Mariners win Kalispell tourney, improve to 45-7 on the season

Zach Urness

Leader Staff

Another week, another championship.

The Mission Valley Mariners braved searing weekend heat to win their second tournament crown in a row at the John R. Harp class A tourney in Kalispell last weekend, following their win at the Firecracker tournament two weekends ago.

Brandon Thompson pitched a three-hit shutout and hit his second home run of the weekend in the championship game to help the Mariners take a 2-0 pitcher's duel over host Kalispell.

"Our guys expect to win," said head coach Jami Hanson. "They don't get shook up when they're down, they just take the situation and roll with it."

On Monday the M's returned to Polson and won twice against the Black Hills Lobos, who traveled all the way from South Dakota to play at O'Maley park on Monday, among many stops around the state.

The Mariners have now won 16 straight games and appear to be hitting their stride at the right time, as post-season ball begins on July 21, just over one week away. They were in action on Wednesday against Missoula, and play at home this Friday at 4 p.m.

Mariners 2, Lobos 0

(First game)

Craig Bagnell was the man for the Mariners on Monday, welcoming Mission Valley's guests from South Dakota by giving them absolutely nothing to hit. Working the corners and mixing in breaking balls, Bagnell pitched the M's second complete-game shutout in a row and at one point, hadn't allowed a run in 22 consecutive innings.

The only scoring came on Eric Locke's sacrifice fly to score John Rausch in the third and Tim Rausch's triple that scored Kyle Brown.

"When you get great pitching it just makes everything else that much easier," said Hanson. "We're usually going to score some runs, but if we can win without putting up 14 than that's a good sign."

Mariners 13, Lobos 5

As the second game started, the Mariners decided to throw the switch from "defense" to "offense." Sixteen M's came to the plate during a nine-hit, 11-run inning. After pitching a gem in the first game, Craig Bagnell came to life on offense for three RBIs on 2-for-3 hitting. Chris Alfiero also drove in two runs on one hit and Thompson went 2-for-2 and with two RBIs.

"Before the game started Moose came up and said 'we're going to score some runs this game,'" said Hanson. "And sure enough, we score 11 runs in the first inning. We have guys that have that kind of confidence."

The M's used pitching from Mike Fisher and Tim Rausch to hold the Lobos to five runs and seven hits.

Mariners 2, Kalispell 0 (tourney championship)

WHITEFISH-Brandon Thompson did it all in the championship game over Kalispell. The man they call Moose scored the M's only runs of the game on his eighth home run of the season, and then turned around and pitched a 3-hit shutout that featured 14 strikeouts.

Thompson's home run was a blast to right field, coming in the first inning with two outs after Eric Locke had singled to center field.

"It was one of those crazy games," said Hanson. "We haven't been in too many pitching duels this season and it was fun to play in a game like that. Moose pitched great for us."

Mariners 5, Havre 0

It took a while for the Mariners to get things going offensively on Saturday, but fortunately, they had Eric Locke on the mound. The southpaw got four of his 12 strike outs in the first inning (with a dropped third strike) and allowed just three hits and allowed zero runs in seven innings for his seventh win of the season. Locke also doubled in two runs in the seventh inning to pad the lead at 5-0.

Brandon Thompson got the scoring started with a double to score Tim Rausch in the fourth and Joe McCarthy followed with a double down the right field line, scoring the game's third run and making it 3-0 going into the sixth.

The win over Havre gave Mission Valley a 3-0 record in pool play and sent them into Sunday's championship against Kalispell.

Mariners 10, Great Falls 8

It took one of their patented "Mariner" innings, but the boys in green rallied from a 5-5 tie to beat the Great Falls Black Sox with a five run top of the sixth highlighted by a Tim Rausch two-run homer.

The game went back-and-forth early on with the M's and the Black Sox, a Senior Babe Ruth power, trading runs. Nick Fell supplied the early offense with a two run double in the third and the M's added runs in the third and fourth.

Eric Locke got things going in the dramatic sixth innings with RBI double that scored Kyle Brown. After the Tim Rausch dinger, the M's tacked on two more runs to take a 10-5 lead.

The bottom of the sixth proved to be an adventure, though, as sloppy Mariner play led to three runs in the bottom of the sixth, but they held on for their first win in pool play.

Brandon Roy pitched the whole game for the victory, pitching through six Mariner errors. His line ended with eight strikeouts and four earned runs for his fifth win.

Mariners 12, Glacier Twins 1

The M's sent nine batters to the plate in the first inning en route to six runs and never looked back, winning, mercifully, in five innings on Friday. Craig Bagnell pitched well in his second win of the season, scattering six hits and allowing one run while striking out five. Brandon Thompson, who finished the game with four RBIs, smashed a line shot home run as part of a three run third inning to help the Mariners to their 40th win of the season. Cubby Pierre and Joe McCarthy each had two RBIs in the game and Nick Fell went 2-for-2 with one RBI.

"This team can be even better then last year," said Hanson. "They're so young, they don't know any better."

Wednesday's results were unavailable by presstime. Friday's game is a double header against Kootenai Valley, which starts at 4 p.m., while the regular season wraps up Saturday with a doubleheader against the Bitterroot Bucs, in Polson, which starts at 1 p.m.

The Mariners are hosting districts this year. Look for a schedule of games in next week's Leader.