Mariners take first at Legion districts

HAMILTON - En route to a district tournament championship, the Mission Valley Mariners' (41-16) biggest struggle may not have been on the baseball field, but rather, in getting to the tournament.

"We just got out of Mission and the bus decided it didn't want to shift any more into high gear," Mariners head coach Jami Hanson said.

The Mariners' bus made it as far as Arlee before breaking down. Hanson then texted Libby head coach Kelly Morford so that he could let the tournament director down in Hamilton know what happened.

Morford suggested that the Mariners hop on the Libby bus since they were coming through Dixon and would be in Arlee soon, but some phone calls were made and Mission Valley was able to get a bus to come up from Missoula.

"[In Arlee] We went in to grab some small food things," Hanson said. "And the Libby bus pulls up and it's leaking fluid."

The Libby bus made it as far as Missoula before breaking down too. They then hitched a ride on the Mariners' new bus, cramming two and three players in a seat.

"We got Libby and Mission Valley bonding on a 45-passanger bus," Hanson said.

The rocky roadtrip may have caused the Mariners to get off to a slow start on Thursday. They trailed Glacier 7-0 in the sixth inning.

"That's a scary situation," Hanson said.

However, the Mariners' bats erupted and they were able to come back for the 13-9 victory.

On Friday, Kyle Bagnell (9-1) went to the mound against Libby for the Mariners just a week removed from his 20-strikeout performance over the Bitterroot Bucs. This time he fanned 12 and allowed two hits in the 10-0 victory.

"He threw a gem," Hanson said. "But it was good to see them give him run support too."

The Mariners jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first thanks to a home run by Matt Detwiler. Tyler Linse also homered in the fourth.

The next day, Mission Valley had to once again bust out the rally caps. They found themselves down 5-3 in the seventh before Kaileb Gillingham smacked a two-run homer and sparked the team.

"They know where they're at," Hanson said. "They've been here before. They were up for it."

The Mariners would score nine runs in the final two innings, turning a close game into a 12-5 drubbing.

The win clinched them a state berth and a spot in the Western A district championship. In the championship game, the Mariners faced the Bitterroot Red Sox who had to come through the loser's bracket.

"I'll give [Bitterroot] credit," Hanson said. "They lost their first game of the tournament. They had to come in the back door and win a lot of baseball games."

Detwiler put a quick end to the contest with two home runs and the Mariners 10-runned the Red Sox for the 18-3 victory in seven innings.

"They're peaking and that's what we need them to do," Hanson said.

Mission Valley had 17 hits and Detwiler finished the game 3-for-4 with six RBIs. He would finish the tournament with four home runs.

Tim Rausch pitched the entire game, giving up five hits and striking out seven.

Hanson said that instead of reaching a plateau in the middle of the season, the Mariners shook off a early funk where they were 9-10 and are now hitting their stride.

"At 41-16, that's a lot of baseball games won [since then]," Hanson said.

The Mariners will now face Gallatin Valley in the first game of the American Legion State Tournament at 3 p.m. today in Billings. It's a step up in competition that Hanson thinks his team can handle.

"The big difference is that all teams here have won something, they're the best of the best," Hanson said. "I like our chances because we're one of them."