State Baseball Tourney
Dear Editor: Wow! Was that a dream or did it really happen? What an exciting weekend of baseball in Sitka. Hosting the ASAA State Baseball Championships was no small task, and it required the heavy lifting of many people.
I would like to thank the tournament planning committee who met diligently nearly every month for the last year to put all the pieces together: Mark Buggins, Ed Conway, Brian Hanson, Gary Baugher, Scott McAdams, Jamie Licari and Lesa Way. Thank you to Brian and Kim Hanson for manning the PA system and scorebook for all 11 games of the tournament.
Thank you to Cole Venneberg for being the DJ and keeping the park lively with music between innings and games all weekend. Thank you to all the baseball parents, but specifically to Karen Case, Lesa Way, Steve Fish and Kari Johnson, Grechen Stockel. and to the retired baseball parent Jamie Licari, for going above and beyond in all the hours in the concession stand. A big thank you to Dr. Don Lehman and physical therapists Gio Villanueva, Alicia Haseltine and Eric Speck for providing medical coverage for every game of the tournament. The tournament was held on city grounds and we were provided amazing support from all city staff with every challenge that arose.
Special thanks to Gary McCarty and Jim DiGennaro for ensuring high quality internet was available for our web streaming, thank you to Lynne Brandon, Jud Kirkness and their crew for bringing in extra bleachers, prepping the parking lot, keeping the track available for additional parking and much more. Thanks to the SHS administrative team of Dr. PJ Ford Slack, Karen Macklin and Scott McAdams for the extra hours covering the long weekend of games.
Thank you to Rich Ross and Birch Rentals for the donation of the scissor lift in center field to ensure great images for our web stream. Thank you to Chris McGraw and Mike Ashton for ensuring that our fans could access center field with their cars during the busy road construction schedule.
This event would literally not have happened without our local businesses stepping in to underwrite the event, as collecting a gate at Moller Field would have proven impossible. Please thank these businesses for providing you free admission to the games this past weekend – Barnard Construction, McMillen, Delta Western, CH2MHILL, Silver Bay Seafoods, Totem Square Inn, Sea Mart, Subway and Sitka Bottling. And lastly, thank you to our coaches Ed Conway, Mark Buggins, Scott Calhoun, John Wathen and Jim Way. They dared to dream big. They saw Saturday night clear as day years ago and did not stop pushing until this field of dreams was built and the state championship game was scheduled for Moller Field. This crew of men has given thousands of hours to kids in Sitka and has never accepted a dime of compensation. Thank you for your commitment to baseball and kids in Sitka.
Thanks, Sitka, for all your help, and congratulations to the 2014 SHS Wolves, Alaska State Baseball Champions!
Mike Vieira,
2014 ASAA State Baseball
Tournament Director
