Soldotna captures 3rd-straight Division II state baseball crown

The Soldotna baseball team defeated North Pole 23-0 in five innings for a third-straight Division II state title Saturday in Wasilla.

Kenai Central was able to claim third place at the tournament by defeating Palmer 12-5 in the game before the Stars took the field.

Soldotna (20-3) once again failed to allow any dramatics in the title game. The Stars defeated Kenai 14-3 in five innings in 2023, and Petersburg 14-4 in five innings in 2022.

“I feel like the last three championship games have been kind of anticlimactic,” said Soldotna graduated senior Derrick Jones, who went out on top with fellow graduated seniors Andrew Pieh, Levi Mickelson and Brayden Hostetler. “We’ve usually had our tougher games in the semifinals against North Pole.

“So this year was just a little different.”

All the seniors, plus head coach Ken Gibson, agreed the depth in the program is the reason for the lopsided results in the titles games.

Gibson — now 9-0 in the state tournament — and the Stars have been able to keep their ace in reserve for each state final.

“That’s definitely one of the reasons we win a lot,” Pieh said. “We have so many pitchers that can throw strikes and do a good job pitching.

“A lot of other teams just don’t have that.”

That depth comes from Soldotna Little League, and then continued training once the players get to the high school.

“Our Little League program has done such a great job with training young guys and getting them to start playing baseball,” Hostetler said. “These past few years have shown that it’s pumping out really good baseball players.”

Mickelson, who played with and against Pieh and Jones in Little League, joked that a lot of getting yelled at and a lot of running allowed the program to come a long way since it won its first state tourney game when Mickelson was a freshman.

“We train really hard throughout the winter and make sure everyone’s arms are up to speed,” he said. “By the time we get to these tournaments, everyone has a lot of innings pitched.

“They’re all ready to go in.”

Soldotna was able to put ace Trenton Ohnemus, an incoming senior, on the mound. Ohnemus improved to 2-0 in state finals by going all five innings, allowing just a hit and a walk while striking out eight.

Ohnemus was part of a staff no-hitter this season, and also had a no-hitter of his own. In his last five starts, he gave up just one earned run in 31 innings and struck out 57 while walking just 10.

“It’s a slogan of ours that strikes are fun,” said Jones, who is another of Soldotna’s top pitchers and was available in relief. “When you throw strikes, it’s a fun game.

“And (Ohnemus) does that really well.”

With Ohnemus on the mound, the game already felt a bit out of reach when North Pole pitchers, who would walk 17 in the game, yielded five runs in the first inning.

Mickelson had the big blow in the rally with a three-RBI triple. He would finish 2 for 2 in the game with three runs and three RBIs.

He said that felt really good after he spent the first three weeks of the season in a slump. Mickelson’s dad, SoHi assistant Charles Mickelson, has a batting cage in the garage, so Levi worked his way out of the slump.

“It was bad,” said Levi, who was named player of the game for SoHi. “If I hit the ball, it didn’t go much farther than about 10 feet. And no matter how fast you are, it’s pretty hard to outrun that.

“Eventually, it just let up. I got one hit and kept hitting.”

The game was officially out of reach when the Stars scored 14 runs in the bottom of the second inning.

Jones had a two-RBI double in the inning and finished 1 for 2 with two runs and two RBIs. Wyatt Gagnon, who was 1 for 1 with three runs and three RBIs, legged out a triple, then got up from his slide and scored on a throwing error to third.

When Jones came up for the second time in the inning, he ripped a ball to left field. North Pole’s Simeon Langer caught the ball running full speed and immediately smacked into the fence.

Players, coaches, an athletic trainer and even Charles Mickelson, who is an ER doctor, immediately ran to Langer because he hit the fence so hard.

Langer got up after a few minutes and made his way back off the field. Eventually, he made his way back to the dugout through the North Pole crowd with a bloody lip, saying, “We got the out, though.”

“We were sitting there kneeling down, and I was like, ‘We really could have avoided all this if I hit it, like, 10 feet farther,’” Jones said. “I’m glad he’s OK. I talked to him after the game.

“It was a really good catch. I applaud him for the hustle.”

Everything was going right for the Stars at this point. Gibson inserted Brayden Hostetler at third and Brett Hostetler at second in the top of the third inning, and each promptly got a chance to field grounders and throw runners out.

In the bottom of the inning, Brett was able to reach on a walk and score, while Brayden reached on an error and scored.

