The Juneau-Douglas High School softball team is crushing the competition so far in the Alaska School Activities Association/First National Bank Alaska State Softball Championships.
The Crimson Bears went 2-0 in pool play on Thursday with wins over North Pole and Homer to get a first round bye on Friday in the small schools bracket play.
JDHS defeated North Pole 13-5 on Friday, setting up Saturday morning’s semifinal matchup against Thunder Mountain High School at the South Davis Park Complex in Fairbanks.
JDHS is without one of their best hitters Abby Meiners for the tournament. The junior is in Europe with her high school French class.
“Not having Abby Meiners worrisome,” JDHS coach Lexie Razor said on Friday morning before their game against North Pole. “But they’ve been pulling together and filling her shoes and talking and hitting well.”
How do you fill one of your best hitter’s shoes?
“There’s no way we can fill them but we’ve asked people to step up … and play hard for her because we do miss her,” Razor said. “We have a picture of her on a couple sticks around the dugout. We have a flat-Abby, kind of like flat-Stanley.”
Junior Skylar Hickok must’ve heard that charge from her coach. Hickok went 3-for-3 and hit two RBIs for the Crimson Bears in their win over North Pole.
Leah Spargo pitched four innings, struck out three and walked one. Spargo coaxed the Patriots into six ground outs and three fly outs.
The Patriots scored two runs in the first inning but were held to one run the next three innings.
After scoring three in the first, the Crimson Bears tripled their scoring output in the third. The first four batters to step up to the plate — Maddie Johnson, Skylar Hickok, Elisa Fabrello and Morgan Balovich — all garnered hits.
Then Mia Loree outdid them all.
The sophomore hit a two-run home run that made it an 8-3 ball game. The Crimson Bears didn’t settle there though as they still had three outs to kill. When the inning finally ended after a lineup and a half of batters, JDHS led 12-3.
The game ended after five innings due to the eight-run mercy rule.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nolin.ainsworth@juneauempire.com.
Caitlin Pusich stays loose during Juneau-Douglas High School’s state tournament game against North Pole, Friday, June 3, at the South Davis Park Complex in Fairbanks. JDHS won the game 13-5. (Sarah Manriquez | For the Juneau Empire)
