SITKA, ALASKA
As the Region V champions, the Lady Wolves earned a bye in this morning’s opening round of the small-schools tourney. When Sitka finally took field at 1 PM, coach Bob Potrzuski says Soldotna jumped to a 2 – nothing lead.
“But we were hitting the ball. That was not an issue. We were hitting right at people. Eventually we started finding some holes. Jule Peterson was 4 for 4, Katie Hagen had two key hits. Hunter Huddleston, who was named player of the game, had three hits, including one that kind of broke it open for us. So it was a good performance.”
The Sitka Lady Wolves are the defending small schools state champions. They lost only one senior from last year’s team. Nevertheless, Potrzuski says that it also took a little while for his defense to adjust to the big stage.
“Instead of just making the play, they were thinking about making the play, and wanting to make the play just right, instead of just playing. And once they got through a couple of innings they settled in and started to make things routine.”
Sophomore Stefania Potrzuski pitched for the Lady Wolves. After giving up the two unearned runs early on, she went on to claim the win. Sitka will now face its principal Southeast rival, Ketchikan, in the semi-final Saturday morning. Bob Potrzuski says that even though Sitka has the better record this season, there’s no telling the outcome under tournament pressure.
One additional factor is the double-elimination format. Whichever team loses tomorrow could claw its way back in three consecutive games at 11 AM, 1 PM, and 3 PM. Despite its grueling possibilities, Potrzuski supports the double-elimination, which is NOT used in the boys baseball tournament happening at the same time.
“It’s a great format, it really is. The boys last night lost a heartbreaker to the number one team out of Anchorage, and all of the sudden their title hopes are gone. Whereas we could stub our foot and still wind up winning the championship.”
The Sitka Wolves baseball team lost to Dimond 1-2 last night, but topped Soldotna in the consolation bracket this afternoon. The Wolves will play Kodiak for fourth place tomorrow morning. Kodiak eliminated Sitka’s rival Juneau this morning, 5 – 4.
For updated softball and baseball scores, visit the Alaska School Activities Association at www.asaa.org.
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