No graduating seniors were in the starting defensive lineup for the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears against the Dimond Lynx in Saturday’s 10-7 loss in the fourth/sixth-place game of the ASAA/First National Bank Alaska DI Baseball State Championships at Anchorage’s Mulchay Stadium.
“That is a big positive for where we are at, we are very young,” JDHS coach Luke Adams said. “And today everybody got to feel the pressure of that game at the state tournament. Everybody had reps and an opportunity to contribute and we fell a little short on the scoreboard, but our effort was pretty outstanding and we didn’t quit and I’m really proud of this group. Proud of what they have accomplished, how they have come together this year and are already ready to start looking forward to next season.”
That bodes well for the Crimson Bears as junior catcher Nate Fick threw out an attempted steal to sophomore third baseman Hunter Carte, then threw another attempted steal out to junior second baseman Madden Mendoza, and junior first baseman brother Riley Fick fielded a hard ground ball at first base for the opening inning’s third out.
“That reaffirms that our kids, our players, are ready to play defense and that’s one of our things we’ll take away from this season,” Adams said. “Not only can we play defense, but we are only going to try to improve and we feel like that’s a great foundation of any sport, but especially in this game of baseball. Relying on your defense is imperative and to be able to do that under pressure is a great sign. I’m proud of how they competed.”
Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé sophomore Noah Lewis connects on a pitch during the ASAA/First National Bank Alaska DI Baseball State Championships at Anchorage’s Mulchay Stadium. (Photo courtesy JDHS baseball)
The JDHS (12-13) starting line for their final game also featured junior Marcus Mendoza on the mound, N. Fick behind the plate, junior Brandon Casperson at short, sophomore Noah Lewis in left field, junior Tyler Frisby in center and junior Chris Andersen in right.
It bode even better in the bottom half of the inning with Marcus Mendoza blasting a two-out, base-clearing double for a 3-0 lead, bringing N. Fick (single), senior designated hitter JJ McCormick (walk) and Lewis (single) across the plate.
“The tournament was amazing to experience as a former Falcons and current Bear,” JDHS senior JJ McCormick said. “To see the teams from Southeast be able to compete as equals was surreal. Though I believed our team could have made a further run in the state tournament, for a team who went from rivals to teammates this year I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”
R. Fick followed with a triple that allowed Marcus Mendoza to trot in for 4-0, Andersen earned a walk and Frisby earned his base taking a pitch to the body to load the bags again. This time, however, all-state shortstop Casperson lifted a shot to right field that required a Dimond fielding gem for the out.
“That was our plan,” Adams said. “We always want to be aggressive out of the gate. Set the tone in the first inning, but it was hard to keep that momentum. Dimond played well defensively and both teams were making plays, so it went down to the end and we battled back. The scoreboard wasn’t on our side today. That’s the way it works. Once again, always a learning experience, and we’ll be better for it the next time.”
Dimond (15-10-2) would respond with five runs in the top of the second inning for a 5-4 lead and two more in the third inning for 7-4 as JDHS’ Marcus Mendoza loaded the bases and was relieved by freshman Charlie Begenyi, who walked in the first run and a passed ball made the score 7-4. At that point of the game, the base hits were relatively even with the Lynx registering 7 and the Crimson Bears five.
Dimond pushed out to an 8-4 lead midway through the fourth inning and JDHS brought in freshman reliever Micah Nelson, who had a strong relief showing in Friday’s 5-4 win over Wasilla.
Nelson struck out the first batter faced, a run scored during a base error for 9-4, and Nelson then got the third out to pop up to Casperson. To this point Dimond had stranded five runners and JDHS two.
JDHS connected in their next at bat, but were unlucky as the blasts all went to the left side of the Dimond infield and were handled by Lynx juniors Drew Dittman and Carter Woodhead.
The Crimson Bears fielded the first two outs of the fifth inning with freshman Kamden Kissner making a play at second base and throwing to sophomore Drew Cadigan-McAdoo at first and center fielder Frisby chased down a fly ball. Dimond would get a single, a walk and another single that went into left field and scored a run for 10-4 but JDHS’ Lewis threw a strike from the outfield to N. Fick behind the plate, who then cut down a runner trying to reach third base and Marcus Mendoza made the tag.
JDHS’ McCormick hit a lead-off triple in the bottom half and scored on a single by Lewis to trail 10-5 and Cadigan-McAdoo hit a one-out ground ball that scored Lewis to trail 10-6. But Dimond got two outs via a pop-up by JDHS’ Katasse and a strikeout by JDHS’ Frisby to strand another Crimson Bears runner.
JDHS’ Nelson struck out the first batter of the sixth inning and survived giving up two singles, as Katasse chased down the second out and Casperson handled a pop-up for the third.
Madden Mendoza hit a one-out triple in the bottom half and N. Fick followed with a double to cut the score to 10-7, but Dimond hit a batter between striking out the final two batters for the 10-7 win.
Dimond collected 11 hits to nine for JDHS, and the Lynx committed one error, the Crimson Bears two.
