The Gastineau Channel Little League announced on Sunday and Monday the Major Baseball, Major Softball and Junior Baseball and Junior Softball all-star teams.
All four teams will compete against other Southeast little league teams for the Alaska District 2 championship in early and mid-July. The winner of the district tournament advances to the state tournament along with the winner of Alaska District 1, the only other Little League district in the state.
The Junior Softball District 2 tournament begins next Saturday in Ketchikan with Ketchikan Little League. The tournament wraps up on the following Tuesday. The Junior all-stars are managed by Barb Strong and widely made up of last year’s Major all-stars that played in the West Regional Tournament in San Bernardino, California. More recently, the group traveled with the Midnight Suns Fast Pitch Softball club to a 15U Washington state tournament and came in fourth.
“I think they’re pretty strong,” Strong said. “They’ve all worked hard, they’ve all improved. On our good day, I haven’t met a team yet that couldn’t handle.”
The Major Softball all-stars hit the diamond next. Ketchikan and possibly Sitka will convene in Juneau from the district tournament July 6-11. Nicole Adair is the manager of this year’s team and said a majority of her players play club softball in addition to Little League.
“So these girls have a lot of experience and have had a lot of good skill development,” Adair said. “It will be really fun to see how they come together as this team for all-stars.”
The Major Softball state tournament will start up immediately following the conclusion of the district tournament on July 12. All games will be played at Melvin Park.
“The state tournament last year was remarkable and went to five games and the girls played their hearts out,” Adair said. “It would have been so much more to have been local for that tournament. So, obviously, from my perspective, it’s an ecstatic (feeling) to have the tournament local where we can have our home turf, our home field, our home crowd.”
The Junior and Major Baseball all-stars begin play in their respective district tournaments around that same time. The Major tournament is July 15-24 in Juneau; the Junior tournament is July 13-18 in Ketchikan.
Buss, the Major all-stars manager, and Phil Millard, the Juniors all-star manager, say they have talented squads this year.
Buss said the team is tight-knit from playing on the same and opposing baseball teams for about the last eight years.
“We’re a strong team this year —pitching, hitting, fielding, everything,” Buss said. “So we’ve got some high hopes for these guys.”
Millard echoed Buss’ comments when speaking about his own team. Millard said the team is solid on the pitching mound and at the plate.
“We have a pretty solid core, especially with the 14-year-olds,” Millard said. “A few of them play in the offseason, they’re in a baseball club and they get more practice. It’s a pretty tight group so I think they should play well together.”
GCLL featured over 400 players this season, according to GCLL board member David Buss. The season begins in late April and concludes in mid-June. All-star teams, which are limited to 13 players, are voted on by players and coaches in the final weeks of the season.
Little League Alaska District 2 Tournaments
Juniors Softball – June 30-July 5 (Ketchikan)
Majors Softball – July 6-11 (Juneau)
Juniors Baseball – July 13-18 (Ketchikan)
Majors Baseball – July 15-24 (Juneau)
Major Baseball All-Stars
Antone Araujo
Thomas Baxter
Kean Buss
Kaleb Campbell
Eli Crupi
Esteban Demmert
Riley Duncan
Sam Lockhart
Kasen Ludeman
Christian Nelson
Sean Oliver
Kaeden Quinto
Ezra Vidal
David Buss (Manager)
Major Softball All-Stars
Amira Andrews
Tatum Billings
Chloe Casperson
Ruby Davis
Jenna Dobson
Mila Hargrave
Saelyr Hunt
Jack Lovejoy
Tristan Olivia
Remi Starks
Gracie Stickler
Kara Strong
Kiah Yadao
Nicole Adair (Manager)
Junior Baseball All-Stars
Joseph Aline
Noah Chambers
Matthew Hartsock
Matthew Johns
Finn Kesey
Peyton Lewis
Caden Mesdag
Gavin Millard
Isaiah Nelson
Porter Nelson
Derek Schauwecker
Carter Walker
Preston Williams
Phil Millard (Manager)
Junior Softball All-Stars
Zoey Billings
Gloria Bixby
Peyton Carson
Anna Dale
Riley Harp
Tyler Johnson
Aspen Kasper
Margot Oliver
Rileyanna Payne
Anne-Alise Rentrop
Mariah Schauwecker
Kaia Smith
Sydney Strong
Barb Strong (Manager)
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nainsworth@juneauempire.com. Follow Empire Sports on Twitter at @akempiresports.
