Mariners prepare for Class A District play in Whitefish

Mission Valley Mariners’ coach Kaileb Gillingham and his team knew the early portion of the season would be defined by adaptation and change.

Gillingham replaced former M’s skipper Jami Hanson, who coached the Mariners for 17 summers, and inherited a young team that consists of 21 players between the Class A and Class B teams.

One of the Mariners’ senior members of the team Jacob Harrod said the multitude of changes took time to get used to as they prepare to open against the Glacier Twins in the opening round of the American Legion Class A Districts at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Whitefish.

Harrod said he felt the M’s record of 14-38 was “deceiving.”

Towards the end of the season, the M’s younger players began to gel with the veteran members and a game-winning hit by Karsen Krebs in front of their home crowd was the exclamation point on the Firecracker Tournament they hosted. The M’s finished the tournament with a 2-2 record.

In one of the final regular season series of the season, they were the only team in the state to take the defending Montana State champion Bitterroot Red Sox, coached by former Major Leaguer Jason Goligoski, to 14 innings in the double header.

Harrod said these were all signs of the team’s growth, continuity and “building confidence.”

“Our team record doesn’t show it but we can be really dangerous,” Harrod said. “We are a team that no one wants to play (in the tournament). We have a really talented group of kids and we are just trying to show them the ropes, practice and work with them, and show them what Mariner baseball is like. It helps the older kids because these guys look up to us.”

Harrod admitted it took a while for the team and the coaching staff to adapt to each other.

“It took a really long time for our team to buy into the new coaches and what they were trying to teach us,” Harrod said. “(Our team) had to get rid of the attitudes and once we did, everyone started to realize what we had to do as a team. At the start of the season, we were going out and making errors. Since we’ve bought into the program, we have started minimizing errors and started to hit the ball. It made a huge difference that everyone bought in.”

Petticrew concurred with Harrod assessment of the team’s “growing confidence” in each other.

“Being able to play Bitterroot close was a huge confidence booster even though we lost,” Petticrew said. “Headed into the sixth inning, we were down 4-3, and at that point it’s anyone’s game. That is huge because they went undefeated and won regionals the last two years. I know that we can compete with anyone we play and everyone on the team believes it’s achievable.”

Bryant Hales said the majority of the younger players, who are playing up from Class B to A because of lack of numbers, have really “improved” and will improve the future outlook of the club.

“The younger guys really do help us,” Hales said. “They pitch for us, they are great athlete, and contribute to our team as much as anyone else. Next year, with this exact same group, it should be a really good year.”

Gillingham said he felt there were some benefits to entering the tournament as a lower seed.

“Whoever is coming in as the No. 2 seed, they might come in over confident and overlook us because they are focused on playing the next game,” Gillingham said. “I believe we are going to be one of those teams that you can’t overlook. We may win a game and move on.”

Gillingham said he felt his team is “more focused” during practice as they prepare to try to upset teams in the District Tournament.

“I feel the kids are more focused when they are in practice,” Gillingham said. “They are willing to do whatever it takes to compete. Practices have been a lot better the last few weeks, I should say.”