By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
In the first, and possibly final, games against an out-of-town team during an unconventional baseball season, the Sitka Little League Majors notched three wins over the Juneau Midnight Suns over the weekend.
After the COVID-19 pandemic derailed sports around the world, Sitka manager Rich McAlpin said he was happy that his players, ages 11 and 12, had a chance to play an out-of-town team this summer.
“We were just excited to be able to play after a season that might not happen and then last minute, we threw things together and Juneau was able to come over,” McAlpin said.
Sitka Little League President Karen Case organized the event.
“I just called some folks in Juneau and said, ‘Hey, I know you didn’t have a regular season, but could you put together a team of major league kids to come play a series with us?’” Case said in an interview. She noted that the event was organized quickly, with only about two weeks’ notice.
Caleb Calhoun gets a piece of a pitch thrown by Juneau during a game Thursday at Moller Park. (Sentinel Photo)
Sitka and Juneau played three games, with Sitka winning 3-0 Thursday, 16-6 Friday, and 12-3 Saturday.
After the somewhat tight Thursday game, Sitka heated up on Friday and kept up the pressure on Saturday.
“We got our bats going, we were able to hit the ball and we hit the ball pretty hard,” McAlpin said.
He added that all of his players, including younger kids, got onto the field.
“Being relaxed, having fun, we were able to get some of the younger players off of the bench and onto the playing field,” McAlpin said.
Juneau earned a three-point lead in the first and second innings on Saturday before the Sitka All Stars turned the game around.
“We started out a little slow, we were behind 0-3 and we had a brief talk about ‘Don’t be complacent after a ten run game,’” McAlpin said, “We had to make a little pitching adjustment, Brian Campbell came in, he plays center field and he shut them down with some really good defense,”
Strong play from Caleb Calhoun, Trey Johnson, and Mason McCleod, among others, helped seal the game for Sitka.
The Sitka Little League Majors All Stars team made it all the way to the Northwest Regionals in San Bernardino, California, in 2019. National-level Little League activities are not taking place in 2020.
Sitka pitcher Caleb Calhoun told the Sentinel that the season this year was quite different because of limited opportunities for play.
“It’s a lot different, you don’t get as many games as you did, there aren’t many teams to play, so there isn’t really a tournament,” Calhoun said.
Sitka catcher Nate White agreed, saying that the lack of teams to play was the biggest change of the season.
“Baseball-wise it’s not all that different, we just don’t have as any teams come as we normally do,” White said.
Prior to the games, White said that he hoped to “just play hard.”
While Sitka Little League has played a number of games in town over the summer, this weekend’s play against Juneau marked the first games of the year against a team that traveled from outside of Sitka. McAlpin said that while there is a possibility of more play against Juneau, it is uncertain for the moment.
Virus mitigation efforts included cleaning of the dugouts, physical distancing, and the elimination of high fives and fist bumps in favor of hat tips, Case said. Players had access to face coverings and sanitizing wipes. The league also chose not to open the concessions stand in order to promote distancing. Case added that the Juneau team stayed in a hotel in order to prevent further exposure. Prior to the pandemic, the Midnight Suns would have been housed with Sitkan families, she said.
While Sitka’s Little League baseball and softball players held games in a reduced schedule, the Juneau Midnight Suns only played sandlot this summer prior to the Sitka games.
Juneau manager Gilbert Mendoza echoed sentiments heard among Sitkan baseball players.
“The boys are feeling pretty excited to get out of here and play some baseball. Sitka is always a great host and we are happy to be here,” Mendoza said in an interview.
Juneau left fielder Gunnar Niere said that while he had hoped for more baseball this summer, the sandlot games were enjoyable.
“It has been fun, we’ve been having fun, we like playing. We were sad that we couldn’t play but sandlot made it better,” Niere said. He added that his favorite part of baseball is “getting people out.”
Midnight Suns’ shortstop and pitcher Hunter Carte also said that he was happy just to be playing baseball this year.
“(I like) just having my head in the game and being excited,” he said.
With global sports on hold and Major League Baseball operating on a shortened schedule, McAlpin said that in spite of the difficulties he was happy to play baseball.
“It feels good. Sitka is the defending Alaska champions in this age group. The (Little League) World Series was called off, states, everything was called off. It feels good to be playing baseball,” he said.
