Mission Valley Mariners gear up for Whitefish Districts

Mission Valley Mariners’ baseball coach Kaileb Gillingham is already looking towards the District Tournament.

According to Gillingham, his team has made a significant amount of progress since the start of the American Legion season.

“We were a lot further along than we were at the start of the season,” Gillingham said. “We are starting to have everyone show up to practice and (because of our numbers), we are able to have more of an actual practice. Everyone is going to play and play better. We are going to be more comfortable when districts run around.”

Gillingham said he would like to win the first game in Districts that are set to start July 20-23 in Whitefish.

“Our main goal right now is to win our very first game and if we win our first game, we will have some breathing room,” Gillingham said. “We will have more life and momentum. We will be more upbeat and play better as a team instead of having to fight for our season.”

Gillingham said he felt his team made some significant strides in the Firecracker Tournament. The M’s went 2-2 in a highly competitive tournament that featured nine teams.

“I was happy that we were competing with those type of teams and not getting blown out,” Gillingham said. “We were playing right with them. We just weren’t getting timely hits enough because we happen to be hitting the ball right to a player but we are playing competitive baseball right now. That should be good when we get ready for the District Tournament.”

Gillingham said one of the keys to the M’s success will be to remain focused as the team heads to the playoffs.

“We’ve just been trying to focus because the game of baseball works in funny ways,” Gillingham said. “We hope to pull through because if you respect the game of baseball, it will respect you.”