The Soldotna Stars and Kodiak Bears notched first-round victories at the 2021 ASAA Division II State Baseball Championships on Thursday advancing both teams into the winner’s-bracket semi-final on Friday at Wasilla High School.
Soldotna 8, Monroe Catholic 4
The Stars offense erupted for five runs in the sixth inning to break a 3-3 tie and pull away from the #2 Mid-Alaska seed from Monroe Catholic School in Fairbanks.
On the mound for the Stars, Atticus Gibson pitched a complete game, recording six strikeouts in seven innings. Daltyn Deborski and Josh Pieh each collected two hits and combined for three runs and three RBI.
The Stars advance to the 7:00 p.m. Friday game against Palmer; the Moose defeated Grace Christian 12-1 on Thursday.
Kodiak 3 – Homer 2
The Kodiak Bears plated a game-winning, walk-off run in the bottom of the eighth inning for a 3-2 win over the Homer Mariners, spoiling a record-breaking pitching performance by Homer’s Harrison Metz.
Metz pitched seven full innings before being lifted with a record 17 strikeouts after throwing 118 pitches. Metz struck out the first seven Kodiak batters. The Alaska pitch count limit is 120 pitches and the previous record was 16 strikeouts (the pitch count came into effect in 2017).
Homer lead 2-0 after five innings; Kodiak tie the game with a two-run, sixth inning.
Kodiak’s Malakai Olson, pinch-running in the bottom of the eighth inning, plated the Bears’ winning run, scoring from second on a fielding error.
Kodiak advances to play North Pole in the winner’s bracket, semi-final at 4:00 p.m. on Friday at Wasilla High School.
Other First Round Scores:
North Pole 4 – Petersburg 0
Palmer 12 – Grace Christian 1