Marcus Mendoza led JDHS with three RBI and N. Fick, R. Fick and Lewis had one each. Lewis and N. Fick led with two hits apiece, while McCormick, Marcus Mendoza, R. Fick and Cadigan-McAdoo had one each. McCormick and Lewis scored two runs apiece, Madden Mendoza, Marcus Mendoza and Kissner one each. McCormick, Andersen and Madden Mendoza earned one walk each. Lewis and Frisby were each hit by a pitch. Frisby struck out twice, McCormick, Kissner and Nelson once apiece. Lewis stole two bases, Cadigan-McAdoo and Kissner one each.
Marcus Mendoza started on the mound and had 2.2 innings pitched, allowed six hits and seven runs — six earned, walked three batters and struck out two. Begenyi relieved (0.2 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB) and Nelson relieved (2.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO).
Dimond sophomore Dax O’Brien started for the Lynx (5.1 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO) and freshman Owen Severson closed (0.2 IP, 2 SO).
Lynx senior Maximus Gaither and sophomore Jaden Estigo led with two RBI apiece, Dittman with three hits, Dittman, Woodhead and senior Josiah James two runs scored.
“Super proud of these kids and these players and their commitment,” coach Adams said. “The emotions after the last game, once things settled in, you know you could tell that a lot of the kids realize that the season’s come to an end and the bonds that these guys have created and had are gonna stay with them for a long time. So that’s just a small piece of high school sports. And we’re very grateful to be a part of that and be able to witness that as coaches. It’s been a great season and we’re really proud of this group of young men. We’re gonna do good things moving forward.”
The youth of the JDHS team, complemented by seniors Katasse, McCormick and Christian Nelson, served the Crimson Bears well through the season and into the state tourney.
“We relied on our seniors in every way we could both as players on the field, but also how to demonstrate how to play a role in other situations, maybe not on the field,” Adams said. “But to always be ready to go and once again today JJ McCormick, as our designated hitter, came up and got some clutch hits, had a triple in the end just to keep our rally going. Jacob Katasse came in later in the game. Made an outstanding catch in right field to take away a run. All season all of our seniors have contributed in ways on and off the field, and we’re grateful for what they’ve brought to this program, and our success has a lot to do with their commitment to buy into this year and help this team come together. We’re really proud of all those kids.”
To reach Saturday’s game, JDHS topped Wasilla 5-4 Friday, getting five innings of nice pitching from Carte (6 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 3 SO), a taste of action by Begenyi (3 H, 3 R, 1 BB), and closer M. Nelson (1 H, 1 BB, 1 SO) appeared in the top of the sixth to help with one fielding out by Marcus Mendoza at third. In the top of the seventh, M. Nelson made a diving catch on a bunt attempt by a Warriors batter to double off a runner and then strike out the final batter to keep the season alive for one more game.
In JDHS’ opening tournament 5-0 loss to Service, the young pitching staff competed: junior Cayman Huff (2.1 Innings, 3 H, 2 R, 1 SO), R. Fick (2.2 IN, 3 R, 9 BB, 2 SO), and Marcus Mendoza (1 IN, 2 BB). At the plate Madden and Marcus Mendoza, N. Fick, Andersen and Lewis each had a hit against the eventual tournament runner-up Cougars.
The Sitka Wolves defeated Service 7-0 for the state title Saturday afternoon.
Adams noted the dedication of this year’s Crimson Bears and how they will go forward.
“Any sport, especially any high school sport, if we really want our teams to be competitive, kids need to be dedicated on- and offseason,” Adams said. “I have no doubt these kids will deliver in that. They’re all excited. They understand our trajectory and where we wanna be next year. We wanna be back at the state tournament at the end. And we want to be in the championship game. We’ll take things one step at a time. We’ll reset. A lot of these baseball players are going to play summer baseball for legion teams or club teams. And that’s the start of it, then we get back to the weight room and offseason training. I think we have a really committed young group that understands, while this season comes to a close, the preseason starts tomorrow and that is as much mentally as physically. We really don’t have any offseason. The kids gotta be dedicated and I’ve gotten to know this group enough where I think they’re going to buy into that philosophy and we’re going get back to work.”
JDHS won the Academic Award for overall highest GPA (3.36) of participants in the state tournament and sophomore outfielder Noah Lewis was selected to the All-State Tournament team.
“Getting all-tournament meant a lot to me, but I really have to give credit to my coaches, especially outfield coach Randy Quinto,” Lewis said. “He really helped me out this year and really helped me improve on and off the field. Getting the opportunity to receive an all-tournament award was a great moment for me and I look forward to next season, and improving more and more to become the best version of myself…This season meant a lot to me, not only baseball, but I made a lot of great friendships along the way. At the end of the day the season is over and I need to get prepared for next season as the competition will be tougher next year…I took away a lot of great things from the state tournament, but the best thing that I will forever remember is what coach Adams said to me in state once we got knocked out of the first round, ‘be aggressive and win the next one, don’t dwell on the past and focus on the present task at hand.’ I will use that as motivation to focus on the task at hand with the American Legion season right around the corner.”
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.
