The Madisonville Mariners participated in the Cal Ripken 8-year old Machine Pitch State Tournament held July 10-13 in Zachary. The Mariners, who finished the season 7-2, compiled a 3-2 record as the state runner-up in the eight-team tournament. The Mariners defeated Westside 9-2 in the first game followed by an 8-7 victory over Kenner. After the quick start, Twin Rivers downed Madisonville 8-7 in the next game. In game four, Madisonville squared off against Kenner again and earned a hard fought 15-14 victory.

Madisonville fell to Twin Rivers 9-6 in Monday’s championship game. The Mariners jumped out to an early lead in the championship game by scoring three runs in the first inning. Madisonville got two-out singles from Dawson Nelson and Ian Gardner. Kyle McLaughlin then came through with a 2-run triple. Andrew Williams drove in McLaughlin to finish off the scoring in the first. Twin Rivers battled back with four runs in the third inning to take a 4-3 lead. In the bottom of the third, Madisonville’s Jacques Cutrer and Reese Cowen hit back-to-back singles leading off the inning. They scored on a single by Ian Gardner and a ground out by McLaughlin. Williams knocked in Gardner to complete the scoring for Madisonville.

Twin Rivers again answered with four runs in the fourth and one in the sixth to capture the championship.

The Madisonville Mariners (7-2) participated in the Cal Ripken 8-year-old Machine Pitch State Tournament July 10-13 in Zachary earning second place. The Mariners went 3-2, falling to Twin Rivers, 9-6, in the championship game. Shown are, from left, first row: Mason Gaiennie, Jon-Michael Monaghan, Kyle McLaughlin, Cameron Morris, Ross McCafrey and Ian Gardner; second row: Jacques Cutrer, Reese Cowen, Dawson Nelson, Trey Bretey, Will Bloecher and Andrew Williams; and third row: coaches Steve Cowen, Chris Nelson and Frank Bretey.

Head coach Chris Nelson said he had high expectations for the players from the very beginning.

“I held them accountable for their play. The players received a large amount of instruction and supervised repetition. I didn’t just tell the kids to go do a drill, I made sure they were supervised and doing the drill correctly,” Nelson said. “The kids bought in to what we were trying to get done and the result was improvement beyond belief. This year has been a thrill ride for players, parents, and coaches.”