The Kayhi softball team is heading to Juneau for a pivotal four-game series, split evenly between both Juneau-Douglas and Thunder Mountain. All the games are conference contests, meaning the weekend will have implications in determining seeding for the upcoming Southeast Region V Tournament.
Kayhi and Thunder Mountain are currently tied for first place in the region, each sporting a 5-1 conference record with their only losses coming against each other. Juneau-Douglas sits at third place with a 2-4 conference record. Kayhi also is ranked second in the statewide AK Class II rankings with a 14-7 overall record behind only North Pole (19-3). Thunder Mountain is ranked third (12-8).
The team is focused on the task at hand, according to Head Coach Kalea Allen. She stressed the importance of her team playing within themselves, and explained that they need to play their game to be successful.
“This weekend we’re going up with some goals in mind,” Allen said on Thursday morning. “We definitely want to play our A game every single game and just be able to bounce back if there’s a mistake and not let it progress into more. We’re ready, we want to come with intensity, with energy and we just want to play the softball that we know how to play.”
The team enters the weekend riding a seven-game win streak and holding a 2-1 record against Juneau-Douglas and a 1-1 record against Thunder Mountain.
Allen explained that the groundwork for a successful season has already been laid, and what’s most important now is learning from past mistakes and incorporating that into the game plan.
“We know what we need to do, now it’s just executing,” Allen said. “In practice it’s more about, ‘What did we struggle with last weekend and what can we do to better prepare ourselves to execute it the next time we find ourselves in that situation?’ We have the fundamentals, now it’s taking that next step of strategy and better preparation to give us better chances and outcomes.”
Kayhi’s first full season since 2019 has seen a lot of success. In addition to the team’s overall record, several players have found significant individual success.
Sophomore Riley Welk has been one of the team’s key offensive contributors, currently leading the team in batting average, hits (31), runs (20) and is tied for the team lead in triples (3). Welk is batting .463 with 70 plate appearances on the season. She’s driven in 16 runs and has also hit three doubles.
Senior Shaelyn Mendoza also has been a big part of the Lady Kings offense, batting .449 though 59 plate appearances with 22 hits, 13 RBIs and 17 runs. Mendoza also sports a .518 on-base percentage, which leads her team among qualified batters.
Allen likes her team’s chances heading into the weekend, and attributes part of her team’s success to the full season they’ve been able to play. It’s their first since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s nice having a full season this year. We’re able to play some more competitive teams that we normally wouldn’t,” Allen said. “We went up to play an Anchorage tournament and played some 4A schools that we competed with really well. Getting those higher-quality games and learning from our losses early in the season has been a huge plus, whereas last year we only had a couple games each month. This year we’re able to work on things and get a little more experience, which has helped us in the long run.”
Kayhi will take on Thunder Mountain on Thursday, May 12 at 7 p.m. before facing Juneau-Douglas the following evening at the same time. The Lady Kings will then play a double header against both teams on Saturday, squaring off against Thunder Mountain at 10 a.m. and Juneau Douglas at 5 p.m.
After their trip to Juneau, the Lady Kings will play a three game series in Sitka the following weekend, which will consist of one non-conference and two conference games. It will be their last regular-season series before hosting the Region V Tournament on May 26-28.
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