Marsh Valley capped off a dream season on Tuesday, claiming the American Legion Single-A Northwest Regional Championship in Anchorage, Alaska.
“They’ve learned to thrive in pressure situations instead of letting it bother them or start pressing,” Marsh Valley coach Kent Howell said of his team. “They have confidence in each other. It’s been awesome to watch them mature as baseball players and men.”
The Eagles (41-4-2) rolled through the regionals and knocked off the Pocatello Razorbacks to complete an undefeated state tournament — taking home the Idaho crown for the second-straight season.
Marsh Valley’s run in Alaska didn’t get off to as smooth of a start. The Eagles fell in their regional-opener to Gallatin Valley by a run and instead of folding, some switch kicked on for Marsh Valley. Over its next five games en route to the title, M.V. outscored its opponents 50-11.
“They responded well. They were really gritty, “Howell said. “A lot of others here would define us as gritty — I love that, of course. They just decided they have to take one game at a time.”
Howell let the players take it one game at a time while he kept the bigger picture in mind, monitoring pitch counts like a flight control tracks planes.
Lucky for Howell, at his disposal was a quartet of trusted arms in Jason Jones, Payton Howe, James Bodily and Stanton Howell, who tossed a five-hit, complete-game shutout in the 4-0 championship game win over Gallatin Valley.
‘There’s a lot of strategy in it. We used Payton, Stanton and James twice. We burnt Jason Jones in one outing,” Kent Howell said. “We had to end up pulling guys out to save them. Fortunately, the kids pitched so well.
“The defense was great behind them. The offense knew if they could score a few runs, it would probably be enough. It was awesome to watch them bond and have fun.”
Unlike in the Double-A classification, there will be no Legion Word Series or nationals for Marsh Valley to compete in. So the Eagles’ season ends with a banner in Anchorage – and they’ll take it.
Kent Howell called it “a trip of a lifetime.” The entire 12-person Marsh Valley team slept on six bunkbeds in the same cabin. The boys stood out in the middle of an Alaskan river and reeled in salmon like they were sitting rocks. Then they went out on the baseball field and tore through the best teams in the region.
“Oh man, it was incredible,” Kent Howell said. “The last three weeks or so has just been incredible to watch them grow.”
MARSH VALLEY EAGLES 4, GALLATIN VALLEY OUTLAWS 0
Gallatin Valley 000 000 0 — 0 5 2
Marsh Valley 101 200 x — 4 5 0
Gallatin Valley — LP: P. Dietz. 2B: J. Wisecarver.
Marsh Valley — WP: Stanton Howell. 2B: Daxton Woodmancy.