Mariners hosting Western A district tourney

When it comes to the American Legion baseball Western A district tournament, which starts today in Polson, one thing is painfully clear: Unless Libby wins the championship game, only the championship game winner will advance to the state tournament.

Reason being, the Libby Loggers are hosting their first-ever state tournament, starting Aug. 1. So, regardless of how the Western A-North's No. 2 seed does at districts, they will have an automatic berth at state.

Coincidentally, there is one overwhelming favorite to win the district - and possibly state. No, it's not the defending state and regional champion Bitterroot Bucs (although nobody can look past the Bitterroot's north valley team). It's the tourney host Mission Valley Mariners.

The Mariners nearly swept through their entire Western A-South schedule, going 15-1. They will take the South's No. 1 seed into the tournament and play the North's No. 4 seed, Kootenai Valley, in the opening round.

Led by four pitchers (Brandon Roy, Eric Locke, Brandon Thompson and Tim Rausch) with more than 45 innings pitched apiece and a combined 29-3 record, the Mariners cruised to a 51-7 regular season overall record.

"Mission Valley is obviously the favorite," Libby coach Kelly Morford said. "They have some legitimate aces that can shut anybody down. In a tournament like this, when you have a couple of shutdown pitchers, they will move you right through the bracket."

Roy, Thompson and Locke finished with phenomenal strikeout per inning ratios. Thompson, the big Lewis-Clark State redshirt freshman, has 89 strikeouts in 54 2/3 innings pitched. Locke has 77 K's in 54 2/3 innings. Roy has 70 K's in 63 1/3 innings.

On top of the pitching, the Mariners are hitting .382 with 41 home runs. An astounding nine players are hitting better than .400 and seven more are hitting better than .300.

Thompson is hitting .514 with 10 homers, 59 RBIs and 40 walks. Locke (.455, six homers, 69 RBIs), Kyle Brown (.445, 33 stolen bases), Rausch (.426, five homers, 59 RBIs, 22 stolen bases), Will Gordon (.417, six homers, 52 RBIs) and John Rausch (.404, 24 stolen bases, four homers, 37 RBIs) are the team's hitting leaders - but that's just to name a few of many.

On the north side of the conference, the young Kalispell feeder team clinched the No. 1 seed early on with a 14-2 record. Pitchers Ben Sansaver and Evan Ploeger combined for a 14-3 record to lead the Lakers. Sansaver has 49 strikeouts in 49 innings and Ploeger has 60 in 76 innings. Big Toby Liechti has 35 k's in 43 innings.

Batting .339 as a team, the Lakers are 23-20 overall. They play the Bitterroot Valley Red Sox, a surprise No. 4 seed because they are usually a state powerhouse, in the opening round at noon.

"We've been playing really well," Kalispell coach Pat Conners said. "Everybody keeps on hitting and the pitching is holding up real well. It could be better if we still had (Brian) Sneck, but that's the life of a feeder team. I just hope we can continue to play like we have been in the tournament."

Sansaver, a center fielder and shortstop as well, and catcher Zach Brosten are both hitting better than .400. Brosten has five home runs and 42 RBIs to lead the team. Brosten, however, has been called up to the Class AA Lakers and potentially won't be able to play for the A Lakers. If he doesn't participate in AA play, he will rejoin the feeder team.

Seven other players are hitting better than .300. Toby Liechti has come on strong lately. The first baseman is hitting .304 with three homers and 38 RBIs.

The tournament's No. 2 seeds are Libby and the Bitterroot Bucs.

Led by shortstop Steve Bertelsen's .424 batting average with five homers, 34 RBIs and 27 stolen bases, the Loggers finished 10-6 in conference play and 21-24 overall. Bertelsen is also one of the team's top pitchers. He sports a 5-4 record and 3.86 ERA in 51 1/3 innings pitched. He has 46 strikeouts and 30 walks.

Derek Benefield has pitched the most innings for the Loggers. In 62 innings, he's allowed just 19 walks.

As a team, the Loggers are hitting .299 with 14 homers and 111 stolen bases.

Zach Rowan (.383), Mitch Cotton (.364), Richard Brumbaugh (.340) and Rory Hendrickson (.315) are all hitting above .300. Matt Schad and Colt Cannon are both hitting better than .290 and Benefield is right up there as well.

Surprisingly, the Loggers are young. They've got just two 19-year-olds and two 18-year-olds. The team has six 17-year-olds, but all of the 10 oldest kids return from last year and the roster totals 17.

But even with the automatic berth advancing out of the tourney, the Loggers have the ability to contend for the title.

"We have a high priority to play well," Morford said. "You don't want to be a team that backs your way into state. We have a lot of pride. We don't want to rely on the free ride. We want to earn our way in. There is no reason we can't earn our way and we should. We just have to play to our potential."

As the lower seeds, Kootenai Valley and Glacier could be spoilers.

The Rangers have two 19-year-olds back on the team after playing baseball in college and have drastically improved from earlier in the year.

"They were night and day better from the first time we played them to the last time," Morford said. "They have a couple of legit pitchers now and they can beat anybody."

The young, feeder Glacier team is young and scrappy.

"You look at the scoreboard while you're playing them and you're never quite sure if you can put them away," Morford said. "They are young and scrappy."