Two softball tournaments are coming to Juneau this week.
The Alaska District 2 Major Softball Championships and 43rd annual Jamie Parsons Rainball Softball Tournament both begin today. Here’s a look at those two tournaments, plus other sports going on in Juneau this weekend.
Little League Softball
Gastineau Channel Little League will play Ketchikan Little League tonight at 6 p.m. to start the district tournament at Melvin Park. GCLL will then take on Sitka Little League on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Following Sunday’s final round-robin game between Ketchikan-Sitka, each team will be seeded for bracket play. The Nos. 2 and 3 seeds play on Monday at 6 p.m. in the semifinals. The winner of that game will play the No. 1 seed on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the final.
GCLL won the district and state tournaments last year to earn a berth to the West Regional Tournament in San Bernardino, California, where they went 1-3. This year’s team is almost an entirely new cast of players from last year’s. Only Ruby Davis, Kiah Yadao and Tristan Oliva are back from that squad.
Adult Softball
This year’s Rainball Tournament will see a total of 18 teams participate. The tournament is a few weeks earlier than normal to accommodate an earlier start to the youth soccer season, according to Juneau Softball Association spokesperson Katie Damian. This change, coupled with inconvenient ferry arrivals from Sitka, will make for a much smaller tournament than normal — no-out-of-town teams are attending.
“It was all kind of a perfect storm for us,” Damian said.
The women’s tournament will be split into Division I (The Grind, Princess Cruises, Lat58 Chicks) and Division II (Juicy Bells, Free Agents, Valley Liquor Bat Attitudes). The two divisions will be mixed together for round-robin play.
The men’s tournament will be divided up into three divisions. Division I (Ike’s Fuel, Imperial Saloon and Bob-Omb Squad) and Division II (Specialty Renovations Kekambas, Southeast Mine Supply Miners, Kenny’s, KC, Rounders) teams will also play crossover games in round-robin action before beginning bracket play Saturday afternoon.
Division III (Island Pub, SECON Double Ugly, Kawashu Thunder Bears, TFW Construction) will play in a separate round-robin pool.
All championship games will be played on Sunday.
^
American Legion Baseball
Juneau Post 25 plays two intrasquad games at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Field. The varsity players will make up one side while varsity, junior varsity and alumni players will make up the other.
The games are scheduled for Saturday at noon and 3 p.m.
The team is on pace to hit their 22-2 regular-season mark from last season, having won 13 of their last 14 games. Chugiak Post 33 is the only team with a win against Juneau this season.
^
Running
The Juneau Physical Therapy Governor’s Cup 5K and Kid’s 1-mile is Saturday morning. The 5-kilometer race will start at 9 a.m. outside the Dimond Courthouse downtown. Runners will finish outside of the Juneau Bone & Joint Center on Hospital Drive. The 1-mile race will start at the finish line at 10 a.m. Race-day registration begins at 8:30 a.m.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nainsworth@juneauempire.com. Follow Empire Sports on Twitter at @akempiresports.
