Donavin McCurley used his head to help Juneau Post 25 take the lead in the fifth inning against Wasilla Post 35 Friday night at Adair-Kennedy. Literally.
As McCurley led off at second base, Wasilla’s Cyrus Lovell’s pick-off attempt found McCurley’s dark navy batting helmet. The ball ricocheted far enough in the outfield for McCurley and Zeb Storie to score, giving Juneau their first lead of the game at 6-5.
Juneau’s offense continued from there — the home team outscored Wasilla 8-1 in the final three innings of the game to win 12-6.
“I just kinda poked (my head) up a little bit, the ball just went flying,” McCurley said of the play that hit off his helmet.
It’s Juneau’s fourth win of the season after taking three out of four games against Dimond Post 21 June 9-11.
Both teams recorded 10 hits in the game, but Wasilla’s four errors helped the home team bring in several unearned runs.
“The ball kept seeming to find our backups today,” Wasilla coach Ken Ottinger said. “They haven’t played that much. I’m not too overly concerned. We threw kids that actually this is their first time playing (American) Legion.”
After two scoreless innings, Wasilla’s Ben Werner started a five-run rally. Werner hit a sharp grounder to right field. The next batter, Jeffery Forster, skied a ball that hit off the fence in left field. With runners on first and third, Cyrus Lovell hit a home run to dead center. Two more runs scored before relief pitcher Brandon Keeler struck out Forster to end the prolonged inning.
“Most of our games are starting out kind of slow. We’re not in the game and finally we realize, ‘Oh we’re down, so we got to pick it back up and start getting back in the game,’” McCurley said. “So we need to start the game up 5-0 not down 5-0.”
In the fifth inning, McCurley, Storie, Bobby Cox, Bryce Swofford and Finn Collins all scored. Storie, Cox and Swofford each had multiple hits in the game.
Kasey Watts hit the only home run in the game for Juneau in the fourth inning.
The teams played each other three more times this weekend — twice on Saturday and once on Sunday.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nolin.ainsworth@juneauempire.com.
Juneau Post 25 pitcher Brandon Keeler throws to first base on Friday night against Wasilla Post 35. The runner was safe on the play. (Nolin Ainsworth | Juneau Empire)
