The Madisonville (Kentucky) players gather for a talk midway through against Service in the Alaska Legion Midseason Classic on June 27, 2025. (Marc Lester / ADN)
Of the two Lower 48 teams competing in the Alaska 529 Midseason Classic in Anchorage this weekend, the one that had the farthest to travel was the Madisonville Post 8 Rangers from Kentucky.
Last September, head coach/manager Jamie Mills proposed the idea of making the trek from Madisonville, Kentucky, to Alaska to the parents of the American Legion squad before getting his players’ hopes up too high.
“I didn’t know who would be on board because it is a long trip,” he said. “I sent it out in our group messaging and immediately I got back like, six ‘Let’s do its,’ so here we are.”
After eight months of planning and fundraising, they were able to make it happen.
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“I love the weather,” Mills said. “I could live like this but the darkness in the wintertime, I think that would freak me out a little bit.”
Madisonville (Kentucky) pitcher Jayce Weaver throws in the first inning during a game against Service in the Alaska Legion Midseason Classic on June 27, 2025. (Marc Lester / ADN)
One of the biggest adjustments he and his players had to make was finding a way to deal with the nearly endless daylight that comes with Alaska summers.
“The guys have been blacking out the curtains and making sure it’s total darkness so we can go to sleep because it doesn’t get totally dark outside here,” Mills said.
In preparation for the trip, he had been tracking the forecast in different parts of Alaska for the last month. The members of the traveling party were limited to one duffel bag and a backpack, so they wanted to ensure they knew what kind of clothes to pack.
The Rangers have been enjoying and exploring the 49th state as much as they can when not competing for tournament titles.
“We’ve been playing a lot of baseball, so it’s been kind of difficult, because it’s kind of hard to go anywhere,” Mills said.
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Service runner Sebastian Fournier leaps over a live ball while heading to third base during a game against Madisonville (Kentucky) in the Alaska Legion Midseason Classic on June 27, 2025. (Marc Lester / ADN)
The first leg of the journey started more than a week ago in Kenai at the Lance Coz Wood Bat tournament. The team won the tourney, and it was also the stop where they went on the most excursions.
“We went to Whittier one day and saw that place, and we did a lot of sightseeing,” Mills said. “We haven’t done a whole lot of stuff (in Anchorage). We went to some parks and a couple of guys went to go see a glacier with their parents.”
Since their Saturday game against Dimond wasn’t scheduled until 7:30 p.m., they were able to get some fishing in.
This trip was the first to Alaska for every team member, and for many of them, it was also the first time they’d ever been on a plane.
“We were a little nervous about it and had Dramamine prepared and packed just in case anybody got sick,” Mills said. “Of the 18 guys, there are probably about 10 of them that this was their first time flying.”
Service’s Landon Martindale heads toward home plate during a game against Madisonville (Kentucky) in the Alaska Legion Midseason Classic on June 27, 2025. (Marc Lester / ADN) Service players celebrate a run during a game against Madisonville (Kentucky) in the Alaska Legion Midseason Classic on June 27, 2025. (Marc Lester / ADN)
One of those nearly dozen first-time flyers and visitors to Alaska was outfielder and left-handed pitcher Jax Lee, who just finished up his senior season and is set to play baseball in college.
“It was actually pretty cool,” he said. “I was a little nervous but once we got on the plane and took off, I was just fine.”
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Prior to this trip, the farthest Lee had ever been from Kentucky was Florida — a nine- to 11-hour drive from where they live.
“The weather has been great and nature, it’s all been beautiful out here,” Lee said. “I kind of expected it, and I brought warm clothes and was just super excited to get out here.”
He has enjoyed activities such as visiting Kincaid Park, going fishing and exploring the wilderness.
Impressions of Alaska competition
Mills wasn’t sure what to expect regarding the quality of baseball talent that Alaska would have to offer when he was planning the trip. After seeing what it’s like for the past week-plus, he admitted to being thoroughly impressed.
“A lot of these teams are a lot younger than we are but they are very well-instructed,” Mills said. “They know baseball, the defense has been phenomenal, they all hit the ball.”
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Madisonville runner Connor Mitchuson beats the tag at second base by Service’s Palmer Dalton during a game in the Alaska Legion Midseason Classic on June 27, 2025. (Marc Lester / ADN)
His team started off slow in its Friday afternoon matchup with reigning state American Legion champion Service at Mulcahy Stadium but were able to stage a late comeback, winning 8-4.
Since the Rangers have been in Alaska for over a week, Mills said jet lag isn’t a good excuse for not being at their best earlier in the game.
“That seems to be our problem in this tournament, and I don’t know if it’s because of a lack of sleep at night or what, but it’s taken us a long time to wake up and get the bats going,” he said. “We’ve scored a lot of runs and we’ve had a couple of games where we haven’t been able to get the bats going.”
Mills had to “light a little fire” under his team about halfway through the game because he believed their defense was “lackluster and the pitching wasn’t there.”
Ayden Rice of Madisonville (Kentucky) turns toward the play at first base during a game against Service in the Alaska Legion Midseason Classic on June 27, 2025. (Marc Lester / ADN)
“We kind of struggled through pitching but in the endgame, these guys showed up in one inning to win the ballgame and I’m super proud of them,” he said.
The spark they were desperately in need of came from Lee in the bottom of the sixth inning.
With the bases loaded and no outs, he recorded a bases-clearing double to cut Service’s lead to one run. He was then brought in for the game-tying run on an RBI double from teammate Brooks Lynam.
