CONWAY --- In many ways, Marion's Class 5A state championship game appearance against Valley View mirrored that of the Patriots' 2025 regular season. Ups and downs, ebbs and flows, and no shortage of interest. In the end, Valley View erased an early 4-1 lead and scored last to escape a game Marion game 8-7 for the Blazers' second straight Class 5A state championship at Bear Stadium on the campus of the University of Central Arkansas. Marion (19-13 overall) outhit Valley View (29-5) 9-8, as seniors Cohen “Jimmy” Bumbaugh (2-3 with an RBI and a run) and Hudson “Turkey” McKewen (2-4 with three RBI) rapped out multiple hits. Sophomore Max Molloy (1-3 with two runs and two walks), senior Carson Catt (1-3 with three runs, an RBI, and a walk), junior Brody Byrd (1-3 with two RBI and a walk), Coleman Barnett (1-4 with a run), and Myles Holt (1-4) also recorded hits against the Blazers. Bumbaugh drew the start for Marion, working four innings and striking out six batters before handing off to Barnett, who threw 1.1 innings with one hit, and Molloy, who retired both batters that he faced. Valley View right-hander Will Findley earned title game MVP honors after tossing 3.2 innings, striking out five and allowing just one hit, and driving in the eventual winning run with a hit. The Patriots surprised the Blazers in the early going of the title bout, scoring twice in the top of the first, as Byrd got the scoring start with a two-run double that delivered Catt and Bumbaugh for a 2-0 lead after the top of the first. Marion led 2-1 in the top of the third when the Patriots scored two more times on a McKewen two-run single that plated Catt and Molloy as MHS claimed a 4-1 lead heading to the bottom of the third. That's when Valley View responded with six runs in the home half of the third, claiming a 7-4 advantage. But the Patriots weren't done, scoring three times in the top of the fourth to tie the game at 7-7 as Catt chased Barnett to the plate with a hit, Bumbaugh drove in Molloy with a knock, and McKewen cracked a line shot to deliver Catt with the game's tying run. Marion threatened again in the fifth inning, putting two on with one out when Holt singled, followed by a Molloy walk, but the next two Patriots went down in order. Valley View came up with the go-ahead run in the bottom of the fifth for an 8-7 lead, and six of the final seven Patriots went down in order.