In the double-elimination format of the Northern Lights Conference softball tournament, a team is not out until they drop a second, tournament game.
The Homer Mariners battled through four games on Saturday, including a pair of must-win championship games against the Soldotna Stars for the 2017 Northern Lights Conference softball championship. 2017 was the first year for the state qualifying NLC tournament and the Mariners and Soldotna Stars will represent the NLC at the state softball tournament next week.
Homer 17 -SoHi 16 Championship Game 1 (Homer win forces an “if necessary” game.)
The Soldotna girls, with an opportunity to claim the conference title in the first head-to-head championship game, fell to the Mariners 17-16. The Homer victory set up a final SoHi-Homer showdown for the conference title and the top seed from the Northern Lights for the state tournament.
Homer 12 -SoHi 4 Championship Game
The Mariners claim the NLC titile with a 12-4 victory over the Soldotna Stars. The Stars and Mariners played each other three times on Saturday; SoHi winning the first, morning contest 16-5. Homer rebounded with a victory over Kodiak and a pair of wins over the Stars.
