Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé softball team put football size scores on Wasilla

The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears softball team swept the Wasilla Warriors in three games on the road at Wasilla.

“The girls played really well this weekend,” JDHS coach Lexi Razor said. “Our tournament in Anchorage last weekend showed us some things we needed to work on, which we did this week and it showed in our games.”

The Crimson Bears won 18-0 on Friday, and 13-7 and 22-2 on Saturday.

“We played well all three games,” Razor said. “We had solid defense, hitting and aggressive base running all weekend.”

In Friday’s three-inning win sophomore Skylar Oliva pitched two innings, allowed no hits, walked one batter and struck out six. Sophomore Taylor Williams closed for an inning, allowed no hits, walked one and struck out two.

Seniors Tatum Billings and Taiya Bentz and sophomore June Troxel had three RBI each, senior Bryanna Eakes and junior Gwen Nizich apiece, Oliva and sophomore Brynn Wheeler one apiece.

Junior Alayna Echiverri had three hits, Billings, Nizich, Eakes, Oliva, Bentz and Troxel two each, and Wheeler one.

Saturday’s first game went six innings. Oliva started for 1.2 innings, allowed three hits and seven runs, waked four and struck out two. Williams went 4.1 innings, allowed two hits, two walks and struck out five.

JDHS scored four runs in the top of the first and second innings and never trailed as Wasilla scored their seven runs in the bottom of the second inning. The score remained 8-7 until the top of the sixth inning when JDHS scored five runs and then the Crimson Bears defense came through as Troxel fielded a ground ball out, Eakes caught a fly in center and Williams struck out the game-ender.

Freshman Sadie Lockhart led with three RBI, Nizich, Eakes and Oliva two each, and Williams and Weller one apiece.

Oliva led with three hits, Nizich and Eakes two apiece, Billings, Lockhart, Williams, Bentz and Troxel one each.

In Saturday’s second game JDHS led 5-2 after one inning and 9-2 until the top of the fourth inning when they batted around the lineup for 13 runs to lead 22-2. They then ended the game with solid defense by Troxel at shortstop, Williams in right field and Bentz at first base.

Williams started the game in the circle for two outs, allowed two runs, walked four and struck out one. Wheeler relieved for 3.1 innings, allowed one hit, walked three and struck out one. The Crimson Bears defense recorded 10 fielding outs.

Nizich led with four RBI, Echiverri, Lockhart and sophomore Cassie Chenoweth three each, Eakes, Williams, Bentz and Troxel two each. Nizich led with four hits, Eakes, Troxel and Chenoweth three each, Billings, Lockhart, Williams and Bentz one each.

“We are in a good spot moving into our last weekend of regular season games,” Razor said. “As a team we hit 0.549 and had on-base percentage of 0.579. Our fielding percentage was 0.944.”

JDHS will host Sitka next week at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park. Varsity non-conference games are 7 p.m. Friday (JV 3 and 5) and 4 p.m. Saturday (JV 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.). The Crimson Bears will honor senior players Eakes, Bentz, Billings, Ella Schmidt, Kayla Peter and manager Jadela Sactern at 3 p.m. Saturday.

JDHS currently leads the Railbelt Conference with a 7-1 record (16-13-1 overall) and Colony is second at 6-1 (26-8-1 overall). West Valley is 2-4 (5-5 overall), Lathrop 1-5 (5-9 overall) and Wasilla 1-6 (3-15-1 overall).

Colony plays Wasilla on Monday and if the Knights defeat the Warriors they will be in first and JDHS second. The first-place team gets a bye in the RBC tournament in Fairbanks May 29-31. The tournament champion and runner-up go to state June 5-7 with the top four teams from the Cook Inlet Conference.

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