Mariners head to State American Legion Tournament

The Glacier Twins won a loser-out contest to once again face Mission Valley Mariners in the Class A West District Tournament Championship Game, where they avenged an earlier 11-10 loss for the district title on Sunday, July 23, in Polson.

The Twins held off a late Mariner rally as Mission Valley’s bats still proved powerful. The two teams advance to this week’s State A Tournament in Laurel.

“The last couple of weeks of the season we have been playing pretty well,” manager Brad Fisher said. “We had kids who had been struggling to hit the ball really come around.”

Glacier led 5-3 after three innings before the Mariners took a 7-5 lead in the top of the fourth. The Twins responded with a five-run rally and notched another run in the sixth. Mission Valley’s three-run push in the seventh ended prematurely and resulted in the Glacier victory.

The Mariners finished with 14 hits as a team, including three hits by Cole Wadsworth and two by Espn Fisher, Dawson DuMont and Wyatt Wadsworth. Both Wadsworth and Holden Emerson hit home runs, and Wadsworth finished with four RBI while Emerson notched three.

Fisher started the game with three and one-third innings pitched, striking out five and allowing just four earned runs. Mission Valley, however, committed three errors in the game, and Fisher had 10 runs scored against him on the scoreboard, largely due to a grand slam in the bottom of the fourth by Glacier. Cole Wadsworth came in and provided relief, allowing just four hits, one run while striking out two.

Mission Valley advances to the State A Tournament with the No. 2 seed. They face the Belgrade Bandits on Wednesday, July 26, at 1 p.m.

“The teams from the south are who we will face up against and they’re some really good teams, the same kind we faced during high school baseball,” Fisher said. “We need to go in with the mindset of playing one game and everything will take care of itself, we don’t need to care about what happens in other people’s games. We’re just going to come out and do the things we’ve been practicing and see what happens.”

Since the tournament begins on Wednesday, that will be challenging for teams’ pitchers as typically, they get more days of rest in between the district and state tournament.

The Mariners finished third in their district standings at 13-7 but finished second at the district tournament. Glacier, on the other hand, finished first in their district standings at 17-3 but finished third in the tournament. The Bitterroot Bucs finished second but will not advance to the state tournament.

“The lineup didn’t have any guaranteed outs for us. Our kids started hitting the ball really well and for the most part in this tournament played really clean,” Fisher said. “During the championship game we had some errors and costly mental awareness errors.”

GLACIER 11, MISSION VALLEY 10

Mariners - 300 - 400 - 3 - 10 - 14 - 3

Twins - 410 - 510 - x - 11 - 11 - 0

Mission Valley Hitting: Hits: C Wadsworth 3, E Fisher 2, D DuMont 2, W Wadsworth 2, Z Muzquiz; RBI: W Wadsworth 4, H Emerson 3, D DuMont, C Kauley, A Gfroerer; 2B: W Wadsworth, D DuMont, Z Muzquiz; HR: W Wadsworth, H Emerson; HBP: H Emerson; SB: C Wadsworth 2, A Gfroerer

Mission Valley Pitching: E Fisher - 3 and ⅓ innings pitched, 7 hits, 10 runs, 4 earned runs, 0 walks, 5 strikeouts; C Wadsworth 2 and ⅔ innings pitched, 4 hits, 1 run, 0 earned run, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts

Mission Valley topples twins in semifinal

The Mariners got a lead early and never relinquished it in a 6-2 Class A West District Tournament semifinal game on Saturday, July 22, at O’Malley Park in Polson, punching their ticket to Sunday’s championship bout. Dawson DuMont pitched most of the game for Mission Valley, going four and two-thirds innings, scattering four hits, and striking out nine.

“Our pitching was good during the tournament and for the first couple of days we really threw strikes,” Mission Valley Mariners manager Brad Fisher said.

After two innings, the Mariners led 3-0 before the Glacier Twins cut it to 3-2 in the bottom of the third. Mission Valley responded with three runs in the top of the fourth.

Zak Muzquiz finished the game with three hits, two RBI, and a double in the matchup. Aiden Gfroerer and Landon Shoemake each had two hits, while Espn Fisher had a double.

Cole Wadsworth pitched the final two and one-third innings, allowing just two hits.

