Snow slows Mission Valley

GREAT FALLS — The Mission Valley Mariners went to Great Falls this past Thursday for a weekend of tournament baseball. They returned with one 5-3 loss to the Glendive Blue Devils on Friday after the rest of the games were snowed out.

The low-scoring affair went into an extra inning before the Blue Devils knocked in two runs to wrap things up in the eighth.

“It was a pretty quiet game for the sticks all the way around,” Mariners coach Jami Hanson said.

His team had six hits to Glendive’s nine, but the real story was one of errors.

The Mariners gave up four in the game.

It was an 8 a.m. game, and the Mariner’s weren’t at their sharpest in the field.

“It was typical non-physical, mental errors. They ended up costing us a couple of runs,” Hanson said.

After falling behind by two early, the Mariners mustered a 3-run streak in the fifth to regain the lead.

Kaileb Gillingham, the team’s only representative from Charlo, started things off for the Mariners with a single. Tyler Linse popped a sacrifice fly to advance Gillingham.  Usual big hitter Tim Rausch got out and the team found itself one away from retiring.

But just as things started to slow down - and it had been a slow one for the Mariners at bat all game - Derrick Rathe stepped up to the plate and cracked a double, the team’s only extra-base hit that game.

It was good for a run. A walk by Matt Detwiler and a couple of singles by Willy Wallace and Justin Evans later, the Mariners were up 3-2.

The Blue Devils evened things up in the sixth and ended it late.

Kyle Bagnell pitched through the first six, then was replaced by Xavier Morigeau. The Blue Devils got the better of Morigeau and he took the loss. 

“It was kind of a long weekend to get there and a short weekend to play,” Hanson said.

After the first game, with no idea weather was on its way, Hanson said his boys took initiative.

“I was kind of interested to see what would happen the next day because the kids got together and established some team guidelines and goals,” Hanson said. “We’ll see what happens on Wednesday.”

Wednesday marked the beginning of a big test for the Mariners. They hosted the AA Missoula Mavericks to get ready for two conference doubleheaders at Florence and Hamilton this weekend.

The team has a motto: “First you have to believe, then you expect to win and play with confidence, but not cockiness.”

Hanson hopes to see his team put it into action and get some wins this weekend.

The Mariners play at 1 p.m. on Saturday at the Bitterroot Bucs, and at 3 p.m. on Sunday at Hamilton.