Mission Valley A team bounces back from loss to Glacier

Twins

POLSON - They say you learn more from a loss than a win, and that held true for the Mission Valley Mariners. The team turned around last Tuesday's 7-5 loss to the Glacier AA Twins into a double-header split against the Missoula Pioneers on Sunday.

"You just start being more precise and good things happen," Mariners' manager Jami Hanson said. "The kids cleaned up some things and didn't make the mistakes they did on Thursday."

On Tuesday, April 26, against the AA Glacier Twins, Mission Valley and Glacier found themselves in a close, competitive game, with both teams tied 3-3 after the first and the Mariners only trailed 6-5 after six innings.

However, the Twins added an insurance run and in the top of the eighth and held on for victory.

"I felt really good about the week," Hanson said. "I'm very competitive and wanted to win and the kids wanted to win. We just had too many mistakes. If you take away a bad throw it's 5-5, and if you take away another throw its us leading 5-3."

Mission did see some solid pitching from starter Josh Rustad, Kellon Hoyt, Austin Reynolds and Dalton Malzhon who were limited in their pitch count this early in the season to between 30 and 40 pitches.

"I think you're making a foolish mistake if you don't," Hanson said, adding that arms are nowhere near being ready to take on full pitching loads this early in the season. "You can't truly ask them how they feel because you won't get a true answer, so you have to judge things like velocity and body movement."

On Sunday, the Mariners saw marked improvement against the Senior Babe Ruth Missoula Pioneers, as they took the first game 10-7. Mission Valley took just 11 kids over, so they were short-handed in the game.

Justin Evertz, Josh Rustad and Jacob Young, pitched the first game, which was tied 6-6 in the seventh before being broke open by the Mariners with a four-run seventh inning.

"The kids made their adjustments and shortened up their swings," Hanson said.

He added that he was pleased that the team scored consistently throughout the innings and not just in one or two big innings.

"It was just a continual thing, there weren't many goose eggs,' Hanson said. "And when there was goose eggs, our defense would lock down and give them goose eggs."

Missoula would win the second game 4-3, but it would take a walkoff homer in the bottom of the seventh over a short fence at Pine Field for them to do so. The Mariners were also down to nine players after two left for a college workout. Hoyt pitched five innings for the Mariners in the low scoring affair and racked up 56 pitches in an impressive early-season performance.

"That's where you want to be in June or July," Hanson said of Hoyt's performance. "The arm was good, and the velocity hadn't changed."

The Mission Valley Mariners are now 2-2 on the season.