MISSION VALLEY 6, GLACIER 2

Mariners - 210 - 300 - 0 - 6 - 9 - 1

Twins - 002 - 000 - 0 - 2 - 6 - 2

Mission Valley Hitting: Hits: Z Muzquiz 3, A Gfroerer 2, L Shoemake 2, E Fisher, C Kauley; RBI: Z Muzquiz 2, W Wadsworth, H Emerson; 2B: E Fisher, Z Muzquiz, A Gfroerer; HBP: H Emerson 2, C Wadsworth 2, W Wadsworth, D DuMont; SB: Z Muzquiz, L Shoemake

Mission Valley Pitching: D DuMont - 4 and ⅔ innings pitched, 4 hits, 2 runs, 1 earned run, 3 walks, 9 strikeouts; C Wadsworth - 2 and ⅓ innings pitched, 2 hits, 0 runs, 0 earned runs, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts

Mariners thump Mavericks

In their second Class A West District Tournament game, Mission Valley’s bats exploded for 15 hits en route to a five-inning 17-3 victory over the Missoula Mavericks on Friday, July 21, at O’Malley Park. Dawson DuMont had an impressive performance, collecting two hits, a double, a home run, and two RBI.

The Mariners were up 14-0 after the second inning, and added another run in the third.

Missoula, meanwhile, was held to just five hits. Landon Shoemake pitched the first three innings, allowing just three hits, a run, and striking out two. Wyatt Wadsworth pitched one and two-thirds innings, striking out four, while Cash Atkison picked up the save.

Holden Emerson and Aidan Gfroerer had three hits apiece, while Espn Fisher, Wyatt Wadsworth, and Zak Muzquiz had multi-hit games. Cymian Kauley drove in three runs and had a home run, while Fisher also drove in two runs.

“I’m really happy with how Aiden Gfroerer hit,” Mission Valley Mariners Manager Brad Fisher said. “He really came through and hit the ball well.”

MISSION VALLEY 17, MISSOULA 3

Mariners - 001 - 02 - 3 - 5 -1

Mavericks - 593 - 0x - 17 - 15 - 2

Mission Valley Hitting: Hits: H Emerson 3, A Gfroerer 3, E Fisher 2, D DuMont 2, W Wadsworth 2, Z Muzquiz; RBI: C Kauley 3, C Wadsworth 2, E Fisher 2, D DuMont 2, W Wadsworth, H Emerson, A Gfroerer, Z Muzquiz, L Shoemake; 2B: E Fisher, H Emerson, W Wadsworth, D DuMont; HR: C Kauley, D DuMont; HBP: C Kauley 2, H Emerson, C Wadsworth; SB: C Wadsworth

Mission Valley Pitching: L Shoemake - 3 innings pitched, 3 hits, 1 run, 0 earned run, 1 walk, 2 strikeout; W Wadsworth - 1 and ⅔ innings pitched, 2 hits, 2 runs, 0 earned runs, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts; C Atkison - ⅓ innings pitched, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 earned runs, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts

Mission Valley opens District Tournament with win

The Mission Valley Mariners fended off a Bitterroot comeback to open the Class A West District Tournament with a victory on Thursday, July 20, in Polson. Mission Valley took a 5-0 lead in the first inning and an 8-5 lead through six innings.

Bitterroot notched two runs in the top of the seventh, but Cymian Kauley was able to pick up the complete game, pitching seven innings, scattering five hits, and striking out four.

Aiden Gfroerer had a big day at the plate, notching two hits and a triple while driving in three runs, while Dawson DuMont smacked a home run and drove in two runs. Holden Emerson also collected two RBIs.

MISSION VALLEY 8, BITTERROOT 7

Bitterroot - 000 - 230 - 2 - 7 - 5 - 1

Mariners - 501 - 002 - x - 8 - 7 - 2

Mission Valley Hitting: Hits - A Gfroerer 2, D DuMont, W Wadsworth, H Emerson, Z Muzquiz, C Kauley; RBI - A Gfroerer 3, D DuMont 2, H Emerson 2; 3B - A Gfroerer; HR - D DuMont; HBP - C Kauley; SB - W Wadsworth

Mission Valley Pitching: C Kauley - 7 innings pitched, 5 hits, 7 runs, 5 earned runs, 5 walks, 4 strikeouts