Mariners season ends after dropping close games in districts

The Mission Valley Mariners season came to a close over the weekend after the A team won its first game, but then dropped the next two at the Class A Legion Baseball Western District Tournament in Florence from July 30 through August 2.

The tournament dropped to a six-team lineup after a player from the Bitterroot Red Sox tested positive with COVID-19 and the team from Hamilton pulled out. This altered the matchups for the remainder of the teams and changed the schedule of play.

The Mariners kept all the games within reach by fighting hard through all the changes, but ultimately could not put a series of wins together. Head coach Brad Fisher expressed that he was not surprised the games were close because all the teams in the Western District this year were similarly matched.

“Actually the whole tournament was a lot of pretty close games everywhere you looked…” He said. “We kind of knew that going in, that none of the teams were really a lot better than the other teams, it was just whoever was going to show out on that day.”

Mission Valley opened the tournament against the Missoula Mavericks on a hot, sunny Friday evening. The Mavs scored a go ahead run in the top of the eighth inning, forcing the Mariners to respond with two runs of their own ending the game in a 5-4 victory.

In the final inning Mariners’ Trevor Lake got on base after the Mavericks pitcher walked him. Espn Fisher followed with a ground hit to left field sending Lake home to even the score. James Bennett followed with a short hit and was tagged out at first, however it allowed Fisher to advance bases. Ethan McCauley then hit a ground ball and Missoula’s first baseman bobbled it, giving Fisher the chance to slide in for the winning run.

The Mariners next foe was the tournament hosts, the second-ranked Bitterroot Bucs. Despite getting off to a quick lead in the first inning, Mission Valley dropped this game 8-5.

In the first inning, the Mariners took advantage of a slew of errors by the Bucs, with Xavier Fisher and Keyan Dalby both recording runs to take a 2-0 lead. The score was knotted up 4-4 heading into the bottom of the sixth, but the Bucs went off for four more runs which Mission Valley could not answer in the seventh.

On Saturday the tournament drew to a close for the Mariners after the team fell 7-5 to the Libby Loggers. Mission Valley struggled at bat again, with only eight hits for the game.

“We didn’t bat well the whole weekend,” coach Brad Fisher said. “That ultimately was the name of the game, you have to come hit the ball. At times we did, but we needed some timely hits that just didn’t show up for us.”

The next day, districts ended in an intense championship matchup between the Glacier Twins and the Bitterroot Bucs, which the Twins won 6-5. In American Legion Baseball Class A, only the top two teams from the district tournament qualify for the state championship, which meant the end of the season for the Mariners.

Three Mission Valley players were recognized on a state and conference level this year, including Dawson Dumont, all-conference; Alex Muzquiz, all-conference honorable mention; and Xavier Fisher, all-state. Mariners coach Brad Fisher stated he was pleased to not only see improvement in his players, but for those three to earn the higher recognition as well.

Mission Valley’s coach also stated that as the season closes and his A team finishes with an 19-15 overall record, the whole team is just grateful to have had the opportunity to play this year.

“We saw some improvement, but we were just thankful to be playing every week, to be honest with the situation we had,” Brad Fisher said. “I told the kids that we should be happy we got to do what we did this year.”

Reporter Whitney England may be reached at wengland@dailyinterlake.com

2020 Legion A Western District Tournament

Florence, MT

July 30-August 2

Trailing by four in the bottom of the seventh, the Mariners cut the lead in half and had the tying runs on base with the go ahead batter at the plate. But the rally was snuffed by a lineout to center and a infield groundout to end the season.

(#4) Libby Loggers 7, (#3) MVA Mariners 5

Mariners (19-15), Libby (19-21)

Libby 013 012 0 – 7 13 1*

Mssn Vlly 100 200 2 – 5 8 2*

Caden Williams and Quade Anderson. Xavier Fisher (3K,1W), (7) Eric Dolence (1H) and Espn Fisher. LP – X.Fisher (2-2).

LIBBY LOGGERS – Tripp Zhang 2-3, Tucker Masters 1-3, Williams 2-4, Trey Thompson 1-4, Aydan Williamson 3-4, Hunter Hoover 1-2, Moxley Roesler-Begalke 0-3, Anderson *3-4, Alex Svendsbye 1-3, Jeff Offenbecher 0-4.

MISSION VALLEY A MARINERS – Dawson Dumont 0-1, Xavier Fisher 1-4, Keyan Dalbey 0-3, Dylan Davis 1-1, Eric Dolence 1-3, Alex Muzquiz 0-4, E.Fisher 1-3, Trevor Lake 1-3, James Bennett 2-3, Ethan McCauley 1-3.

HR – Williamson. 3B – McCauley. 2B – Zhang, Williamson, Williams, Masters; T.Lake. RBIs – Zhang, Masters, Williams, Williamson 4; X.Fisher, D.Davis, Dolence, T.Lake, Bennett. BB – M.R-B; Dumont 3, Dolence. HB – Masters. FC – Svendsbye 2. SB – Dumont.

