JDHS softball splits with conference foe Colony

History was made as the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé softball team opened their first official home Railbelt Conference games on Wednesday, the first on the new Adair Kennedy Park field, and sophomore Brynn Wheeler recorded the first Crimson Bears hit, freshman pinch-runner Kiki Gallettes-Swafford scored the first run, junior Alayna Echiverri recorded the first RBI and junior Gwen Nizich put all those firsts together as she put the first true home run over the center field fence.

“It’s pretty amazing and it’s beautiful and it’s just exciting,” JDHS coach Lexi Razor said. “All the way around, just having the girls the opportunity to play on a field like this is pretty exciting. And then you look in the stands and it was pretty crowded so it’s a good day.”

JDHS split their conference series with visiting Colony, falling to the Knights 8-2 in the opener and flipping the series with an 8-4 win in the nightcap.

Wheeler’s first Crimson Bears historic hit came in the bottom of the third inning of game one.

“It felt really good,” Wheeler said. “You know it’s like I’ve never really gotten an opportunity to hit that much this year, but I felt really good about my hitting today.”

Her second hit of the game was a leadoff double in the bottom of the sixth inning that was three inches below the top of the fence and led to the Crimson Bears’ first run.

“Now I know I’m capable of hitting a home run so that makes me feel really good too,” she said.

Wheeler was replaced on the bag by freshman pinch runner Kiki Gallettes-Swafford who advanced to third on a wild pitch.

One out later she scored on a sacrifice fly, the first Crimson Bears home RBI, by Alayna Echiverri.

“It felt really good,” Gallettes-Swafford said. “Especially since I just got pull up here (from JV) to base run and I got to get that first run and it was really exciting…I love Alayna, I aspire to be like Alayna.”

That pulled JDHS to within 8-1 and senior Tatum Billings registered the first triple, putting a shot to left field. Billings scored on a double by Nizich for 8-2.

“It honestly felt amazing,” Billings said. “The new field is amazing and all of us really enjoy playing on it. It is just so different from playing on dirt these past few years and the energy on the new field feels more exciting.”

Colony recorded field firsts. Knights senior Kaidence Browning earned the first walk and freshman Emma Minnick the first hit but JDHS’ Billings had the first put out, then the second and Nizich fielded a ground ball on the mound to end the threat.

Colony scored the field’s first run in the top of the second inning as sophomore Saibree Noll singled, advanced on a walk to senior teammate Alesha Crowther, stole third and scored on an error. Crowther would score on a wild pitch.

The Knights added a run in the top of the fifth as Browning walked, stole second, advanced on a fly ball out and scored. Colony added another four runs in the top of the sixth inning to lead 8-0 before the Crimson Bears got their firsts.

The Railbelt has a 90-minute time limit for conference games. Teams can finish the inning when that time elapses and this was the final at-bat for JDHS in the contest.

“We were hitting, we weren’t doing a lot of strikeouts,” JDHS coach Razor said after the first game. “We may not have been getting singles and stuff, but they were consistently hitting and they were trying so in that last inning we kind of put it together. And hopefully this next game we’ll put it together and pick up where we left off.”

JDHS did put it together. And they added a little extra in game two.

The Crimson Bears Echiverri led off game two with a single, stole second, advanced to third on a ground ball out and watched as Nizich put that first official home run over the center field fence for 2-0.

“I feel so great,” Nizich said after the game. “Not playing last year was really hard. So coming off of last season and getting that hit was really meaningful to me. And just being on this new field was really awesome.”

Colony’s Browning got one of those runs back as she registered the first in-the-park home run in the bottom of the first inning as she put a triple to the right field fence and scored on the throw to the infield.

“I feel pretty good, I’m very proud,” Browning said. “I think everybody on this team has been, like, it’s a new team. Some of us are new this year and so just being able to work together as well as we do is very rewarding.”

Colony would tie the game at 2-2 as Minnick scored on a fly ball hit by sophomore Malana Bell.

JDHS would take control of the game in their next at bat as freshman Sadie Lockhart led off with a single, Echiverri walked and Billings singled and Lockhart and Echiverri scored on an error for 4-2. Nizich walked, senior Bryanna Eakes walked, Billings scored on a wild pitch, Nizich scored on a wild pitch, Wheeler walked, Eakes scored on a passed ball and senior Taiya Bentz singled scoring Wheeler for an 8-2 lead.

Time would expire in the bottom of the fourth inning so Colony completed their at bat and Browning doubled to score sophomore Morgan Gallagher and senior Alexis Condon singled to score Browning.

JDHS’ Nizich struck out a batter and fielded a ground ball out to stall the Knights comeback and Crimson Bears’ sophomore Lilly Hayes handled a ground ball at third base to throw out the final batter and end the night.

“We welcome new people to the conference,” Colony coach Tamara Finley said. “And we hope they enjoy coming up to the conference.”

Finley said the pitching between the two games was key.

“We had some fielding errors as well, it’s not just on the pitcher,” she said. “We went from a senior seasoned pitcher to sophomore pitcher. They are both really good pitchers, but there were also some fielding errors that probably should have been cleaned up, but all-in-all it’s not like we didn’t have our chances. I think the girls did really well on both sides.”

In game one Echiverri and Nizich had one RBI apiece for the JDHS; Billings and Nizich had one hit apiece, Wheeler two; and Billings and Gallettes-Swafford scored one run apiece.

Nizich pitched four innings, allowed three hits and two runs, walked two batters and struck out two. Sophomore Skylar Oliva relieved, allowed five hits and six runs and walked four.

Browning, Coll and Crowther scored two runs each for Colony; Minnick and Noll led with two hits apiece. Browning threw all six innings, allowed four hits and two runs and struck out three.

In Game two Nizich went 2-2 at the plate with two runs scored and two RBI and earned one walk. Echiverri, Billings, Bentz and Lockhart had one hit each. Echiverri scored two runs, Billings, Eakes, wheeler and Lockhart one each. Billings and Bentz had one RBI apiece.

Oliva pitched two innings, allowed four hits and two runs and struck out one. Nizich relieved for two innings, allowed two hits and two runs, walked three and struck out two.

Browning led Colony with a 2-3 nightcap at the plate, with two runs scored and two RBI.

Sophomore Alli Morrissey went 1.1 innings, allowed five hits and eight runs, walked seven and struck out one. Browning relieved for 2.2 innings, allowed one hit and struck out five.

“The girls showed some real resiliency,” JDHS coach Razor said. “We started off a little slow and weren’t hitting well, and then they really started hitting and they just kept fighting, which is great. That was impressive to me, seeing them not give up and not get down. They just worked hard. It was pretty exciting. It was exciting to see them hit and do what we know they can do.”

The Crimson Bears are 1-1 in the Railbelt and 4-4-1 overall. Colony is also 1-1 in the RBC and 8-1 overall.

JDHS will next host conference foe West Valley at 7:30 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday on Adair Kennedy Park field.

• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.