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“I was expecting a curveball because on my first at-bat, I struck out to it looking down,” Lee said. “I was just hoping to take it up the middle and do my job for the team.”
Madisonville (Kentucky) pitcher Jayce Weaver heads to the dugout during a game against Service in the Alaska Legion Midseason Classic on June 27, 2025. (Marc Lester / ADN)
The Rangers’ bats stayed hot as they scored four more runs before the frame was over.
“The pitcher was struggling to throw strikes and we just took over, finding gaps and hitting the ball,” Lee said.
Most of the players on the team are 17 and 18 years old with a dozen heading off to college to play ball this fall.
Lee is one of the leaders who Mills depends on, and he believes “sometimes it takes those guys to motivate the other guys.”
“It’s pretty fun just being with the team, enjoying the times together and just having fun,” Lee said.
An Alaska Air National Guard HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopter, assigned to the 210th Rescue Squadron, 176th Wing, returns to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, after conducting a rescue mission for an injured snowmachiner, Feb. 21, 2026. The mission marked the first time the AKANG used the HH-60W for a rescue. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Joseph Moon)
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska – Alaska Air National Guard personnel conducted a rescue mission Saturday, Feb. 21, after receiving a request for assistance from the Alaska State Troopers through the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center.
The mission was initiated to recover an injured snowmachiner in the Cooper Landing area, approximately 60 air miles south of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. The Alaska Air National Guard accepted the mission, located the individual, and transported them to Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage for further medical care.
The mission marked the first search and rescue operation conducted by the 210th Rescue Squadron using the HH-60W Jolly Green II, the Air Force’s newest combat rescue helicopter, which is replacing the older HH-60G Pave Hawk. Guardian Angels assigned to the 212th Rescue Squadron were also aboard the aircraft and assisted in the recovery of the injured individual.
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Good Samaritans, who were on the ground at the accident site, deployed a signal flare, that helped the helicopter crew visually locate the injured individual in the heavily wooded area. Due to the mountainous terrain, dense tree cover, and deep snow in the area, the helicopter was unable to land near the patient. The aircrew conducted a hoist insertion and extraction of the Guardian Angels and the injured snowmachiner. The patient was extracted using a rescue strop and hoisted into the aircraft.
The Alaska Air National Guard routinely conducts search and rescue operations across the state in support of civil authorities, providing life-saving assistance in some of the most remote and challenging environments in the world.
cooper landing, guard, injured, jolly-green, rescue, snowmachiner
A trapper fresh out of the Cosna River country in Interior Alaska said he can’t believe how many martens he had caught in a small area so far this winter.
Friends are talking about the house-cat size creatures visiting their wood piles and porches. Could this be a boom in the number of these handsome woodland creatures?
Probably, said wildlife education specialist Mike Taras of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Fairbanks.
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“When I was out in the (White Mountains National Recreation Area north of Fairbanks) a couple of weeks ago, I saw marten tracks everywhere,” he said. “My friend had a hare bound close towards him while he was out near Wolf Run cabin and then a marten came loping after the hare hot on its trail.”
The biologist and tracking expert doesn’t even have to leave home to see signs of marten this spring.
“I currently have a marten coming by my place at the edge of (Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge) about once a week. It is great to see her tracks — though it could be a juvenile male. I have noticed more marten tracks out on Creamer’s refuge in the past few years as well.”
The Cosna River area trapper, Steve O’Brien, said he thought “more mice” were a possible reason for marten abundance this year. Taras suspected the same.
“Research shows that the number one driver of marten populations is vole numbers,” Taras said. “But I don’t think there is concrete evidence of high vole numbers this year.”
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But Taras has seen some circumstantial evidence recently.
“I have noticed multitudes of ventilation tunnel holes on top of the snow after these recent snowstorms,” Taras said. “That many holes on top of the snow shortly after the snow makes me think that there are a lot of voles out there.”
Whatever the cause for increased marten numbers, now is perhaps a good time to see these predators of the northern woods.
“One trapper aptly described them as walking stomachs,” Tom Paragi, a retired wildlife biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Fairbanks, told me 26 years ago. “They’re one of the easier animals to trap.”
Like other members of the weasel family, marten hunt and kill small animals, most often voles, though they sometimes eat snowshoe hares, young birds and blueberries.
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Marten feed on red squirrels in other parts of North America, but in Alaska biologists have seen marten sharing squirrels’ underground network of winter tunnels without killing them.
Marten aren’t afraid to tackle animals their own size, Paragi said. He once pieced together a marten drama evident by tracks left behind in the snow. He observed where a marten paused during its wandering after seeing a goshawk perched on a low tree limb.
He could tell by blood and other marks that the marten killed the goshawk, making a meal of a raptor that could have had the marten for lunch.
“They are fairly fearless,” Paragi said.
Marten are loners, roaming forests solo except for a few weeks during the breeding season. They seem to prefer mature conifer forests for birthing and raising young, and use hollow logs for dens.
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The marten is one of a few mammals able to delay part of its reproductive cycle. Marten mate in mid-summer when food is plentiful, but fertilized eggs within females don’t implant into the uterus wall until springtime, a phenomenon triggered by longer days. Marten kits are born in late March to mid-April. In August, the youngsters go their own ways, beginning solitary lives that can last up to 14 years.
Since the late 1970s, the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute has provided this column free in cooperation with the UAF research community. Ned Rozell is a science writer for the Geophysical Institute. Portions of this story appeared in 2000.
