Northstars, Comets in action on Saturday

It's been nearly a month since the Havre Northstars opened their season against the Class AA Kalispell Lakers. They will finally return to action when they host the Great Falls Stallions Class A team as part of a shared doubleheader with the Havre Comets Saturday afternoon at Legion Field in Havre.

The Northstars, who opened their season with an 0-4 start in two days' worth of games against the Lakers back in early April, will be looking to get their season jump-started when they face the always tough Stallions.

"We played Kalispell so long ago that I think we're right back to square one," said veteran Northstar head coach Mickey Williams. "Now we'll look to basically start the season all over again."

One of the problems for Williams' Northstars is fielding a consistent team before the school year is over.

Starting Saturday, the Northstars will begin a stretch of more than nine games in the month of May and all before the school year officially ends.

"It is tough to get consistency early in the season because of the other sports going on," Williams said. "This weekend we will probably only have 10 kids so we may have to bring some of the Comets up."

Meanwhile, the Comets' season began last weekend in Eureka where they went 1-3 in tournament action.

In Eureka, the Comets opened the tourney with a loss to the host Eureka Lions, but then rebounded to capture their first victory of the season - a 5-3 win over the Glacier Twins. On Sunday, the Comets picked up losses to Libby, as well as the Kalispell Lakers.

As far as the Great Falls Stallions are concerned, the team may somewhat different than in seasons past. The Electric City, which is steep in youth baseball talent, has undergone some major changes in the formation of a new team - the Great Falls Black Sox.

Although the Black Sox are not officially affiliated with the American Legion Association, they have fielded a full team, which undoubtedly tapped into the Stallions' and Great Falls Electrics' talent pool.

"I am not sure that the Stallions will be as strong in years past," Williams said. "They have typically been a very strong Class A team, but with all that has gone on in Great Falls we'll just have to see."

The nonconference doubleheader will get underway with the Northstars taking on the Stallions at 1 p.m. The Comets and Stallions will then play at 3 p.m.