Mariners capture district

By CARL HENNELL

The Daily Inter Lake

POLSON - Were there any doubts the Mission Valley Mariners were going to be district champs?

If so, Tuesday's 23-2 championship game victory - their 26th in a row - erased them with authority.

The Polson-based American Legion baseball team won its first Western A District championship under fifth-year head coach Jami Hanson by walloping the defending district, state and regional champion Bitterroot Bucs in the district tournament chipper.

Pitcher Eric Locke spread seven hits and two walks over seven innings to earn the complete-game victory and improved to 9-1 on the season.

As for the Mariners' offense, the list of accomplishments is long.

Center fielder Tim Rausch went 3-for-5 with a grand slam - his seventh homer of the season - and five RBIs (all in his final two plate appearances). Locke hit two doubles and had four RBIs. Third baseman Tyler Linse went 3-for-4 with three RBIs (all in the first two innings). Shortstop Cubby Pierre went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and hit his second homer of the season. Catcher John Rausch went 3-for-3. First baseman Brandon "Moose" Thompson had two hits and two RBIs. And three pinch hitters - Joe McCarthy, Craig Bagnell and Derrick Rathe - all had a hit in the Mariners' final at bats of the sixth inning.

"They're loaded," Bitterroot Bucs coach Dustin Bahm said. "Batters one through nine all bring something different to the table. All have good at bats, either working the pitch count or putting the ball in play with two strikes or batters like Rausch and Thompson and (Will) Gordon - who hit the ball hard every time.

"Then they've got 15 pitchers, or something like that. And, on top of all that, they only lose two guys next year."

The victory obviously came easier than Monday's 9-8 undefeated semifinal win over the Bucs, where Gordon hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth.

"In this type of tourney, if you've got the pitching it helps," Hanson said. "We came into this game having only used two starters. They other teams had to drop into the losers' bracket and use their pitchers and the Bucs - as good as they are - just ran out of pitching."

The Mariners broke a 2-2 tie in the second inning with 10 runs. Pierre led off the inning by blasting a 2-1 pitch over the left field fence. Then 13 other batters came to the plate. The Mariners got a little help from the baseball gods when Moose hit a one-out, bases-loaded towering fly ball to shallow center field that nobody could read. It turned into a two-run single. Then two batters later, and with two outs, Linse hit another shallow pop fly ball that the Bucs' right fielder couldn't judge.

"We were down on pitching but Matthew (Perez) threw well," Bahm said. "If we would have made some plays early, it would have been a different ball games. Both kids said they were losing the ball in the clouds. But if we catch those balls, they don't score all those runs in that second inning and the game doesn't get out of hand."

After the two freak pop ups, Perez - the Bucs starting pitcher - issued back-to-back walks and the rout was on.

Locke, the second-to-last batter in the second, highlighted the inning with a bases-loaded double to the right-center field wall off a 2-2 pitch.

"He had thrown me a couple of knuckle balls and gotten me into a hole," Locke said. "I was sitting dead red, just in case. I figured he'd threw me another knuckle, but he threw me a fastball down the pipe and I got good barrel on it."

Six different Mariners scored three runs. John Rausch, whow was perfect from the plate, was the closest to scoring four runs. He was stranded on third in the third.

"I've been struggling a little bit," Rausch said. "I went down to a baseball camp in Oklahoma (Oral Roberts in Tulsa) last week. … I'm looking at playing ball down there. … But I found out a few things about my swing while I was down there and came back and changed my swing a little bit. I'm making sure I don't lock up my front knee and keeping my hands back. It's been working."

As dominant as the offense was, Locke was just as effective on defense. He had two strikeouts in the first and another in the second. He finished with four and got all of them on his nasty slider. Two Bucs went down looking.

"I felt really good today but it was John (Rausch) who called a great game for me," Locke said. "He knows what I have and pretty much helped me out all game long."

Rausch rated Locke's performance as excellent.

"He may not have had great control with his curve ball and change-up all the time, but his fastball and slider were awesome," Rausch said. "Plus, we've got a good mental connection. We've only had two passed ball between us the whole year, so we don't cross each other up very much."

The victory capped a perfect home season for the Mariners. They went 25-0 at O'Maley Field and take a 55-7 record to the state tournament in Libby, where they face the team that eliminated them at state last year - the Gallatin Valley Outlaws.

