Daily Sitka Sentinel

Wolves Softball Battles Rough Juneau Road Trip

By KLAS STOLPE

Sentinel Staff Writer

JUNEAU – One night after being bat-struck by Thunder Mountain 12-0 on Dimond Park Field in Juneau, the Sitka Wolves did some clobbering of their own on Friday, matching Juneau-Douglas hit-for-hit for in a 15-12 win at the Crimson Bears’ Melvin Park Field.

Sitka center fielder Avery Voron catches a Juneau-Douglas fly ball during the Wolves 9-6 loss to the Crimson Bears on Saturday in Juneau. (Sentinel Photo by Klas Stolpe)

“It was a back and forth game,” Sitka coach Gary Spurgeon said. “We actually started out really hot, and then we got cold just all of a sudden. I don’t know why, it seems to happen more frequently than not, and they were hitting and we just weren’t fielding it. We challenged them and they answered to the challenge, that is all we can ask from them.”

The Wolves got 2 runs in the first inning as Nyla Duncan and Abby Forrester singled and doubled, respectively, and Duncan scored on a wild pitch and Forrester on a Calista Gallant sacrifice.

They added 5 runs in the second as Whitney McArthur singled, Kyleigh McArthur reached on a fielders choice, Duncan singled to score W. McArthur, Abby Forrester reached on an error, and Emily Young doubled to score K. McArthur and Duncan. Gallant singled to score Forrester and then stole second base allowing Young to steal home.

JDHS scored 5 runs in the bottom of the second and third innings for a 10-7 advantage.

Sitka came back with 4 runs in the fourth with Young singling in Duncan and Forrester, Miah Dumag doubling in Young, and W. McArthur doubling in Dumag for the 11-10 lead.

Sitka added 2 more runs in the fifth with Gallant reaching on an error scoring Young and then Duncan scoring on a steal of home for a 13-10 lead. JDHS added a run in the bottom half of the inning to trail 13-11.

The Wolves added a run in the sixth with K. McArthur crossing on a Duncan single and another in the seventh as Coral Papoi singled in Gallant.

The Sitka defense faced a two-out rally by JDHS that loaded the bases and on a bloop fly ball Juneau’s Skyler Hickok scored. In the fielding action the Wolves caught a runner trying to cross the plate and sealed the win 15-12.

Dumag pitched four innings (85 pitches, 50 strikes, 5 hits, 10 runs, 3 strikeouts, 3 walks) and W. McArthur two (54p, 24s, 2h, 2r, 2bb).

Duncan scored 4 runs, Forrester and Young 3 apiece, Gallant, Dumag and W. McArthur 1 each. Young had 2 runs batted in, Duncan, Gallant, Dumag, W. McArthur and Papoi one each. W. McArthur had four hits, Duncan three, Dumag and Papoi two apiece, Forrester, Young, and Lillie Morgan one apiece.

The Wolves dropped a double-header on Saturday, falling to TMHS 9-1 and to JDHS 9-6.

The Wolves lone run against the Falcons came on a leadoff double by Dumag and a two-out double by W. McArthur that brought her home. Young added two hits in the game and Tyla Gleeson one. W. McArthur and Dumag shared the mound, giving up a combined 11 hits and earning just one strikeout.

The Wolves played one of their best games of the year in the 9-6 night cap loss to the Crimson Bears.

After JDHS put five runs across in the bottom of the third inning the Wolves bats came alive in the fourth.

Morgan doubled, Gleason singled, W. McArthur singled and Duncan reached on an error scoring Morgan. Forrester singled in Gleason and W. McArthur scored on the action. Young doubled in Duncan and Forrester to tie the game.

JDHS took a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the fifth and once again the Wolves tied the game on their next at bat.

With two outs and the bases loaded Forrester scored on a wild pitch but JDHS’ Leah Spargo registered her seventh strikeout of the game to end the threat.

JDHS added 3 runs in the bottom of the sixth and then Spargo shut down the Wolves bats with two more K’s and an infield pop out.

Spargo threw 7 innings (131p, 87s, 8h, 6r, 9so, 5bb) for the win and added a home run at the plate. Elisa Fabrello led JDHS with 3 runs batted in.

W. McArthur threw 2.1 innings (52p, 26s, 5h, 4r, 2so, 1bb, 1hr) and Dumag 3.2 innings (66p, 43s, 7h, 5r, 2so, 1bb) for the Wolves in the loss.

Forrester scored 2 runs for Sitka, Duncan, Morgan, Gleason, and W. McArthur 1 each. Forrester and Young had two rbi, Duncan one. Duncan and Young had two hits, Forrester, Morgan, Gleason, and W. McArthur one each. Dumag walked twice, Duncan, Young and Gallant once.

“It was a good ball game,” Spurgeon said. “The girls did everything they needed to do. They fought, we got down 5-0 and we battled back, and it was probably the best game I have seen our team play, all around, even if it was in a losing effort. The defense was awesome. JD is a good team and they got some hits when they needed it. They got some bloop singles and there is just nothing you can do about that, you just got to keep them on base and keep them from advancing. We hung with them and I am very proud of our team.”

The Region V Softball Tournament begins Thursday on Ketchikan’s Drency Dudley Field with second seed Sitka playing third seed JDHS at 4 p.m. and top seed Thunder Mountain playing fourth seed Ketchikan at 6 p.m. Games, in a double-elimination format, go through Saturday.

“We’ve got a little bit of work to do but it’s a whole new ball game,” Spurgeon said. “It is 0-0 across the board. Our goal is to make it to state. To do that we have to come out and make sure that we attack the ball both offensively and defensively and not let anybody take us out of our game.”