After four games of competitive play against their Southeast counterparts this weekend, the Gastineau Channel Little League Junior All-Stars are undefeated.
The All-Stars team, ages 13 to 15 years old, completed the round-robin play of the 2017 Southeast tournament with a 4-0 record, besting teams from Ketchikan and Sitka in town this week to play in the Little League Junior Regional tournament.
Bracket play begins Tuesday, and continues through Thursday if necessary, with the winner moving on to tournament play in Anchorage.
This weekend’s action on the diamond began Friday with a double header between Juneau and Sitka in the first game, and then Juneau and Ketchikan in the second game.
Juneau quickly jumped out to a 3-to-0 nothing lead off of Sitka starting pitcher Kyler Brenton in the first inning. Brian Echiverri set the tone of the Juneau attack for the day with a line drive up the middle for a double. He was brought home on a single by Brian McCormick. Juneau would go on to score five runs before Sitka countered with one run in the bottom of the third. Juneau would win 13-to-1 and register 15 hits before it was over. Sitka committed five errors to none for the Juneau All-Stars. The Sitka team plays and practices on a turf field at home, unlike the muddy dirt fields of Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park.
In the second game, the rainy weather improved but it seemed so did the Juneau team. In the game with Ketchikan, the score was close until Juneau broke it open in the fifth inning. They would score five runs and then again rely on great defense and pitching to hold Ketchikan to one run. Juneau used six pitchers in the game but Brock McCormick would get the win for Juneau.
The three innings pitched in the game by McCormick was the most pitches and the longest streak of innings pitched by a Juneau player in the tournament. Typically Juneau uses five to six pitchers a game with each pitcher throwing an inning. This keeps the pitch count low for each individual player. Individual players are limited in the number of pitches that can be thrown in a time span.
On Saturday, the barrage of fresh pitching worked to Juneau’s advantage in another game with Ketchikan. Juneau won the game 10-to-4 but was out hit by the team from Ketchikan 8 to 6. Ketchikan put three runs across in the top of the first inning to announce to the home team that they were here to play. In the end, the difference in the game was the 10 walks that were issued by the two Ketchikan pitchers. Juneau issued four walks total in the game, with five Juneau pitchers sharing the load. Brian Echiverri had two hits for the Juneau All-Stars.
Sunday night, Juneau played Sitka again and won by a score of 21-to-12. Although the score was high, the win was not an indication of how Juneau Coach Jeremy Ludeman wants his team to play.
“Not at all!” was his response when asked if a game like this is good for the team. Sitka was playing its second game of the day after defeating Ketchikan in a game that would end up tied after seven innings and eventually go nine. The spunky young men from Sitka actually outscored the Juneau team over the last three innings of the game. Sitka would commit 11 errors and issue 14 walks. Juneau used five pitchers who issued 10 walks and gave up 12 runs in the game. Cody Requa collected three hits and four RBIs in the game for Juneau.
Coach Ludeman said he is looking for the players on his team to develop the maturity it takes to win at the competitive level of tournament play.
“I need players to step up and lead,” Ludeman said.
Bracket play begins Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Junea’s Cody Requa, left, steals second base safely as Ketchikan’s Isaac Romano fields the ball during their game at the Little League Junior Regional Tournament at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park on Friday, July 14, 2017. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