Bitterroot 020 000 0 - 2 7 4

Mission 2(10)3 053 x - 23 18 1

Matthew Perez, Jeremy Stevens (3), Bryan Tole (5) and Deric Stephens. Eric Locke and John Rausch, Tim Rausch (7). W - Locke (9-1). L - Perez (1-5).

BITTERROOT VALLEY (25-28) - Dustin Lind 0-4, Max Burns 0-3, Kenny Collins 0-1, Perez 2-3, Jeremiah Hannah 0-3, Dominic Goble 0-2, Stephens 1-2, Shane Taylor 1-3, Tyler Lind 0-1, Stevens 1-1, Tole 0-0, Kolby Salmela 1-1, Luke Topp 0-1, James French 1-1.

MISSION VALLEY (55-7) - Kyle Brown 0-4, Locke 2-5, T. Rausch 3-5, Brandon Thompson 2-5, Will Gordon 0-5, Tyler Linse 3-4, Joe McCarthy 1-1, Beau Nordberg 1-3, Cubbie Pierre 2-3, Craig Bagnell 1-1, J. Rausch 3-3, Derrick Rathe 1-1.

RBIs - BV 1 (Taylor), MV 19 (T. Rausch 5, Locke 4, Linse 3, Pierre 2, Thompson 2, J. Rausch, Brown, Rathe). HR - BV 0, MV 2 (Pierre (2), T. Rausch (7)). 2B - BV 0, MV 2 (Locke). SB - BV 2 (Goble, Stephens), MV 3 (J. Rausch, Brown, McCarthy). SAC - none.

Missoula 14, Libby 12

In the resumed loser-out game from Monday night, Libby rebounded from a 5-2 deficit to take a 7-6 lead in the sixth inning, but Missoula combined for seven runs in the next two innings and stranded Libby's tying run on second base in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Richard Brumbaugh hit a two-run home run over right-center field in the bottom of the sixth to give the Loggers their first lead.

Then, trailing 14-7 heading into the bottom of the ninth, Steve Bertelsen hit a two-out, three-run double. Kasey Basso and Kody Foote knocked in a run apiece in the frame. With two outs and runners on first and third, Brumbaugh - as the tying run - stole second to put the winning run in scoring position, but the Loggers anti-climatically ended the game with a pop up to first base.

Brumbaugh finished 3-for-4, including his sixth homer of the year. Bertelsen and Basso each had two hits.

"We didn't accomplish the goal of making the district championship game, but all in all, we played some good ball at times and should have some confidence going into the state tournament," Libby coach Kelly Morford said.

The Loggers will open the state tourney against Dillon, which they held an 11-2 lead over during the regular season before the Cubs rallied for a 13-11 victory. The Cubs are made up of alot of football players, including quarterback/shortstop Zach McRae, that came up to Libby in November to rally and beat the Loggers in the state semifinals.

Missoula 014 010 430 - 14 15 2

Libby 000 223 005 - 12 14 2

Andy Freeman, Lincoln Mansch (6), Shawn Griffin (9) and Robbie King. Derek Benefield, Steve Bertelsen (5), Rory Hendrickson (7), Kody Foote (8) and Kasey Basso. W - Mansch. L - Bertelsen (6-6).

MISSOULA - Matt McMann 2-4, King 3-5, Kendal Maier 2-6, Sam Sopko 0-5, Brady Miller 0-5, Anthony Maes 2-5, Andrew Schmautz 4-5, Wes Martens 1-2, Jake Schilling 1-3.

LIBBY (23-26) - Zack Rowan 1-5, Bertelsen 2-6, Richard Brumbaugh 3-4, Matt Schad 1-4, Nate Peltier 1-2, Hendrickson 1-4, Foote 1-1, Basso 2-3, Ryan Stapley 1-2, Benefield 0-2, Chris Herbig 1-3, Kory Volkers 1-5.

RBIs - Msla. 9 (McMann 3, Sopka, Maes, Schmautz 2, Martens, Schilling), Lib. 11 (Rowan, Bertelsen 3, Brumbaugh 2, Foote, Basso 2, Stapley 2). 2B - Msla. 2 (McMann, Maier), Lib. 3 (Bertelsen, Basso, Herbig). HR - Msla. 0, Lib. 1 (Brumbaugh (6)).