By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
For the first time since 2017, the Sitka High Wolves competed at the state championship baseball tournament in Anchorage, held over the weekend.
While the Wolves’ pitchers performed well, fielding errors took a toll on the team, and Sitka placed sixth out of eight teams in the double elimination bracket.
Leading off against Eagle River High, Sitka lost 12-1 on Thursday. For senior Emanuel Barragan, the loss came down to fielding errors.
“We were really trying to get that first win, that was what we were really going for,” Barragan told the Sentinel Monday. “And we didn’t play how we wanted, you know, errors in the field. Grady (Smith, freshman pitcher) was shutting them down, and then they had these little hits that we couldn’t control. They got a couple runs and I think we lost our momentum in that first game, it fell off and just got worse and worse.”
Wolves senior Eman Barragan is safe at second base against Thunder Mountain High, June 28, in the Region V baseball tournament in Sitka. Sitka won 9-8 with a clutch seventh inning pick to earn a spot in the state tourney. (Sentinel photo)
Barragan wasn’t the only Wolf who praised the team’s pitching through the tournament.
“Our pitchers threw great, Grady threw great, Nik (Calhoun) threw great, Dylan (Marx) threw great. Trevin threw awesome – everyone. All of our pitchers are really strong,” junior Stephen Harmon said.
The rising senior stressed the importance of staying in the game until the final out.
“It’s not over until the last out, if you can make a run you’ve still got a chance… I remember coming back when we were in All-Stars, and we scored 12 runs in one inning,” Harmon recalled.
Sophomore Sam Johnson seconded this.
“We’ve come back from even worse scores before,” he said.
But like Barragan, Johnson highlighted Sitka’s errors in the tournament opener.
“Our first game, we had a ton of errors which definitely contributed to the big loss,” he said.
Regardless of the loss, Coach Ken Carley was glad to be back on the field.
“It was a learning experience for them, they had highs and lows. When they were in the game they did really well, it was just keeping them in the game.. We didn’t get to play last year. I was happy just to be on the field, really, with the pandemic we had to wear masks for a lot of it, but we missed three games against Ketchikan. Other than that, we had a full season,” Carley said.
While Sitka grew familiar with other Southeast teams over the season, the northern schools were a bit enigmatic for the coach.
“A lot of times when you play teams over and over like Juneau and Ketchikan and Petersburg you get to know their players, their tendencies,” Carley said. “Up there, all I know is what I find online… Mostly you’re coaching in the blind when you’re playing a team like that. But I definitely think we had a better team than Eagle River, we just didn’t show up that day. We were there but we didn’t show up mentally.”
Despite the hard loss to Eagle River, Sitka rallied on Friday for a seventh inning win against Chugiak, 3-2.
Heading into the game, Barragan was intent on a win.
“We lost that first game so we thought let’s win one, let’s get onto that next game… We just want one win in there, that’s what we were going for. And we threw one of our better guys, Nik Calhoun, on the mound. Helped us out a lot,” he said.
Harmon knew that in the double elimination bracket, the Chugiak game was a pivotal moment. With the game tied in the seventh, there was no room for error.
“We knew we needed to win, because if we didn’t win we were going to be out, so we really played hard,” he said. “Trevin hit a walkoff, with Eman. Eman was on base; he was our scoring run, bottom of the seventh. There was at least one out and (Carley) just crushed it.”
For much of the game, Chugiak led 2-0, but the Wolves turned the tables in the final two innings.
“We scored two in the sixth to tie it, and then Eman got on base in the seventh and Trevin hit a left field ball to end it,” the coach said over the phone Friday.
“We had great pitching. Nik threw a complete game today, seven strikeouts... Our defense was clean, two or three times they had one or two batters on base, a couple times they got to third and didn’t score. It was a nail biter the whole way,” Carley recounted hours after the win.
While Sitka pulled out the win to avoid an early knockout, Barragan noted that the team’s batters struggled to make contact.
“Just couldn’t get hits really, I don’t know what’s with it. We would get runners on base and just leave them there,” the graduated senior said.
In the final consolation game against Wasilla High, Sitka fell 10-7 on Saturday.
Despite the loss, Johnson recalled a bright spot in the Wasilla game. He hit a triple RBI.
“I was 0-3 at that point and I knew I had to do something. Bases were loaded again and I missed on the first opportunity and I knew I needed to do something or else we weren’t going anywhere. And it ended up being a hit,” Johnson remembered.
Harmon noted the moment as well.
“We put Trevin (Carley) into pitch. He hadn’t pitched all year so that was our reward from last game. All round it was good, except that we had some errors. Sam had a crazy hit, he had three RBIs in one hit,” Harmon said.
For Barragan, it was fun seeing the team’s only other senior on the mound.
“We threw Trevin, because it was his last game and he hasn’t pitched at all this year, so having him on the mound was fun,” Barragan said.
In hindsight, while he wished that the Wolves had placed higher in the tournament, Barragan was glad for the chance to compete up north.
“I wish we would have gone farther in state… but we made it up there, we made it up to state. That was the big goal,” he said.
The tournament was Sitka’s first chance to play against teams from outside of Southeast Alaska since 2019.
“It’s kind of weird playing with different people. When we were in regions we played, but we played against them all our lives. You know, we’ve seen them before… Different pitches, and you could definitely see how their skills were a lot better, that sort of stuff,” Johnson said.
As a sophomore, this was his first high school baseball season since COVID canceled play in 2020.
South Anchorage took the state title in a blowout game, toppling Colony High 19-0 on Saturday.
The coach underscored the need for hard work and training.
“We should have a really good team… It just shows that the harder you practice, the better off you are. We had a lot of guys who weren’t taking practice seriously… They’d rather be playing on their phones. When I was a kid I grew up on this corner here, I was on this field ten hours a day growing up. These guys are only on the field when we’re having practice or a game. No one shows up and plays for fun anymore,” Carley said as his players handed in their jerseys on Monday.
Simply playing catch with family makes a difference, the coach said.
“You can tell our guys who really work hard all the time. When parents play catch with them that’s huge. Being able to catch and throw that’s the biggest part of baseball and that’s where we’re having problems,” he said.
But the tournament made Harmon optimistic about the 2022 season, as the Wolves are losing only two seniors this year – Barragan and T. Carley.
“It gave me a lot of confidence for next year. We’re losing Trevin and Eman, two seniors, but a majority of our team is still here for next year, as well as new incoming freshmen. It just gives me confidence for us doing well next year,” Harmon said.
As Harmon sees it, the Wolves improved through the season, and he plans to continue training over the summer.
“We got so much better this season, and really getting us ready for next season as well. I think it was a great positive season as a whole… We’re going to get in the cage a lot, we’re going to keep our arms fresh, so a lot of catch, a lot of long toss,” Harmon said.
Barragan hopes the team keeps up their energy in the 2022 baseball season.
“Keep that energy up, knowing that they’re going to get hits every game, that was big on us this year. We needed our hits to score runs, and I hope they get that next year. I hope I helped them out this year as a senior,” he said.
With the season over and high school on summer break, the Sitka Wolves have two months of rest before fall sports begin.
