The Bill Miller/Lance Coz Wood Bat Tournament bears not only the name of Lance Coz, but his spirit as well.
Coz died in September 2020 at 73. He was pivotal in starting the Twins program in 1973 and served as general manager and head coach until his death.
Winning state titles in 1991, 1995, 2012 and 2016, Coz was able to keep the Twins humming despite the many challenges of being so far away from the teams in Anchorage, the Matanuska-Susitna valleys and Fairbanks.
That’s the spirit coach Robb Quelland called upon when he learned only three AA teams would be coming to the tournament this year.
Making matters tougher, the Twins were not able to play the tournament at Coral Seymour Memorial Park because the Peninsula Oilers are in the middle of a homestand. So Quelland and the team spent a bunch of time getting the Kenai Little League fields ready to play.
“That’s Lance Coz,” Quelland said, thanking the parents, Post 20 and the City of Kenai for coming through for the tournament. “He didn’t care. He didn’t complain. We don’t do anything.
“We just want to play baseball.”
Joe Bair, a coach for the Lower Columbia (Washington) Baseball Club is impressed, and he hadn’t even been to Saturday night’s banquet yet where the players are fed salmon, halibut, ribs and a bunch of desserts.
“I’ve been superimpressed with Robb,” Bair said. “This is just a really classy organization, the way they are doing it up here.”
In Saturday action, the Twins AA defeated Bartlett AA 11-1 in five innings and the Twins AA lost to Lower Columbia 5-3. Although not officially part of the tournament, the Twins A team defeated Bartlett A 23-1 on Saturday.
Sunday, Twins AA and Lower Columbia will meet for the tournament title at 9 a.m. Afterward, Twins A and Twins AA will close the tournament with a scrimmage.
Lower Columbia arrived for its first trip to Alaska on June 22 and will leave following Sunday’s championship. Bair said he was mowing his lawn and listening to a podcast during the pandemic when he heard about Legion teams taking trips to Alaska.
“So I just looked into it,” he said. “That’s how it started. So we got on the waiting list.”
Lower Columbia finished third in the Alaska 529 Midseason Classic in Anchorage and second at the Todd Ryan Memorial Tournament in Wasilla.
Bair said some highlights of the trip were a hike in Eagle River, a hike to Exit Glacier and a quick trip to the Homer Spit before Saturday’s game.
The coach said Saturday’s trip was the biggest highlight for him.
“Honestly, for me, I think it was Homer and the spit,” Bair said. “That was beautiful.”
Quelland said hosting teams like Lower Columbia, now 17-5, can only make the Twins better.
“We tell the kids, don’t worry about the score. Watch how they do things,” he said after falling to 11-7 overall. “How they show up, how they dress, how they act.
“These are teams that play at a higher level than we do in Alaska. And we want to emulate what they do to get better.”
Quelland said one the players that stood out to him is shortstop Talon McGrorty for his range and his pinpoint arm.
“Their shortstop probably cost me four runs every game because of his skill level,” Quelland said.
Leadoff batter Easton Marshall also impressed with his speed. Bair said Marshall has the stolen bases record for his high school and is nearing the record for Lower Columbia.
Marshall had a big day Saturday, going 2 for 3 with a run and two RBIs.
Lower Columbia took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first, but the Twins cut it to 2-1 in the top of the fourth.
Lower Columbia answered with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Jones gave up five runs — one earned — on three hits while walking five and striking out none.
Atticus Gibson was solid in relief, pitching a scoreless 2 1-3 innings and giving up a hit while striking out two.
The Lower Columbia pitching and defense gave the Twins virtually nothing, though, making it hard to score with the wood bats.
Camden Wheatley started and went four innings, giving up a run on four hits while walking one and striking out three.
Mitchell Lindsey went three innings, giving up two runs on four hits while walking none and striking out two.
Lower Columbia didn’t have any errors.
“Our pitchers weren’t overpowering with a lot of strikeouts, but we played error free behind them,” Bair said, adding that he’s happy to be swinging the wood bats because wood will be used at a college showcase the team is attending next week.
Hunter Williams and Braden Smith, who was 2 for 4, both had RBI doubles in the seventh for the Twins. Quelland said Jones made a couple of nice plays in right field, and Levi Mickelson also had a nice catch in right.
Against Bartlett, Charlie Chamberlain and Andrew Pieh combined on a no-hitter.
Chamberlain went three innings and gave up an unearned run while walking four and striking out two. Pieh went two scoreless innings, walking two and fanning three.
Pieh and Mickelson scored a pair of runs, while Jace Crall was 2 for 4, Zane Pellegrom was 3 for 3 with two RBIs and Chamberlain had three RBIs.
