Thursday, May 16
Houston 5, Kenai 4
The Houston Hawks overcame the Kenai Kardinals in walk-off fashion on Thursday, scoring three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to secure the win.
The Kardinals carried a 4-2 lead into the seventh but struggled in the field and from the mound in the final frame. The Hawks managed to score their three runs without recording a hit, a combination of walks, batters hit-by-pitch, and fielding errors by Kenai opened the door for Houston to steal the conference game.
Kenai was playing with a thin roster after two of their regular starters, Daniel Steffenson and Kalani Beddow, missed the game due to inury.
Houston pitcher Jayden Garcia earned the win; Kardinals Jackson Marion took the loss.
Friday, May 17
Kenai 11, Palmer 7
Kenai bounced back from a tough loss to the Houston Hawks on Thursday with an important win over the Palmer Moose on Friday. The Kardinals’ injury-depleted roster returned to their normal strong hitting, pushing 11 runs across the plate in seven innings.
A close game started edging toward the Kardinals when they broke a three-all tie in the top of the fourth, keeping and extending their lead for the rest of the game.
Zane Pellegrom led the hitting, going 3-6 in the game and scoring two runs. Gabe Smith went 2-6 and drove in two of Kenai’s 11 runs.
Smith also started on the mound for the Kardinals. He pitched 5 2/3 innings and earned the win.
Soldotna 1, Colony 0
On Friday night, the Soldotna Stars downed another Division I team, knocking off the Colony Knights in a thrilling pitchers’ duel. Trenton Ohnemus threw a gem, striking out 15 batters in a complete game shutout.
Colony starter Jalen Venie stymied the Stars until the seventh inning when Andrew Pieh led off the top of the inning. Pieh drove a 2-1 pitch 340 feet over the left field fence to send Soldotna to their fourth win in five games against DI teams this season.
Ohnemus carried the team all night, beating one Colony batter after another with his four-seamer, which hovered around 85-86 MPH for the duration of his start.
Saturday, May 18
Soldotna 7, Wasilla 5
In their final regular season game, the Stars got a big monkey off their back on Saturday, beating the Wasilla Warriors for the first time in program history.
Soldotna plays Wasilla more than any other Division I team, at least once per season, and after three innings, it looked once again as though the Stars would not break through against the Warriors. The SoHi boys trailed 4-0 heading into the fifth inning but scored three times to cut Wasilla’s lead to one run. The Warriors picked up another run in the bottom of the inning. Then, trailing 5-3, Soldotna took advantage of a bevy of Wasilla errors in the sixth inning and scored four runs to complete the comeback and pick up the win.
Matthew Schilling pitched two innings in relief and earned the win for Soldotna. Derrick Jones worked a scoreless seventh inning for the save.
Schilling went 1-3 from the plate. Jayden Stuyvesant and Wyatt Gagnon both went 2-4.
The Stars wrapped up their regular season with a 15-3 overall record, a 9-1 conference record, and head to the Northern Lights Conference Tournament in Kodiak as the #1 overall seed.
Kenai 18, Redington 0
Kenai rounded out their regular season with a shellacking of the Redington Huskies on Saturday, winning 18-0 in five innings.
Zane Pellegrom followed up a 3-6 performance against the Palmer Moose with a 2-4 showing, driving in three runs and scoring three times as well. Gabe Smith also had three RBIs. Jacob Joanis, Braden Smith, Brandon Blake, and Everett Chamberlain each had two RBIs.
Kenai finishes he regular season third in the Northern Lights Conference.
