High school basketball coaches have often said that playing in the final game of a substate tournament presents the most difficult challenge of all, just because of what's at stake.

Win the game, you move on to the state tournament. Lose, and it's pack up and go home, one game short of everyone's ultimate goal.

For the third straight season, the Marion baseball team came up that proverbial one game short. The Indians lost to Independence, 13-3, last Wednesday, July 21, in a substate final played at Benton Community High School in Van Horne, ending their season just one win shy of a state tournament berth.

Marion beat Independence twice during the regular season, and the Mustangs entered the game with a 13-23 record.

"It's been kind of difficult to swallow, but it is what it was at that point," said Coach Steve Fish. "It's not the way we wanted it to end, but I don't know if it was self-destruction, or looking past people or what it was. Like I told the kids, I'm not sure what life lessons are there from this one, but they certainly out-played us and deserved to win."

The loss left Marion with a 25-13 overall mark and left a bruise despite the fact the Indians won 18 of their last 21 games. They were the champions of the WaMaC West Division and finished with a 22-7 overall record in rugged league play.

The Indians were uncharacteristically sloppy in the loss to Independence and managed just four hits while committing six errors, which led to five unearned runs.

Independence scored four runs in the first inning, aided by two Marion errors, and the Indians were forced to play catch-up right off the bat. The Mustangs added two more in the second inning, giving them an early 6-0 advantage.

"You could see the doubt in the kids' eyes and nothing was going our way," Fish said. "It was just unfortunate, and you look back at what things you could have done differently as a coach. Baseball is just one of those games - it's not like basketball when you can call a timeout, or football where you might go to a different kind of an offense."

Nate Johnson had a two-run single and Trev Biery an RBI double to lead the Indians at the plate.

"I'm obviously very proud and pleased with the way we played, but I knew we were the better team when we got into the district and the substate," Fish said. "The final assessment (of the season) is very difficult because we've been in three consecutive substate finals now, and on paper this one was the one you could say we were favored.

"I know baseball is a game where anything can happen, and it's not always the team with the best record that wins."

Senior third baseman Dalton Combs led Marion at the plate this season with a .414 average (53-for-128) with six home runs, five triples, 11 doubles, 34 RBIs and 38 runs scored. Combs will play baseball at Coe College next season.

Marion's next four top hitters all just completed their junior seasons.

Second baseman Kasey Semler, an all-state basketball player, hit .413 (52-for-126) with three home runs, 15 doubles, 32 RBIs and 45 runs scored. Andrew Charipar batted .393 (24-for-61) in just 26 games, Dusty Albaugh hit .391 (45-for-115) with 29 runs scored, and Zach Nielsen hit at a .390 pace (48-for-123) with three home runs, three triples, 14 doubles, 29 RBIs and 35 runs scored.

Freshman Trev Biery hit .348 (24-for-69) with 18 RBIs in 28 games.

Senior Garrett Fortner emerged as the ace of the pitching staff with an 8-3 record and 2.27 ERA in 14 appearances. Combs finished 6-1 with a 2.84 ERA in just nine appearances, and sophomore Cale Cannoy was 5-3 with one save and a 3.07 ERA in 13 appearances on the mound.

Early this week it was announced Combs and Semler were made Class 3A first-team all-Northeast District by the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association. Fortner was a second-team selection as a pitcher.