house. And it’s cold. All the baseballs get really soggy and heavy and it is really funny because you have to use, like, eight a game.”
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com.
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