The Soldotna softball team dropped a pair of Northern Lights Conference contests in a whirlwind tour of Kodiak on Friday and Saturday.
The Stars touched down in Kodiak at 3:10 p.m. Friday and had two varsity games and a JV game under their belts before wheels up at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The varsity lost 19-11 in five innings Friday and 17-8 in six innings Saturday. Soldotna is now 2-4 in the conference and 3-5 overall.
“It was a 24-hour trip to Kodiak and I’m proud of how the kids battled and fought for each other,” SoHi head coach Kelli Knoebel said. “They showed great team spirit.”
Knoebel said the Stars were in both games early, but they couldn’t stay with Kodiak.
“Kodiak was tough,” Knoebel said. “Their pitching staff was outstanding. There’s a lot of depth there.”
The coach said Bailey Berger had a great weekend, going 2 for 3 with three RBIs in the first game and 3 for 4 with three RBIs in the second game. She also turned an unassisted double play in the second game.
Casey Earll pitched both games and took both losses. Knoebel said Earll had some command trouble at times, but overall pitched well in accumulating nine strikeouts on the weekend.
In the first game, Ashley McDonald was 2 for 4 with an RBI, Casey Card was 1 for 4, Ashlyn Asp was 2 for 3 with a double, and Janna Krieger was 2 for 3 with an RBI. Knoebel said the turning point in the game was when SoHi had the bases loaded in the fifth inning, but couldn’t get anybody in.
In the second game, SoHi led 1-0 after one, 2-1 after two and was locked in a 4-all tie after the third. Eventually, Kodiak’s talent, and perhaps a little fatigue from the fast weekend, took over.
Krieger was 2 for 4 with an RBI, Lillian Gomez reached twice and scored a run, and Earll scored three runs in four at-bats.
Knoebel said another highlight of the weekend was Kodiak celebrating senior day Saturday and electing to honor SoHi’s seniors as well.
Homer plays in Anchorage
The Homer Mariners saw their nine-game win streak snapped Friday at the Blue and Gold Fastpitch Invitational at the Chuck Albrecht Softball Complex in Anchorage.
Homer lost its first game of the day 2-1 to Chugiak, then lost 9-0 to South Anchorage.
The Mariners finished off the weekend with a Saturday split, losing 9-1 to Dimond and beating Wasilla 13-9.
Saturday against Dimond, the Mariners went hit for hit with the Lynx but couldn’t score any runs after getting one in the first inning. Dimond scored twice in the top of the second for a 3-1 lead, then scored two more in the fourth for a 5-1 edge before putting it away with four runs in the fifth.
Annalyn Brown and Kaitlyn Johnson both went 3 for 3 to lead Homer, and Grace Godfrey provided a scoring punch with an RBI single.
Brown pitched all five innings for Homer, giving up eight earned runs on 11 hits and five walks, striking out one.
In their 13-9 win over Wasilla, the Mariners rallied from an early 4-0 deficit to score 12 runs in the second inning, which was enough to hold them. Homer brought 16 batters to the plate in the frame, and got base hits on nine of the first 11 at-bats.
Kaylin Anderson and Becca Chapmen both went 2 for 3 with three RBIs to lead the Homer offense.
Zoe Adkins pitched the full four innings and gave up nine runs on 13 hits and four walks with two strikeouts.
Friday in Game 1, Chugiak scored two runs in each the first two innings, then held on for four more innings and a last-minute charge by Homer to win the game.
The Mariners led off the bottom of the sixth with a single by Kaylin Anderson, who scored on a two-out triple by Kaitlyn Johnson to cut the lead to one. Johnson was left stranded 90 feet away as the tying run after a ground-out by Grace Godfrey ended the game.
Johnson finished 1 for 3 with the RBI, while Anderson, Annalynn Brown, Haylee Owen and Zoe Adkins each tallied a base hit against Chugiak.
Brown pitched the full game for Homer with two earned runs on six hits and three walks, striking out five.
In Game 2, South scored six runs in the third inning to blow open the game with an 8-0 lead. The Wolverines outhit the Mariners 11-5 overall, including two home runs offered up by Homer starter Zoe Adkins.
Adkins went five innings and gave up all nine runs on 11 hits, getting three strikeouts as well.
