Neat article, Avi. If you read the Alaska newspapers, you'll see stories about major leaguers who played in Alaska & so on. The ABL is a reasonably big deal there, though apparently attendance figures are low.
Now to get back in character...
Game One
Mendenhall Glacier and Lake in Juneau
August 29, 2009 - Play was ready to begin at the Ballpark at Auke Bay, the Senators' home field. Neither the Senators nor the Mushers had been in the Championship Series yet, but Juneau was getting support from the eastern half of the state, while the western half overwhelmingly supported underdogs Bethel.
vs.
Newt Langille (8-7, 4.02) Scott Northeast (11-6, 3.34)
Terence Ostrom got the series started for Bethel by rolling a slow one over to the shortstop and beating the throw. Lefty Mike Wilson strode to the plate and stroked a line-drive single to right on a 1-1 count; Ostrom scampered over to third.
After Birley popped up to short, Curry flied out just deep enough to center to get Ostrom home. 1-0.
Duncan Sutherland kept things going with a hard grounder to short that took a funny hop and bounced off the glove of James Labbee for a single. Runners on first and second. Slugger Carl Preston then scorched a line drive that bounced off the glove of second baseman Ralph Collette and just rolled into right. Wilson chugged home and Sutherland beat the throw to third. Scored a single and RBI. 2-0. Tom Morse then flied out to end the inning.
The Senators came to bat and tried to play the same kind of ugly baseball that gave the Mushers two runs in the top half. Jeremy Offredi led off with a bunt hit down the third base line. Then Bob Russo came back from a 1-2 count to work a walk.
Ralph Collette made up for not catching that line drive by blasting a double off the wall in left-center field, knocking in Offredi.
Now in big trouble, Langille got ahead of Wynn Dunsmore 1-and-2 but couldn't put him away, loading the bases with another walk and still nobody out.
At this point he was really rattled and walked Ken Wells, walking in the tying run. The pitching coach came out to give him a breather and time to settle down. Langille struck out Olivier Theriault. One out, bases loaded.
James Labbee came to the plate and just hit a little looper that curved toward the left field line, bounced inside the line, and then rolled slowly toward the corner while Birley hustled over. By the time he got the ball in, Labbee was standing on second and three runs had scored. 5-2 Senators.
Langille got Dunsmore to ground out, but then committed the unpardonable sin: walking the pitcher - on four pitches.
Offredi made him pay by sending a grounder through the hole on the left side and scoring Labbee. Langille finally got Russo to fly out, but it was now 6-2 Juneau.
Bethel again threatened in the second but failed to score this time. Langille stayed in and gave up a leadoff homer to Collette, walked two more batters, but got out of the inning without further damage. 7-2.
Langille struggled through another scoreless inning before being pinch hit for in the 4th. After that point, the pitchers settled down, although Bethel worked a run in the 6th off a leadoff double by Sutherland.
In the eighth inning, Duncan Sutherland hit a two-run home run to make it 7-5, but Northeast stayed in to finish the inning. Brad Morris came in in the 9th to nail it down, and finished off the Mushers 1-2-3.
Juneau leads the series, 1-0.