The Soldotna Stars will square off against the Palmer Moose at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. Soldotna will be looking to extend their current eight-game winning streak.
Soldotna is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Alaska's top teams: Houston, who was ranked 19th at the time (Soldotna was ranked seventh). The Stars' pitcher stepped up to hand the Hawks a 10-0 shutout on Friday. Give the Stars' pitching crew some credit: that's the team's third straight shutout.
Brenden Theel tossed a big game, not allowing a single earned run while striking out ten over five innings pitched. He also tossed no earned runs, which is notable because Soldotna is 5-1 when he allows at most one earned run, but 6-8-2 otherwise.
Wyatt Gagnon
| 05/23/25 vs Houston | 3 |
| 05/16/25 @ Kodiak | 2 |
| 05/05/25 vs Homer | 2 |
| 05/22/25 vs Redington | 1 |
| 05/17/25 @ Kodiak | 1 |
| + 2 more games |
At the plate, Wyatt Gagnon was incredible, going 1-for-2 with one home run, three runs, and three RBI. Soldotna is undefeated when Gagnon posts two or more runs, but 8-9-2 otherwise. Matthew Schilling was another key player, getting on base in all three of his plate appearances with three stolen bases and two runs.
Soldotna hit smart and finished the game with only one strikeout. They are 5-2 when they post two or more strikeouts.
Meanwhile, Palmer suffered their biggest loss since April 22nd on Friday. They lost 11-3 to Kenai Central. The Moose have struggled against the Kardinals recently, as the game was their fifth consecutive lost meeting.
Palmer saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Tristan Barrey, who went 1-for-3 with two RBI.
Soldotna's victory was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 11-9-2. The home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.3 runs on average over those games. As for Palmer, their defeat was their first in the conference, dropping their conference record down to 8-1 and their overall record down to 10-7.
Saturday's match might come down to which pitcher can control the ball better. Soldotna has hit smart this season, having averaged an OBP of .433. However, it's not like Palmer struggles in that department as they've averaged .436. With both teams so capable at the plate, fans should be ready for an impressive hitting performance.
Soldotna beat Palmer 10-5 in their previous meeting back in May of 2024. Will the Stars repeat their success, or do the Moose have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
