Mariners ready for district
<p>Mariners second baseman Keith Woodward flips the ball to first base for an out.</p>
POLSON — Not many top seeds know that they have already played their final home game of the season, but that is the case for the Mission Valley Mariners.
Heading into the postseason as the top seed in the Class A Northern District, Mission Valley will become road warriors until their season ends.
Their journey begins today in Eureka, where they will take on host and eighth-seeded Kootenai Valley at 5 p.m.
Jami Hanson, Mission Valley’s manager, hopes that his Mariners can ride the strong pitching that led them to the No. 1 seed in the tournament.
“Our pitching staff this year has really carried us through,” Hanson said. “You hope your starters can give you six, maybe seven [innings]. Anything after that is really icing on the cake.”
The M’s couldn’t be much hotter heading into the tournament. Prior to last Saturday’s sweep at the hands of the Bitterroot Bucs, they had strung together 15 straight victories. They’ve won 17 of their last 19 contests and have an impressive 17-5 district record this year.
Hanson hopes that his starting pitchers—Nick Crawford, Kellen Hoyt, Bradley Pichler, Zeke Webster-Yaqui and Jeremiah Crawford—will continue to string together strong outings.
He’s also confident in his bullpen’s ability to come through, especially with the recent success of Chris Drebes, Ryan Pablo, T.J. Olson and Jared Young in relieving roles.
“You should be able to go to somebody else to get you through the ballgame,” Hanson said.
One of the things that gives Hanson confidence is his team’s chemistry despite being from different places.
“These kids are all from different high schools,” he said. “They may have played together when they were younger, but they’re all from different parts of the valley. … There’s a lot of stuff that has to be done to get a team like that to gel.”
Hanson can also take solace in the fact that his team has already won four tournaments this summer.
“I just want these kids to keep playing,” he said. “I want them to ride on the successes that they’ve had and learn from the mistakes that they’ve had.”
Despite the two losses, the past week marked season lows for the Mariners in errors, runs allowed, and walks issued. All those statistics point to good things to come in the postseason.