The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears softball team made a solid showing at the Railbelt Conference Tournament in Fairbanks, posting a 2-2 record and falling in the championship game to the Colony Knights on Saturday 10-8.
“We won enough games to qualify for state,” JDHS coach Lexi Razor said on Saturday. “We came in second place against Colony so we are excited to be going on to state.”
JDHS used their experience with a recent trip to a mid-season tournament in Anchorage in which they played three games a day as one of their tuneups for the RBC tournament.
“We only had to play two games on Friday and two games today,” Razor said. “It wasn’t that bad. Today if we would have won in the first championship game we would have pushed it to an ‘if’ game…it wasn’t too many games, but we definitely have to be prepared for two to four games a day when we get to state next weekend.”
Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé junior pitcher Gwen Nizich delivers against Lathrop during the Crimson Bears’ 14-2 win over the Malemutes on Friday during the Railbelt Conference Tournament in Fairbanks. (Photo courtesy JDHS softball)
In their final game against Colony on Saturday JDHS jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning as junior Alayna Echiverri singled, senior Tatum Billings singled and Nizich singled scoring Echiverri and Billings. Two outs later sophomore Taylor Williams tripled to right field scoring Nizich and sophomore Brynn Wheeler singled in Williams.
JDHS added a run in the top of the third inning as Wheeler doubled in Williams. The team scored another run in the fourth as sophomore Cassie Chenoweth earned a walk and was replaced by sophomore pinch runner Lily Hayes. Billings then singled in Hayes.
Colony would gather a run in the second inning, two runs in the third and five in the fourth inning for an 8-6 lead.
JDHS tied the game in the top of the sixth inning as Chenoweth singled and Echiverri hit a line drive home run to left field. Colony would score two runs in the bottom half of the inning and hold on for the win.
JDHS outhit the Knights 14-6.
“We were hitting really well in this tournament,” Razor said. “In the games we won we had 15-17 hits in each game. In the first game we lost to Colony on Friday we only had six hits and six errors, so not our best game…in today’s loss to Colony we still had 14 hits…we just had some defensive errors that we have to eliminate and learn how not to make them. In our first loss to Colony we let them get in our heads and stopped playing our game. So we just had some mental collapses. Today it was small errors, we were playing our game and focused the entire time, we just made some mistakes, things we need to clean up for state that’s for sure.”
Echiverri, Nizich and Williams had three hits each, Billings and Wheeler two apiece and Chenoweth one. Wheeler and Echiverri had two RBI apiece, Billings, Nizich and Williams one each.
Wheeler pitched the six innings, allowed six hits and 10 runs, walked five and struck out four.
“We are really proud of how the team is hitting,” Razor said. “We are hitting line drive shots. And Colony made a couple really good plays to get some fly balls and some line drives that are normally hits.”
JDHS opened the tournament with a 14-2 win over Lathrop on Friday.
Against the Malemutes Nizich pitched the four innings and allowed just three hits and the two runs, walked two batters and struck out five.
Nizich also led with three RBI, Echiverri and Chenoweth two apiece, seniors Bryanna Eakes and Taiya Bentz and Williams one each.
Chenoweth led with three hits, Billings, Nizich and sophomores Skylar Oliva and June Troxel two each, Eakes, Echiverri, Williams and Bentz one each.
Billings, Chenoweth, Troxel and Oliva scored two runs, Nizich, Williams, Bentz and freshman Sadie Lockhart one each. Lockhart, Billings, Echiverri and Williams earned one walk each.
Later on Friday JDHS fell to Colony 10-2. The Crimson Bears scored one run in the first inning as Echiverri doubled and Billings singled her home. They added their final run in the second inning as Williams earned a walk, advanced on a ground out by Bentz, stole third base and scored on a single by Troxel.
Nizich led with two hits, Echiverri, Billings, Williams and Troxel one each. Nizich pitched two innings, allowed two hits and five runs and struck out two. Oliva went 2.1 innings, allowed one hit and five runs, walked five and struck out two.
That loss to Colony put JDHS into an elimination game Saturday against the Wasilla Warriors to earn another chance at the Knights. The Crimson Bears won the slugfest 13-10.
Nizich went 3-3 at the plate and blasted two home runs to earn four RBI and score three runs. Billings and Oliva had two RBI apiece, Eakes, Williams and Wheeler one each. Williams had three hits, Billings, Eakes, Oliva and Chenoweth two each, Troxel and Wheeler one each. Billings and Eakes scored two runs, Williams and Troxel one apiece.
Nizich pitched two innings, allowed five hits and three runs, and walked two. Oliva pitched five innings, allowed six hits and seven runs, walked 10 and struck out six.
That win put JDHS into the 10-8 championship game loss to Colony.
“There are a lot of games in the softball tournaments,” Razor said. “You have to be in shape that’s for sure. We might be having to do some mile runs this week to make sure we are ready.”
JDHS leaves Wednesday for the 2025 ASAA/First National Bank Alaska Softball State Championships on June 5-7 at Anchorage’s Cartee Fields.
The Crimson Bears will be in a round robin pool play bracket with South and Dimond.
“We played both of them in the Blue/Gold tournament earlier this year,” Razor said. “So we are excited to have the chance to play them again. We beat South once and we lost to Dimond but we were holding close to Dimond until things fell apart.”
Colony will play in a pool with Chugiak and Bettye Davis East Anchorage.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.
