By Quint Turner

Philip Thomas drove in three runs and Moses Valadez pitched five shutout innings to lead the Mavs to their third win on the year, this time over the Mariner Marauders Tuesday at Meadowdale.

Meadowdale jumped out to an 8-0 lead after the second inning, and Colin Costello hit in Parker Coffey to win the game in the sixth by Mercy rule. Danny Deño started the game for Mariner and pitched three innings, giving up eight runs in the process (five earned). Valadez struck out nine Marauders and only gave up two hits and one walk. Reid Naughtan closed the game for the Mavericks and pitched one scoreless inning.

Valadez pitched great from the start. Ramon Ozuna got on base by error to lead off the inning, but then Valadez struck out William Linares and Nick Smith for the first two outs, and then got Tommy Duong to ground out to him to end the inning. The Mavs almost batted around in the first. Tyler McGuire walked to lead off, and then Ryan White and Bryan Marty were hit by pitches to load the bases. Garrett Walsh stepped up to bat, and took a walk, driving in McGuire for the first run of the game. Deño struck out Phillip Grossenbacher for the first out, but Thomas stroked a base hit to right field to drive in two runs. Dakota Barlament popped out to the third baseman for the second out of the inning, but Mariner wasn’t out of the woods yet. Coffey stepped up and hit a frozen rope off the bottom of the right field wall that drove in two more runs. The ninth batter, Chris Tanner, popped out to the third baseman to end the inning. The Mavs were up 5-0 after the first.

Valadez struck out the side in the second. First Peña and then Tim Angelos to start the top of the second and after Dan Nadat got a base hit to right field for the first hit of the game. Valadez struck out Garauv Rana to end the inning, and the threat. The Mavs tacked on three more in the bottom of the second. McGuire once again walked to lead off the inning, and then White hit a fly ball to right field that was misplayed, and there were runners on second and third after the error. Marty came up and hit a ground ball to the shortstop, who threw the ball away. That error scored both McGuire and White to put the Mavs up 7-0. Walsh, the next hitter, struck out and Grossenbacher hit a blooper to shallow left field that was caught by a diving Linares. Thomas came up next and got a basehit to centerfield to drive in Marty, and the Mavs were up 8-0. Barlament grounded out to end the second inning.

Ozuna got a one-out single and stole second in the top of the third, but neither Linarg nor Smith could drive him in, and the game went to the bottom of the third with the score still 8-0 MHS. The Mavs decided to make some substitutions in the third. After Coffey grounded out and Tanner hit a double, Justin Ridley replaced McGuire. Ridley grounded out in his first at-bat. Up next, Costello came in for White and Costello drew a walk, and runners were on first and third with two outs for Marty’s replacement, Kenley Ackerman. Ackerman grounded out to end the inning. Valadez continued cruising in the fourth. He got Duong to pop out and then struck out Peña and Angelos to end the inning. Parker Bresler came in from the bullpen to replace Peña.

The Mavs continued to replace players in the fourth as well. Instead of Walsh, Eric Siska led off the fourth with a single. Grossenbacher stayed in the game though, and drew a walk. Conor O’Neill came in for Thomas and popped out for the first out of the inning. Up next was Barlament again, and Bresler struck him out. Coffey walked to load the bases for Matt Hill, but Bresler came through in the clutch and struck Hill out to end the inning. The Mavs still led 8-0 at the end of the fourth.

Valadez continued to roll in the fifth. He struck out Nadat for the first out, and then got Rana to pop out to the catcher Grossenbacher for the second one. Singh came up next, and drew a walk; the only walk that Valadez threw all game. Valadez quickly bounced back and got Ozuna to ground out to end the inning. The Mavs got another run in the fifth. Ridley led off with a walk, Costello got a single to follow, and then Ackerman got an infield single to load the bases for Siska. Siska hit a ground ball to shortstop Linares, and he gunned down Ridley at the plate for the first out of the inning. Grossenbacher stepped up with the bases still loaded, and drew his second walk of the game, driving in Costello. With the score 9-0 and the game in the fifth, the Mavs could win by 10 run mercy if they scored another run. O’Neill stepped up and knocked a ground ball to third baseman Smith, and again Mariner threw out the runner coming home to prevent the loss. Barlament had the bases still loaded when he was up, but he popped out to Smith to end the inning.

Valadez was replaced by Naughtin in the top of the sixth. He struck out Linares, but Smith reached on an error. Duong popped out to the first baseman for the second out of the inning. However, Peña drew a walk, and then Angelos got a single to load the bases for Nadat. Naughtin calmed down, and struck him out on three straight pitches to end the threat. The Mavs finally scored their tenth run in the sixth. Coffey drew a walk to lead off. Afterwards, Duong came in to replace Bresler for the rest of the inning. He hit Tanner, who came back in for Hill, with a pitch, and then Ridley walked. That loaded the bases for Costello, and he delivered with a line drive single to left field. Coffey scored and the Mavs won their third game on the year.

With the win, the Mavs improve to 3-1 (2-0 in league play), and play again on Wednesday at home versus Everett at 4:00. As for the Marauders, they fall to 0-5. Their next game is on Tuesday at home versus Cascade, which will start league play for them.

Sports correspondent Quint Turner is a student at Meadowdale High School.