Mariners muscle through winning week

Streaking through a winning season, the Mission Valley Mariners improved their record to 38-21 last weekend by clinching four games and losing only one to end up in third place in the round-robin tournament in Kalispell.

"Overall it was just a great tournament," coach Jami Hanson said. "The kids came out to play, were ready to go, kept their heads up, and played ball."

The Mariners opened the tourney with a 10-2 win over the Calgary Longhorns followed by a close 10-8 victory over the Deer Lodge Wranglers, earning four runs on squeeze plays.

Late Saturday, the Mariners dominated Kalispell in a 10-run shutout.

Terry Lundeen went four-for-four and cycled, hitting a single, a double, a triple and a home run. Eamonn Torgison smacked a three-run homer out of the park and brought his RBI count to four.

The Mariners' lone setback came Saturday in a disappointing 6-3 loss to Moses Lake.

"We lost some opportunities, and pitched too many walks," Coach Jami Hanson said. "They have a good ball club."

On Sunday, the Mariners found themselves facing another conference rival, Kootenai Valley, for the third-place spot. Mission Valley split a win with the Rangers earlier in the week, but prevailed Sunday in a hard-fought 5-4 victory.

"Kootenai Valley thought they had us right where they wanted us, but these kids came back. They play to win," Hanson said. "It's kind of funny. You go to tournaments to see some new teams, but you end up playing teams you play all the time."

Oh well, the whole day was a little topsy-turvy.

During the course of the game, Kootenai Valley had a runner on first base, and they tried to sacrifice bunt, but the batter popped it up, causing the runner to go back to tag up.

"Shane Perry missed the ball, but back-doored the runner at second base for the out," Hanson said. "In the next line up, with the same batter and same runner, exactly the same thing happened. Stuff like that just doesn't happen often, and it happened twice in one game."

But the goofiness began before the game did. The coach showed up without his jersey, but discovered a spare one in his car. One player forgot his red uniform, and other forgot his blue one. But when Mac Gordon excitedly told his coach to check out his brand new mail-order shoes, Coach Hanson noted they were both left feet.

"He couldn't play in them, he could have hurt something," Hanson said. "It was just one of those really goofy-type days, but the team came through."

This week marks a crucial period for conference play as the Mariners come to bat with only two conference losses.

The Mariners met Kootenai Valley on Tuesday and Kalispell on Wednesday in two conference matchups.

Losing only three in conference play, the Libby Loggers are the Mariners' biggest foe for the top spot. Mission Valley hosts Libby on Saturday at O'Maley Field in Polson. Game time is 1 p.m.

The Mariners will round out their season Sunday with one non-conference, nine-inning game against Glacier AA before heading into district play.

Summary

Tuesday, July 6

Mariners 8, Kootenai Valley 7

Mariners 007 001 0 - 8 9 4

Rangers 020 040 1 - 7 7 2

Joe Locke and Steve Larson. J. Krause, K Chupp and J.D. Belstad.

W - Locke (8-0). L - Krause.

MARINERS - Brandon Larson 1-4, Eamonn Torgison 0-3, Jake Bosley 2-4, Joe Locke 0-3, Mac Gordon 1-3, Robert Wallace 1-2, Steve Larson 1-3, Terry Lundeen 1-3, Brandon Thompson 2-3.

RANGERS - C. Comstock 1-4, D. Shay 0-4, Z. Nieusma 1-4, J. Krause 2-2, J. D. Belstad 2-3, J. Lundberg 0-3, K. Chupp 0-2, M. Smith 1-4, P. Marek 0-3.

2B - Thompson, Krause. HR - Jake Bosley. RBIs - Nieusma, Krause 2, Belstad, Lundberg.

Kootenai Valley 4, Mariners 1

Mariners 010 000 0 - 1 5 4

Rangers 300 001 x - 4 8 1

Terry Lundeen and Steve Larson. Smith, Comstock (2), Nieusma and Belstad. W - Smith. L - Lundeen (3-7).

MARINERS - B. Larson 0-2, Torgison 1-3, Bosley 0-3, J. Locke 0-3, S. Larson 0-2, Lundeen 3-3, Gauthier 0-3.

RANGERS - Comstock 1-4, Marek 2-3, Nieusma 0-3, Krause 1-3, Belstad 1-3, Lundberg 2-3, Chupp 0-2, Smith 1-3, Shay 0-3.

2B - Torgison, M. Gordon, Lundeen, Marek. 3B - Lundeen.

Wednesday, July 7

Mariners 8, Bitterroot 2

Bitterroot 000 100 100 - 2 3 3

Mariners 005 020 10x - 8 8 3

David Hanks and Derek Stephens, Ostenheimer (5).

B. Larson, Tyler Trudeau (5) and S. Larson, J. Whetzel (6). W- Larson. L- Hanks.

BITTERROOT - Phil Perez 0-3, Chad Henderson 0-3, Chance Edman 0-4, J. C. Shepard 1-3, Dustin Lind 0-3, Matt Henry 0-2, Derek Stephens 0-1, Ostenheimer 1-2, Herc Hanna 0-1, Rhett Dunn 1-2.

