Juneau-Douglas improved to 4-0-1 on the year with a pair of victories over visiting North Pole on Friday at Melvin Park.

The Crimson Bears opened the doubleheader with an 8-1 win over the Patriots, with left fielder and starting pitcher Malin Murray both going yard for JDHS.

Megan Mauseth reached on an error in the first, followed by a bloop single for Jennifer Nelson. With two on and nobody out, Larson smacked a line-drive shot over the fence in center for a quick 3-0 lead.

The Juneau-Douglas girls’ and Thunder Mountain boys’ track and field teams once again took top honors at this weekend’s Juneau Invite at TMHS.

The two teams are now 3-0 on the year after winning meets in Sitka, Ketchikan and now their hometown of Juneau. The JDHS boys finished second out of eight schools to TMHS, while the Falcon girls finished third out of eight schools.

After winning three of the last four large schools softball state championships, Juneau-Douglas returns perhaps its deepest, most complete roster ever from top to bottom.

The Crimson Bears, who return 15 seniors, begin defense of their 2010 state crown in a doubleheader starting at 5 p.m. today against Sitka, and then Ketchikan at 7 p.m. in the nightcap at Melvin Park.

Manager Dave Massey, the National Fastpitch Coaches Association 2010 West Region Coach of the Year, said he’s never had the luxury of having so much talent.

Thunder Mountain finished off a four-game road swing Saturday with a 14-11 victory over host Petersburg after the Falcons dropped their first three games to Ketchikan.

“It was a strange game out of the chute,” TMHS co-manager Bill McCauley said of the Falcons’ win over the Vikings. “Every thing we did worked, and then we started helping them out with some errors and walks, and it was a game that was seemingly out of hand. But then Petersburg came back and tightened up until we got the last out.