Strong start propels Southern team to victory in Alaska’s American Legion All-Star game

Early on in the 2024 Alaska American Legion All-Star game, the Southern All-Stars’ offense was just as hot as the grill making the smell of burgers and hot dogs permeate Mulcahy Stadium on Wednesday night.

It only took the team two innings to score all the runs they would need to ultimately defeat their Northern counterparts 8-5. Three of those runs came in the top of the first frame and five more in the top of the second while only allowing one over that span.

Service senior pitcher and third baseman Jake Rafferty was one of the players who helped break the game open in the second inning with an RBI hit. While the Northern All-Stars tried to mount a rally with four runs in the final three frames, he was happy to come out on top in the final All-Star game of his high school career.

“It felt great,” he said. “It’s always fun to come out with the guys and get a (win).”

Coming together with some of his former rivals to strive for a common goal was a welcome experience.

“It’s nice to come together with some of the boys from the other teams that are rivals because we’re still friends at the end of the day,” Rafferty said.

All-Star games are prime venues for players to get a chance to play positions they have little to no experience in. For Rafferty, he had a chance to play catcher, which is something he’s done only once or twice in his entire life.

“I don’t get to do that a lot, so it was fun getting to go in there and catch the last inning,” he said. “It was fun to go out with the Service boys and do that.”

While some of his fellow Cougars and initial All-Star selections from other teams opted out of playing in the game, Rafferty was one of the few who decided to play.

“It’s my senior year and I just want to go out with a bang,” he said.

Rafferty and his fellow members on the top-ranked Service Post 28 team finished the Legion regular season the same way they completed the high school season — undefeated. Now the team will turn its attention to the state tournament. That gets underway this Saturday starting with pool play and will run through next Thursday night, when the championship game will take place at Mulcahy Stadium.

“We just want to keep our heads down and keep working hard,” Rafferty said. “We have a lot of big expectations coming up for this state tournament as well and just want to keep the win streak going.”

To complete his final summer of high school baseball with a second state title would mean a lot to him before he goes off to college in a few weeks for the fall semester at Tacoma Community College in Tacoma, Washington.

“We’ve been in that big game and know what it takes to get there,” Rafferty said. “We’ve just got to keep doing what we need to do to get what we want.”