Sitka High’s Lady Wolves rolled to victory over the Ketchikan Lady Kings in a two-game softball series in Ketchikan to wrap up regular season gameplay prior to the state tournament this week in Anchorage.
The games in Ketchikan this past weekend were for the Region V championship for Division II, in which only Ketchikan and Sitka have softball teams..
On Saturday Sitka routed Kayhi 15-0 in a no-hitter thrown by starting pitcher Alina Lebahn, and on Sunday the Lady Wolves continued their dominance, winning the second game 19-5 in a match that featured a home run hit by Sitka's Ally Mayville.
Sitka’s hitting ability was on full display at the two-team regional tournament, Lebahn said
“Having our bats starting off hot in the first inning, everybody was hitting, we got our first three batters on base consistently, and made sure that those batters were batted in, and then defensively, making all the easy plays, all routine plays were made,” Lebahn said.
She pitched both games against Kayhi, allowing no hits in the first and giving up only a single walk.
“Our defense was really hot, we had a no-hitter. The first game, our team, our defense was hot… We just kept it going, they scored a little bit more, but it was defensively (solid), and the bats were on fire. Everybody was hitting; everybody was scoring,” Lebahn said.
Sitka coach Jael McCarthy noted Lebahn’s strong pitching, and said the team’s batting also was solid against the Kings.
“Alina threw the game of her life – it's really hard to no-hit a team like Ketchikan. And then really, the goal of our team is always we save our pitchers and we save our catchers with their bats.... It was 15 runs before you know it, and our defense was playing lights out,” McCarty said. “And we always say we're going to get all the routine ones and a few of the great plays. And it just all clicked at once. This weekend, we had a ton of routine plays that we got, and then we had a couple of those SportsCenter moments, and it just felt good. And then they just kept riding the wave all the way through the weekend.”
Penelope Blankenship highlighted Sitka’s strong fielding in both games.
“I think our defense was really well this weekend," Blankenship said. "We were talking a lot and making sure where to throw it. We were just communicating really well.”
Looking forward to the state tourney, she said, “I feel good about it, I think we’ll do good.”
The Lady Wolves are the top seeded team going into pool play in the tournament being held in Anchorage and is facing Soldotna and Kenai today.
McCarty said Soldotna is an unknown quantity for Sitka so far this season.
“We've never seen them at state before. They are an up-and-coming scrappy team, and scrappy teams can be pretty dangerous, so we're not going to overlook anybody,” he said. "We'll see Kenai, we saw them earlier this year, beat them in the tournament… (Kodiak is) coming off of a really solid season, so it should be interesting to see up there, because you don't know who's going to end up in the championship,” McCarty said.
Lebahn said the Lady Wolves tend to keep morale high in the dugout and “when we’re on it, we’re on it.”
“We're always singing in the dugout, making up the most random, crazy cheers. We're just all friends. This is a fun team. There's not a whole bunch of pressure on anybody ever, it's always just a fun environment. There's a lot of trust on the team,” Lebahn said. “When we're hitting, nobody can really beat us,” she added. "
