The Thunder Mountain High School girls softball team begins its defense of the Region V and small schools state titles this weekend.
TMHS travels to Sitka for a trio of games against the Wolves on Friday (6 p.m.) and Saturday (11 a.m. and 1 p.m.).
With an experienced cast of upperclassmen, the Falcons are the favorites to repeat as Region V champions.
Seniors Rachel Macaulay, Maxie Saceda-Hurt, Peyton Harp, Gabrielle Scales and Megan Dallas are proven winners that came from humble beginnings.
“We didn’t win a single game my freshman year,” Scales said. “So then it was sophomore, junior year, we went to state both times. So just going this year would be an incredible and just an amazing opportunity.”
The Falcons won the state championship in 2016 and 2017, defeating rival Juneau-Douglas High School in the championship game both times.
“I think it’d be really cool to redo it again and experience that for our last year,” Harp said.
TMHS went 20-2 overall and 9-2 in conference play last season — Ketchikan and JDHS were the only two teams to beat the Falcons all year. Still, head coach John Boucher said nothing’s guaranteed this season.
“None of those wins carry over,” Boucher said. “We don’t walk into this (season) with any advantage. It’s easy to think we have one, but from my perspective and from what I know of the teams in Southeast, they’re not going to give us one inch, and they should not. And if our team does not prepare and do the work, it will show on the field.”
The Falcons put in the work last season. Boucher said then-sophomores Nina Fenumiai and Kyra Jenkins Hayes were a big reason they repeated as state champs.
“We went from a team who had three senior pitchers to a team that had two sophomore pitchers,” Boucher said. “And that was the biggest unknown going into that season. … I think the pitchers came in and filled the void that we needed and the team surrounded them with fantastic offense and defense to help them along.”
The team will be rotating Fenumiai and Dallas at the pitching position this season. Jenkins Hayes is still coming back from a knee injury that ended her basketball season prematurely.
In addition to Fenumiai and Jenkins Hayes, the junior class includes Marissa Tanuvasa and Emily Bowman. Seven sophomores (Kaitlyn Jansen, Tasi Fenumiai, Morgan Poole, Ciara Garret, Cameron Framke, Sarah Hartsock, Sulifa Veikoso) and two freshmen (Mariah Tanuvasa, Tiana Ault) will also be suiting up for the Blue and White.
JDHS softball
TMHS’ rival across town, JDHS, also has a strategic plan in place to keep all its pitchers healthy this season, namely Leah Spargo.
Back pain kept the star pitcher from finishing out the state championship game last season.
“The plan is to use a few different pitchers each game, so just rotating people in and out,” Spargo said. “So just doing less innings is the idea and hopefully that will help out a little bit.”
The Crimson Bears open their Southeast schedule on the road. JDHS plays Ketchikan at 6 p.m. on Friday and 4 and 6 p.m. on Saturday at Dudley Field.
JDHS compiled a 13-11 overall and 7-4 conference record last season. The Crimson Bears never quite solved the Falcons, losing six of the seven times they faced off against them.
Spargo and fellow seniors Abby Meiners, Morgan Balovich and Elisa Fabrello hope to be the last team standing this season.
“I feel like we have all the fundamentals down, it’s just the confidence that everyone needs to have,” Spargo said.
Balovich says losing two years in a row in the state championship game has taught her an important lesson.
“Don’t give up,” she said. “Never give up. That you can do a lot more than you think you can.”
Adding to JDHS’ depth on varsity are juniors Skylar Hickok, Mia Loree, Sophia McLaughlin and Sophia Schauwecker and sophomores Addie Prussing, Amanda VanSlyke and Asianna Mazon. Mackenzie Jackson is the lone freshman on varsity.
JDHS and TMHS will play in front of their home fans for the first time next Friday, April 27 and Saturday, April 28 at Dimond Park Field No. 4.
The junior varsity teams play at 5 p.m. on Friday, April 27 before the varsity game at 7 p.m. On Saturday, April 28, varsity plays a doubleheader with the first game starting at 11 a.m. and second game starting at 1:30 p.m. Junior varsity plays at 4 p.m. that same day.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nainsworth@juneauempire.com. Follow Empire Sports on Twitter at @akempiresports.
