Mustangs look forward to first Northwest Class A appearance

It’ll be a first for the Lovell American Legion Baseball program tonight (Thursday) when the Mustangs take on host team Burley, Idaho, in the first round of the Northwest Class A Regional Tournament in Burley.

Though the Mustangs won the state Class B Tournament in 1986, Class B didn’t have a regional tournament, so tonight’s game will be the first regional contest for Lovell.

Lovell will meet the Burley Green Sox at 7:30 p.m., the fourth and final game of the first round. Other first-round games are Klamath Falls, Oregon, vs. the Cache, Utah, Wolverines at 10 a.m., Wasilla, Alaska, vs. the Bitterroot Red Sox from Montana at 1 p.m. and Prairie, Idaho, vs. Bozeman A from Montana. Washington was unable to send a team, so Montana was granted a second team at the tournament.

The Mustangs come in red hot, winning 11 out of their last 13 games and six of seven post-season games.

With that momentum and a state title in hand, the Mustangs are confident and focused but loose, with the state tournament pressure behind them, manager Michael Jameson said.

“I think now it’s just more excitement and kind of looking forward to this experience,” Jameson said. “We’ve kept reiterating to these guys that we obviously want to go and perform at a high level and compete, and I think they understand that. But I think the pressure of that state championship and the state tournament is off, and so the practices have been a lot looser. I feel like we’ve still had good practices, and hopefully we’ll be able to come out without any nerves and be able to just play loose and free and play well.”

Burley, the Idaho state champion, is tough, Jameson said, with something like a 37-5 record. The town has something like 12,000 people, he added, so it’s not an unfamiliar situation for the smalltown Mustangs.

“I imagine they’ll be a tough team, and obviously it’ll be even a little more of a challenge being in front of their home crowd on opening night, Jameson noted. “And so I imagine we’ll have a pretty big crowd. And at this point, you’re playing state champions, and so you just anticipate that every team is going to be a top-notch team. We’re just going out with the kind of expectation that we’re going to have to play as well as we did at the state tournament. There’s no weak competition and no easy games. We’re anticipating state championship level games every night that we’re there.”

If Lovell wins, the Mustangs will play the winner of the Wasilla-Bitterroot game Friday at 7 p.m. If they lose, they will play the Wasilla-Bitterroot loser Friday at 1 p.m.

Beyond the games, Jameson said the experience will be special for his players.

“I think that’s the biggest thing, just a big opportunity for a lot of these guys to go and experience something like this,” he said. “They have a big banquet with all the teams there. And it sounds like there’s going to be some pretty neat guest speakers and things like that. And in the last couple of regionals that I coached in with Powell, there were college scouts all over the place talking and giving you cards and things like that.

“And so it’ll be a good experience for some of those younger guys that have aspirations to continue to play at that next level, with a high-level atmosphere. And so I think overall it’s just going to be a pretty special experience. And I know the boys are really looking forward to being there and being one of the best teams in the region.”

Practices have been going well, Jameson said, with the team continuing to work to improve and pick up where the team left off at State. He said the Mustangs will see tough pitching, which will be a challenge, but with the strides the team made over the last half of the season, getting consistently good swings, not striking out and putting the ball in play, he said, “I anticipate them going out and competing hard at the plate and having quality at bats and getting on base and seeing what happens.”

For the youngest members of the team, Jameson noted, the tournament will be a great experience for them to be able to compete “at that upper level of play and on that kind of a stage.” And for the older players, the tournament is a “cherry on the top” for their careers, he said, adding, “What better way to go out than playing in the regional tournament?”

Jameson said winning the state title and playing at Regionals has, in a way, put Lovell on the map as a baseball town, showing that the team can compete with and beat the best of the best and “be in the conversation” as a strong program like tough regional foes Powell, Cody and Riverton.

From Little League on up, the baseball programs in North Big Horn County are solid and improving, Jameson said, noting the Minors, Majors, Legion C and Legion A programs.

Finally, Jameson said the support the Mustangs have had from the area both financially and via attendance at games has been overwhelming. He said he has told the team numerous times to appreciate and be grateful for the strong support the team has received from the community.