North to Alaska
Mission Valley Mariners begin journey to regional baseball
The journey of a lifetime has begun for the Mission Valley Mariners.
As if winning the program's first-ever American Legion Baseball Class A State Tournament in Libby a couple weeks ago wasn't enough, the Mariners are leaving for Anchorage, Alaska, today for the Northwestern Regional Tournament.
"I've never been to Alaska before," Mariner first baseman/pitcher Eric Locke said. "It's going to be fun. I can't wait. It's going to be a riot, going be a thrill."
One thing is for sure, if the Mariners (60-8) make it through the winners' bracket (which means playing the night games), they'll get to play ball under Alaska's late night sun in Mulcahy Stadium.
No Montana team has played in Alaska, and Mission Valley is looking to make Montana back-to-back regional champs after the Bitterroot Bucs won the tournament last year in Sheridan, Wyo.
The Mariners are driving to Spokane today, then flying to Seattle to catch the American Legion Baseball's plane ticket reservations from Seattle to Anchorage. They will leave Polson around 8 a.m. and get into Anchorage about 7:22 p.m.
They play the first game of the tourney on Friday at 11:30 a.m. (9:30 a.m. in Alaska) against the Oregon state champion from Ashland.
The Ashland Pilots (35-10) went on a roll during the postseason to capture their title. They were second in their conference standings, behind defending state champ North Medford, after the regular season.
A first-round victory would pit the Mariners against the winner between Box Elder, Utah, and Fairbanks, Alaska. The Fairbanks Blue went undefeated on the season in capturing the state championship.
"We just have to play our game - play Mariner baseball," Mariners first baseman/right fielder/pitcher Brandon Thompson said.
The Box Elder Bees of Bringham City placed third at the Utah state tournament. Kearns beat Cyprus for the state championship. But both of those teams advanced to the western regional because Utah is the tournament's host state. The Bees made Utah's 4A high school state tournament and went two-and-the-que.
On the other side of the bracket is Bear Lake, from Montpelier, Idaho; South Anchorage; Wheatland, Wyo.; and Richland, Wash.
The Bear Lake Bears showed they can play with the big boys by capturing their first legion state championship. They are the two-time defending state 3A high school champions. Bear Lake High School has an enrollment of approxemately 400 students and knocked off teams with enrollments from 800 to 1,800 students, including defending state champ Mountain Home.
The South Anchorage Wolverines captured the regular season conference title by virtue of a 12-6 record to earn the hosting responsibilities of the regional tourney.
Wheatland is coming into the tournament with a 38-18. Richland is 45-8 after placing third last year at the regional tournament.
Bear Lake, Richland and Fairbanks all dominated their state tournaments. The Richland Knights' burly third baseman and state tourney MVP Josh Rapacz declared after winning the state title his team would be regional champs.
Seven of the Mariners' starters are hitting above .300. As a group, all nine starters combine for a .394 batting average. Thompson leads the crew with a .514 average, 17 home runs and 82 RBIs. Locke also has 82 RBIs and is second on the team with a .450 average. He's third on the team with eight home runs and has 14 stolen bases. Center fielder/pitcher Tim Rausch, the younger brother of catcher John, is just behind Locke with a .448 average but has two more home runs. He's just four RBIs behind the leaders as well and is third on the team with 23 stolen bases.
John Rausch is fourth on the team in average (.395) and is tied with Locke with eight home runs. He's got 53 RBIs and is second on the team with 24 stolen bases. Left fielder Will Gordon is just behind John Rausch with a .391 average and six homers. He's got 58 RBIs. Right fielder Kyle Brown is hitting .353 and leads the team with 38 stolen bases. Third baseman Tyler Linse is hitting .310.
As for the pitchers, the Plains duo of Thompson and Brandon Roy are a combined 20-2 on the hill. Thompson has 125 strikeouts and 68 walks in 80 2/3 innings with a 3.13 ERA. Roy has 87 strikeouts with 50 walks in 84 innings and has a 3.75 ERA.
Locke is 10-1 with a 2.34 ERA. He's got 90 strikeouts and just 27 walks in 73 innings pitched. Tim Rausch is 7-1 with a 2.82 ERA. He's got 54 strikeouts and 47 walks in 54 1/3 innings.
Craig and Kyle Bagnell, along with Spencer Trawick, are all capable pitchers with nearly 30 innings pitched apiece.
The team has been practicing every morning in preparation for their early morning, first-round game.
"That's what these kids are about," coach Jami Hanson said. "Whenever we gave them a day off, if you drove by the field, you'd see a handful of them practicing on their own. Heck, I drove by the field (Tuesday evening) and saw 'Moose' out their playing catch with some folks."
Needless to say, Hanson likes his chances.
"We don't know much about any of the teams, but if our pitchers throw strikes, the defense backs him up and we don't forget our bats, we'll put ourselves in position to win," he said. "I like our chances, especially with the way we've been playing.
"This is awesome. Everybody is so excited. There are so many reasons to go up to Alaska, but how many people get to say they are going up to play baseball? We are just going to kick back and relax and play baseball. They kids have done everything beyond expectations up to this point. So now it's time to just have fun and enjoy this. We're going to let the kids decide once we get up there what they want to do away from the game. But we're going to treat it all like it's a game."