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The Sitka Wolves baseball team celebrate their 7-0 win over the Service Cougars in the championship game Saturday of the 2025 ASAA/First National Bank Alaska DI Baseball State Tournament at Anchorage’s Mulchay Stadium. (Photo courtesy Heather Gluth)

Sports

Sitka Wolves are state baseball champions

Bryce Calhoun pitches one-hit title clincher.

Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé junior Gwen Nizich readies for action during Friday’s 9-8 loss to Dimond in the 2025 ASAA/First National Bank Alaska DI Softball State Tournament at Anchorage’s Cartee Fields. (Photo courtesy JDHS softball)

Sports

Crimson Bears softball season ends in 9-8 loss to Lynx in state tournament

JDHS Nizich earns all-state honor as Crimson Bears win 1, lose 2 on final day.

In this file photo Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé junior Brandon Casperson hits during a home game. The Crimson Bears will play in the fourth/sixth-place game Saturday in the ASAA/First National Bank Alaska DI Baseball State Championships at Anchorage’s Mulchay Stadium. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)

Sports

JDHS eliminates Wasilla from state baseball play

Crimson Bears earn Saturday’s fourth/sixth-place game.

Sitka junior Caleb Calhoun pitches during the Wolves 3-0 win over South Anchorage on the opening day of the ASAA/First National Bank Alaska DI Baseball State Championships at Anchorage’s Mulchay Stadium. (Photo courtesy Heather Gluth)

Sports

Sitka advances to state semifinal with no-hitter over South

Calhoun sits 15 Cougars down, Bartolaba bat keeps them there.

In this file photo Sitka junior Allyson Mayville sets for a pitch against JDHS. On Thursday Sitka defeated Soldotna and Kenai to open the 2025 ASAA/First National Bank Alaska DII Softball State Championships on Anchorage’s Cartee Fields. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)

Sports

Sitka opens softball state tournament with two wins Thursday

Brenton, Mayville bats lead Wolves’ routs of Soldotna 16-4, Kenai 20-6.

In this file photo Crimson Bears junior pitcher Riley Fick and junior catcher Nate Fick listen to pitching coach Jaime Kissner during a game against Sitka at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)

Sports

Crimson Bears baseball team bitten by Cougars

JDHS opens state tournament play with 5-0 loss to Service.

In this file photo Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé sophomore Brynn Wheeler connects on a pitch against Lathrop. Wheeler and the Crimson Bears lost to South and defeated Dimond on Thursday in the 2025 ASAA/First National Bank Alaska DI Softball State Championships on Anchorage’s Cartee Fields. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)

Sports

JDHS softball team opens state tournament with mixed results

Crimson Bears battle in round-robin seeding format.

The author encounters a ptarmigan on a hike to retrieve a game camera in the subalpine. (Photo by Jeff Lund)

Sports

I Went To The Woods: My buddy the bird

I was limited on time so I pushed up the improved game trail toward a game camera I…

The author finishing the 2024 Seacoast Relay from UAS to the Eagle Beach State Park outer beach picnic shelter. (Photo courtesy The Marmoteers)

Sports

Pure Sole: Race the Seacoast Relay, I dare you

I have learned two important lessons in my competitive sports career.

A yellow-rumped warbler. (Photo by Helen Unruh)

Sports

On the Trails: Yellow-rumped warblers and other observations

My peanut butter feeder draws a nice assortment of visitors, including chickadees, nuthatches, siskins, juncos, a hairy woodpecker,…

Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé senior Nick Iverson makes a move over South junior Vebjorn Flagstad in the 1,600 final during the 2025 ASAA/First Bank Alaska State Track & Field Championships on Saturday at Anchorage’s Dimond High School. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)

Sports

JDHS senior Iverson wins two state track titles and athlete of the meet honor

Crimson Bears freshman Bella Connelly sets school record in 100 state title.

Ketchikan senior Jason Lorig wins the Division I boys 100 meter state title over Soldotna junior Tyce Escott with Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé senior Finley Hightower and West Anchorage senior Beckett Stolp placing third and fourth during the 2025 ASAA/First Bank Alaska State Track & Field Championships on Saturday at Anchorage’s Dimond High School. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)

Sports

Results from the ASAA Track and Field State Championships

ASAA Track and Field State Championships

Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé senior Taiya Bentz readies for action at first base during the Crimson Bears’ 14-2 win over Lathrop on Friday during the Railbelt Conference Tournament in Fairbanks. (Photo courtesy JDHS softball)

Sports

JDHS softball falls in Railbelt Conference title game, still advances to state tournament

Crimson Bears defeat Lathrop and Wasilla, fall twice to Colony.

Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé’s Nate Fick is mobbed by team members after hitting a walk-off RBI single to give Juneau Douglas a 4-3 victory over Ketchikan on the second day of the Region V Baseball tournament at Norman Walker Field on Friday, May 30, 2025. (Christopher Mullen/Ketchikan Daily News)

Sports

JDHS baseball team qualifies for state tournament

Crimson Bears top Kayhi twice, fall to Sitka twice.

Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé senior Kai Ciambor (14) moves the ball against West Anchorage senior Amine Abakar, left, Michael Njoku and Porter Youngman. during the Crimson Bears’ 3-2 loss in extra time to the Eagles in the 2025 ASAA/First National Bank Alaska Soccer State Championship semifinals Friday at Wasilla High School. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)

Sports

Crimson Bears place fifth in state soccer championships

JDHS finishes tournament play with loss to Colony in 3rd/5th-place game.

Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé freshman Bryce Haygood scores past West Anchorage sophomore defender Nathan Conlon and sophomore keeper Gideon Plikat during the Crimson Bears’ 3-2 loss in extra time to the Eagles in the 2025 ASAA/First National Bank Alaska Soccer State Championship semifinals Friday at Wasilla High School. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)

Sports

Crimson Bears fall in soccer state tournament semifinal

JDHS comeback against West Anchorage stalls in extra time.

Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears freshman goalkeeper Callen Walker (1) is swarmed by teammates after saving the final shot in a penalty shootout win over Service to open the 2025 ASAA/First National Bank Alaska Soccer State Championships at Wasilla High School on Thursday, May 29, 2025. Senior teammate Kellen Chester (8) consoles Service senior Matej Omalley (2). (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)

Sports

Crimson Bears freshman keeper saves seniors’ state title hopes in tournament opener

JDHS defeats Service in penalty shootout, advances to Friday’s semifinals.

Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé’s Charlie Begenyl pitches during their 10-5 victory over Ketchikan on the first day of the Region V Baseball tournament at Norman Walker Field on Thursday. (Christopher Mullen/Ketchikan Daily News)

Sports

JDHS baseball opens region tournament with win

Crimson Bears boys defeat Kayhi on Thursday, face Sitka on Friday.

Klas Stolpe, a sports reporter for the Juneau Empire and multiple other publications since the mid-1990s, receives the Alaska School Activities Association’s Gold Lifetime Pass for Region V this year during a ceremony at Thunder Mountain Middle School on Saturday. (Melissa Bastable Ganey / Mel G Photography)

Sports

Longtime Southeast Alaska sports reporter Klas Stolpe wins ASAA’s annual Gold Lifetime Pass award

Honor recognizes “significant service to high school students of Alaska” for at least 20 years.

With graduation looming, life as a trail is a popular analogy, though the author prefers a menu metaphor. (Photo by Jeff Lund)

Sports

I Went to the Woods: Ordering off life’s menu

My favorite restaurant in Tucson served the best chips and salsa I have ever had. Granted, I was…