White caps flew into the air after five innings as South celebrated its second American Legion state championship Thursday at Mulcahy Stadium, taking the title by forcing the mercy rule in a 13-3 win over Fairbanks.
The big win made up for Wednesday's 15-5 loss to Fairbanks -- the Wolverines' fourth defeat of the season.
"They were embarrassed from last night," said third-year coach Chris Williams.
Fairbanks earned its first championship-game appearance since 1979 by beating Dimond 11-7 in Thursday's first game at Mulcahy.
It was the second championship-game appearance for South, which Williams led to a 2-1 victory over Chugiak in the 2007 tournament title game.
South came ready to hit, and racked up five runs on three hits in the first inning -- including a two-RBI triple by Cal McKim.
"That's got to be depleting to have us explode for five," said Williams.
The 49ers kept South scoreless in the second inning but the Wolverines registered another five runs in the third, a rally capped by Eric Holland's suicide-squeeze bunt that scored Varea Costello.
"Varea was a sparkplug back there," Williams said of the league's Golden Glove award-winner. "He does everything right and sets the table for the rest of the team."
Costello finished with two runs, two hits and a pair of RBIs.
On the mound for the complete game was fifth-year player Trevor Allred, who struck out two and was named tournament MVP.
Allred, who will be a sophomore at Cypress College in California, sat on the bench Wednesday to stay fresh for the championship game. He faced a Fairbanks team that had pounded out 34 hits in its previous two games, 13 against Dimond on Thursday and 21 against South on Wednesday.
"I knew I had to keep the ball down and use off-speed pitches," Allred said.
The Wolverines tacked on three more hits in the fifth, after Alex Archuleta hit a two-run double that struck the center field fence to give South a 13-2 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth, Torgen Soderlund gave Fairbanks a glimmer of hope with a leadoff triple.
Mike McCallister drove in Soderland, but it was the only run the 49ers could muster before the 10-run rule was imposed.
"We were little tired," said McCallister, whose team had only a brief break between games Thursday. "We ran into a wall."
McCallister accounted for one run and one RBI in the championship game, and in the game against Dimond he pitched 5 2/3 innings with two strikeouts.
As state champs, South heads to next week's American Legion Northwest Regional tournament in Medford, Oregon. The Wolverines went 0-2 the last time they advanced to regionals.
"This time we expect to win some games," said Allred.
The runners-up 49ers will also continue their season, heading to a Salt Lake City tournament next week.
"It makes it a little better that we're not done completely," said McCallister.
Thursday's championship
South Post 4 505 03 -- 13 11 3
Fairbanks Post 11-30-57 110 01 -- 3 5 4
Allred and Costello; Wixon, Brooks (2), Hall (5) and Clark. WP -- Allred. LP -- Brooks. 2B -- South: Costello 2, Karnos, Archuleta. 3B -- South: McKim; Fairbanks: Samulowitz.
Thursday's semifinal
Dimond 001 005 010 -- 7 6 2
Fairbanks 300 106 10x -- 11 13 0
Scott, Osborne (6) and Olson; McAllister, Ballard (6) and Soderlund (6) and Brooks. WP -- Soderlund. LP -- Scott. 2B -- Dimond: Demoss, Partusch, Serafine; Fairbanks: T. Wolfe 2. 3B -- Fairbanks: Lester. HR -- Dimond: Demoss; Fairbanks: T. Wolfe.
Alaska All-State Legion Team
Starting pitchers -- Chris Schierhorn, South; Colton Lauwers, Dimond; Ty Griffith, Chugiak; Josh Gilbert, Kenai; Austin Cassaday, East; Garrett Grenier, Service; Trevor Allred, South.
Infielders -- Trevor Allred, South; Cal McKim, South; Tyler Belk, Chugiak; Colton Lauwers, Dimond; Kyle Lester, Fairbanks; Chase Barrus, Service; Garrett Brown, Service; Rick Santos, East.
Outfielders -- J.D. Mayo, Wasilla; Tim McCollum, Chugiak; Tynan Demoss, Dimond; Bobby Marcinkowski, Fairbanks; Bryan Beard, Service; Patrick McFarlane, East.
Catcher -- Daniel Pohl, East; Garrett Balen, Chugiak; Varea Costello, South.
Relief Pitchers -- Casey Spink, Chugiak; Garrett Brown, Service.
Utility -- Jack Ryan, South; Matt Sullivan, Chugiak; Stephen Ferntheil, Service.
Coaches of the Year -- Ken Wooster, Service; Jarred Lewis, East; Chris Williams, South.
By HEATHER MARCH
hmarch@adn.com