(Sa021Aug20gm6dist)

Asterisk (*) denotes stat variant(s) where alternate scoring assessments exist - LLGC = LL:12H (Anderson 2H, ROE); MVM:3E.

(#2) Bitterroot Bucs 8, (#3) MVA Mariners 5

Mariners (19-14), Bucs (26-19)

Mission Valley 200 002 1 – 5 7 2

Bitterroot Valley 010 034 x – 8 10 3

James Bennett (4.67IP:2K,5H,4W), (5) Eric Dolence (.67IP: 2K,2H,2W), (6) Ethan McCauley and Espn Fisher. Jake Scully, (7) Colby Kohlman and Brendan Schneiter. LP – Bennett (1-2).

MISSION VALLEY A MARINERS – Dawson Dumont 1-4, Xavier Fisher 2-3, Keyan Dalbey *1-4, Eric Dolence 1-3, Alex Muzquiz 1-3, Trevor Lake *0-4, E.Fisher 1-3, Dylan Davis 0-3, Ethan McCauley *0-3.

BITTERROOT A BUCS – Kohlman 1-2, Jesse Sage 1-2, J.Scully 0-2, Andrew Scully 1-4, Schneiter 3-4, Zack Christopherson 1-4, Chance Schmitt 1-4, Blake Hinsdale 1-4, Johnny Lineback 1-2.

HR – Schneiter. 2B – Schneiter. RBIs – E.Fisher 2; A.Scully 2, Schneiter 2, Christopherson, Schmitt 2. SH – *; Sage. BB – X.Fisher, Dolence; J.Scully 2, Kohlman 2, Sage, Lineback. HB – Muzquiz. ROE – Muzquiz, T.Lake; Christopherson, Schmitt. FC – Kohlman. DP – MVM1 (b1:6-4-3, X.Fisher, Muzquiz, T.Lake)

(Fr31Jul20gm4dist)

Asterisk (*) denotes stat variant(s) where alternate scoring assessments exist - BBiS = BB: Chrisopherson 3ab, Schmitt 1rbi; MVM: Dalbey (0H), T.Lake (1H, rbi) MVMMVMiS: t5- McCauley 0-2 (SH9, but nobody on base).

Trailing by a run in the bottom of the eighth, Espn Fisher’s RBI single scored Trevor Lake to knot the contest at four apiece. After advancing over to third on a James Bennett groundout, E.Fisher then scampered home when Ethan McCauley safely reached base on an infield throwing error.

(#3) MVA Mariners 5, (#6) Missoula A Mavs 4

Mariners (19-13)

Missoula 002 010 01 – 4 9 5

Mssn Vlly 110 010 02 – 5 5 2

Aiden Gappart (6.67IP), (7) Ethan Parker (.67IP), (8) Rory Hunt, (8) Eamon Higgins and Mike Prather. Alex Muzquiz, (6) Dylan Davis and Espn Fisher. WP – D.Davis (5-2)

MISSOULA A MAVERICKS – Eric Beem 0-3, Joey Leary 1-4, Henry Black 0-4, Henry Gibbs 3-4, Mason Anderson 1-4, Ethan Parker 0-4, Prather 1-2, Kieler Hudson 3-4, Higgins 0-2.

MISSION VALLEY A MARINERS – Dawson Dumont 1-4, Xavier Fisher 2-4, Keyan Dalbey *0-1, Davis 0-0, Eric Dolence 0-2, Alex Muzquiz 0-4, Trevor Lake 1-3, E.Fisher 1-4, James Bennett 0-4, Ethan McCauley 0-3.

2B – Leary, Gibbs. RBIs – Black, Gibbs, Parker; X.Fisher, Dolence, E.Fisher, McCauley. SH – Higgins; BB – Higgins; Dalbey, D.Davis, Dolence 2, T.Lake, McCauley. HB – Beem 2, Prather 2; *Dalbey. ROE – Anderson; X.Fisher, *Dalbey, McCauley 2. FC – Black, Anderson, Higgins; Dolence, T.Lake, E.Fisher. SB – Higgins.

(Th30Jul20gm2dist)

Asterisk (*) denotes stat variant(s) where alternate scoring assessments exist - BBiS = MVM- 6H: Dalbey 0-1 (1B,BB,0HB), D.Davis 0-0(HB,BB).

Other Legion A Western District Tournament scores

Twins 6, Bucs 5 (gm10) 1st pl.

Bucs 4, Mavs 3 (gm9)

Mavs 13, Loggers 7 (gm8)

Twins 5, Bucs 3 (gm7)

Mavs 8, Lakers 3 (gm5)

(#1) Glacier Twins 8, Lakers 0 (gm3)

(#5) Kalispell Lakers 6, Libby Loggers 5 (gm1)

tournament bracket progression can be viewed online at

< https://www.montanalegionbaseball.org/west-a >.