By Casey Roehl
ANCHORAGE, Alaska, (KINY) – For the first time since 2019, a new ASAA D1 Baseball Champion was crowned on Saturday afternoon at Mulcahy Stadium. A 6-1 victory for the Service Cougars over the Eagle River Wolves claimed Service’s first D1 state baseball championship in school history.
In the lead-up to the state championship game, both Southeast Conference bids, Sitka High School and Juneau-Douglas High School concluded the state tournament as the 3rd place and 6th place finishers respectively.
During the first game of the three-game Saturday slate, Chugiak High School shut out JDHS 3-0 to claim 4th place in the tournament. Mustangs right-hander Jayden Steckel posted the tournament’s only no-hitter in the win.
The Crimson Bears concluded the 2024 high school season as 6th place finishers.
In a 2022 ASAA D1 State Championship rematch, Sitka drubbed the three-time reigning state champion of South Anchorage HS 11-3 in an abbreviated game to claim third place in the consolation championship game.
Fueled by an eight-run fifth inning, Sitka and South reached the two-hour limit for consolation contests, the only game in the tournament to get a time limit, ending the game midway through the sixth frame.
South HS finished in fifth place with the defeat. The loss marked the first time the Wolverines finished fifth in an ASAA state baseball tournament.
Colony and West Valley High Schools from the Railbelt Conference were the only two teams who finished the weekend without wins.
