Sitka High was a dominating force on the diamond Thursday, Friday and Saturday, leading off the baseball season with home games against Juneau-Douglas and Soldotna, racking up five wins, no losses and one draw in a pre-season series.
Sitka opened the series Thursday with a 6-2 win over Juneau, and a 1-1 tie with Soldotna. On Friday Sitka downed Soldotna 5-1, and routed the Crimson Bears 10-1 shortly thereafter.
The teams played again Saturday, when Sitka took a close 7-6 win over Juneau, and defeated Soldotna 4-2.
In the Friday game with Juneau, Sitka took the lead early, scoring 2 runs in the bottom of the first inning and 4 more in the bottom of the second, all while holding Juneau scoreless until the sixth.
Sitka’s Caleb Calhoun pitched through most of the game, and was instrumental in keeping the Crimson Bears’ batters off of bases.
“After the first three or four innings, our team started to relax," Calhoun said. "We didn't have the jitters anymore, because we already had a big lead. Our pitching was doing good... Our offense and defense were able to have better control where they were going, and they were smarter,” Calhoun told the Sentinel after the Friday game at Moller Field.
Calhoun’s batting was hot Friday, too, as he hit the first out-of-the-park home run of the season in the bottom of the fifth.
Coach Kenny Carley thinks the Wolves are starting the year in a good position, with a large number of seniors and juniors comprising the backbone of the squad.
“We're improving every day. We've got a great team – it's just a matter of them realizing it," the coach said.
"We have seven seniors this year, and they're all very talented. The majority of our field is seniors, which I've never had before,” Carley said.
The Wolves kept their momentum through the game and never allowed the Crimson Bears breathing room on either offense or defense. Juneau loaded the bases in the sixth, and scored their single run following a hit by Tyler Frisby. Juneau nearly scored a second run, but the umpires ruled there was batter interference at home when the third baseman passed to the catcher.
The game finished after six innings when time ran out with Sitka ahead 10-1.
Coach Carley emphasized the strength of Sitka’s pitching and experience.
“Most of these guys have been playing together since they were in Little League," he said. "… Some of our seniors went down to San Bernardino (for the Little League regional tournament) when they were 12,”
“We just need to attack earlier, the first game, we didn’t score until later on,” he added.
Sitka catcher Tanner Steinson noted Sitka’s high degree of experience, too, and thinks the team looks good in the first weeks of the season.
“We've got a lot of seniors. Our pitching is really strong. I mean, we don't even know where to put guys in the batting order this year, we’ve got such good heavy hitters,” Steinson said.
As a senior, he wants “to see us succeed, go all the way, win state. I think we have a really good chance this year. This is going to be a great year.”
Brett Ross, a junior, highlighted Sitka’s hitting in the team’s lopsided win over the Bears.
“Today was definitely our hitting," he said. "We were aggressive at the plate, seeing the ball really well. On defense, making the easy plays. I'd say we did what we were supposed to on defense.”
Mason McLeod, a junior, said the team “got the jitters out of us after this first game, and I think we’re a pretty strong hitting game after we get going.”
His goal for the season is earning a spot at the state championship in early June.
Caleb Calhoun, a junior, said he hopes to see his team continue to bond together as the season takes off, and thinks the squad needs to improve their confidence in gameplay.
“Our strength is definitely going to be our hitting and our pitching," Calhoun said. "Fielding can always use work. It's just small mental errors going to the wrong place. Otherwise, I think our team's really good. We just need to be confident all the time… I just hope we have better team chemistry. You can pull together, and when we play these better teams up north, I hope we have the same confidence we did today.”
Sitka has a bye this coming week but plays a home game against Ketchikan a week and a half from now.