MARINERS - B. Larson 0-1, Torgison 0-1, Bosley 1-3, Whetzel 0-1, J. Locke 0-3, M. Gordon 3-4, Max Willet 1-2, Robert Wallace 0-1, Shane Perry 0-2, S. Larson 1-2, Lundeen 1-5, Tyler Trudeau 1-2, W. Gordon 0-1.

2B - Lundeen, Shepard. RBIs - Bosley 2, M. Gordon 2, Willet, Lundeen, Edman, Henry.

MARINERS - Brandon Larson 3-4, Eamonn Torgison 0-1, Jake Bosley 1-2, Jake Whetzel 1-2, Joe Locke 2-3, Mac Gordon 1-4, Steve Larson 0-2, Terry Lundeen 3-5, Tim Gauthier 0-1, Will Gordon 0-1.

CALGARY - Connor Leach 0-1, Kevin Kobe 0-1, Jesse Sawyer 1-1, Richie Forester 0-2, Austin Little 0-1, Tommy Hodes 0-2, Clayton Foster 0-2, Spencer Bajrok 0-1.

2B - Larson, M. Gordon, Lundeen. HR - Larson. RBIs - Larson 2, Bosley, J. Locke 2, S. Larson, Lundeen 3.

Mariners 10, Deer Lodge 8

Mariners 010 630 - 10 12 3

Deer Lodge 220 130 - 8 6 1

Max Willet, Tim Gauthier (2), Chris Kukus (5), Brandon Thompson (5) and Steve Larson. S. Niederklein and B. Brown. W - Gauthier. L - Niederklein.

MARINERS - B. Larson 1-2, Kukus 0-4, Bosley 2-3, J. Locke 1-4, Mac Gordon 1-2, Robert Wallace 0-2, S. Larson 2-4, Lundeen 2-3, Brandon Thompson 3-4.

DEER LODGE - T. Thompson 1-3, S Niederklein 1-3, S. Knuchel 1-2, M. Cease 1-4, J. Christian 0-1, M. Lowery 0-3, C. Neubauer 1-2, C. Carroll 1-3, B. Brown 0-1.

2B- M. Gordon, S. Larson, B. Thompson 2, S. Knuchel. RBIs- J. Locke, M. Gordon, Wallace, S. Larson 2, Lundeen, B. Thompson, T. Thompson 1-3, S. Knuchel, Christian 3, Brown 2.

Moses Lake 6, Mariners 3

Moses Lake 010 050 0 - 6 4 3

Mariners 100 200 0 - 3 7 4

A. Villa, C. Hunter and P. Correa. Torgison and S. Larson.

MOSES LAKE - C. Redal 1-2, B. Coker 0-2, J. Martinez 0-1, Z. Bator 0-4, D. Lefare 2-3, B. McCaffrey 0-3, J. Munoz 0-2, B. A. Villa 0-3, P. Correa 1-2.

MARINERS - B. Larson 1-3, Torgison 1-2, Bosley 0-2, J. Locke 0-1, M. Gordon 1-3, Willet 0-3, S. Larson 1-3, Lundeen 2-4, B. Thompson 1-2.

2B - Lundeen. 3B - M. Gordon. HR - Lefare. RBIs - B. Larson, J. Locke, M. Gordon, S. Larson, Bator, Lefare 2, McCaffrey, Munoz.

Mariners 10, Kalispell 0

Kalispell 000 000 - 0 6 4

Mariners 300 403 - 10 13 1

Neil Dezort, Roo Grubb and C. Christiansen. Bosley and S. Larson.

W- Bosley. L- Dezort.

KALISPELL - A. Hunt 2-3, S. Freudenberg 1-3, M. Venturini 0-2, C. Christiansen 1-3, R. Laughlin 0-2, J. Fitzsimmons 0-2, R. Turgeon 1-3, T. Hawkinson 0-3, A. Traeger 1-2.

MARINERS - B. Larson 0-3, Torgison 1-4, M. Gordon 2-3, Willet 1-3, Wallace 1-3, Perry 0-3, S. Larson 3-4, Lundeen 4-4, Gauthier 1-1, W. Gordon 0-1.

2B - Lundeen. 3B - Lundeen. HR - Lundeen. RBIs - B. Larson, Torgison 4, M. Gordon, Perry, Lundeen 2.

Mariners 5, Kootenai Valley 4

Mariners 021 200 0 - 5 6 1

Rangers 030 001 0 - 4 5 3

Thompson, Perry (5), Torgison (7) and Whetzel. M. Smith, A. Shay (3), K. Chupp (5), P. Marek (6). W - Thompson. L- Smith.

MARINERS - B. Larson 1-4, Locke 0-1, Whetzel 0-3, Locke 0-3, Perry 0-1, S. Larson 0-2, Lundeen 3-3, Trudeau 1-2, Gordon 1-4, Thompson 0-2.

RANGERS -Comstock 1-4, Marek 1-3, Nieusma 1-4, Kraus 0-3, Belstad 0-1, Lundberg 1-3, Chupp 0-2, Smith 0-1, Shay 1-3.

2B - B. Larson, Lundeen, Trudeau, Marek, Lundberg. RBIs - Trudeau 2, Nieusma, Shay.