Brayden, who Gibson said always keeps the energy high on the bench, was on all three state title teams, but this was the first time he played in a state title game.

“That was awesome,” Brayden said. “I was really hoping to have one ball hit at me and then get on base one final time.

“I don’t think there’s any better way to end your career. That’ll be something I always remember.”

Pieh also was able to score three runs in his final game for the Stars.

Gibson was heavily involved in Little League, coaching for a number of years before serving as vice president for two years, then president for two years.

He said Little League is a group of like-minded volunteers and parents who keep trying to get the program better.

Gibson worked with Pieh, Jones and Mickelson going back to Little League, so he said it was great to see the seniors finish strong.

“They’ve been the core of this team for so long,” Gibson said of the four seniors. “They just work hard.

“They have fun, and they enjoy what they’re doing. They do a lot of quiet leadership.”

Also for SoHi, Michael Schilling scored three runs from the leadoff spot, Brett Hostetler was 1 for 1 with a run, Jayden Stuyvesant scored two runs, Tucker Blough had two runs and three RBIs, and Easton Hawkins had a pair of runs.

With eight incoming seniors on the team, the Stars are poised for more success. Each of the three starting pitchers at state — Brenden Theel, Colby Sturman and Ohnemus — are incoming seniors.

“I would have high expectations for the next few years,” Brayden Hostetler said. “Next year, I feel the team could be even better than this year.”

Gibson said Brett Hostetler had the best batting average on the team this season, but was stuck behind Jones at second base.

“They’re all starters,” Gibson said of the incoming seniors. “They’re all quality players.”

Kenai 12, Palmer 5

The Kardinals (13-5) responded to a disappointing semifinal loss by mashing out 10 hits in a game that was called after five innings due to a time limit.

“In a single-elimination tournament like this, it’s hard to respond after you lose,” Kenai head coach Luke Oliver said. “So I was proud of them.

“They came out here swinging the bats and we hit the ball well.”

Graduated seniors Jackson Marion, Gabe Smith, Zane Pellegrom and Kaloni Beddow got to go out with a victory, with Pellegrom named Kenai’s player of the game.

“We kept our morale up,” Pellegrom said. “We just did our best and played our hearts out in this game.”

The Kardinals took control of the game by scoring three runs in the first, second, fourth and fifth innings.

The top half of the order was particularly potent, with Pellegrom leading the way by going 3 for 4 with two runs from the leadoff spot.

It’s a spot into which Pellegrom was thrust after Daniel Steffensen was lost for the season due to injury a few weeks before regions.

“It’s a hard role to jump into, especially coming from the eight or nine hole and jumping into the leadoff spot,” Oliver said. “But he has speed.

“I just kept telling him all year, just put the ball in play, use your speed, and good things will happen.”

Pellegrom said he was surprised when he was moved to the No. 1 slot.

“It was a little scary at first, to be honest,” he said. “After the first couple of games, it just felt natural.”

Also for Kenai, Jacob Joanis was 1 for 2 with three runs and an RBI; Braden Smith was 1 for 2 with three runs and an RBI; Gabe Smith was 2 for 3 with two runs and two RBIs; and Kaloni Beddow was 2 for 3 with three RBIs.

Braden Smith went the distance on the mound for Kenai, gving up five runs — four earned — on seven hits while walking two and striking out three.

“He just does a great job controlling the tempo of the game,” Oliver said of Smith. “I’m glad to see him respond like that, especially after a loss yesterday.”

Pellegrom said he’s happy to have been a part of a senior class that got the program to new levels — finishing second at state last season and third this season.

“The program has grown tremendously throughout the years with great coaching,” Pellegrom said. “And there’s a great group of kids coming through.”

Oliver wishes the seniors future success.

“They’ve worked their tail off in helping to get Kenai to where it’s at now,” the coach said.

Division II state baseball tournament

Sportsmanship award — Kodiak. 

Academic award — Palmer.

All-tournament team — Gabe Smith, Kenai; Simeon Langer, North Pole; Kenai Borgen, North Pole; Kieran Cabral, Petersburg; Logan Tow, Petersburg; Gavin Peterson, Kodiak; Derrick Jones, Soldotna; Trenton Ohnemus, Soldotna; Brenden Theel, Soldotna; Gabriel Wheeler, Palmer; Reed Craner, Palmer; Zane Pellegrom, Kenai.