Comets' rally comes up short

One thing is for certain, the Havre Comets don't give up, no matter what the lead.

The Comets rallied from a 13-run deficit, hoping to salvage a split with Great Fall Stallions, only to come up a run short for the sixth time this season.

After falling 11-2 in the first game, Havre looked like it would be swept in the doubleheader, surrendering 13 runs in the first inning of the nightcap.

"We always seem to have one bad inning in every game," said head coach Andy Smith. "That first inning was about as bad as we've had. I don't think we were ready to play. We made some errors and they hit the ball hard and it just snowballed."

A 13-run snowball that appeared to be ready roll over the Comets. Great Falls ripped eight hits off of starter Austin Small and the Comets committed four costly errors in the first-inning debacle.

But Havre didn't back down. The Comets overcame the deficit one inning at a time, scoring runs in nearly every inning.

The Comets answered with three runs in the bottom of the first as Mike Olson ripped an RBI double and John Christian added a two-run single.

Havre got four more in the second led by RBI singles from Christian and Tyson Anderson. A two-run single from Olson and an RBI single from Jess McLain led to three more runs in the third to cut the lead to 13-10.

Great Falls pushed the lead to 15-10 in the third and then to 18-10 in the fifth inning.

Still, the Comets wouldn't be denied. Havre scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth as McLain and Small notched RBI singles to cut the lead to 18-15. The Comets scored two more runs in the seventh to cut the lead to 18-17 as Josh Lowe ripped an two-run single. Havre had the tying run on second base but couldn't score him.

"I was really proud of our kids," Smith said. "We're down 13-0 and the weather was bad. It would have been easy for them to lay down and die, but they didn't do that. They battled back and battled back. We just came up a little short.

"We've lost so many games by one run. At some point, we're going to win one of those close games."

Lowe, McLain, Anderson and Sean Peterson had three hits each for Havre. Olson and Christian added two hits and three RBIs each.

The opening game wasn't quite as close, but it could have been. The Comets left 11 runners on base and never could get the key hit in an 11-2 loss.

Havre banged out 11 hits, but managed just two runs coming on RBI singles from Josh Morse and a ground ball from Scott Ladenburg.

"We hit the ball well all game," Smith said. "We just couldn't get the hits with runners in scoring position. Twice we had bases loaded with less than two outs and didn't get a run. We would have been right in the game if we just got a few clutch hits."

Josh Morse led the Havre offense with three hits and an RBI. McLain and Small added two hits apiece.

With the Comets teetering on the possibility of not making the Northern District tournament, Smith admitted his team has to play better to make the postseason.

"It's kind of a gutcheck for the kids," Smith said. "It's the second half of the conference season and we need to start getting wins. We know we can play with these teams. We've showed we can do that."

Havre heads to Kalispell today for a tournament that runs through the weekend.

Great Falls 11, Havre 2

Great Falls Stallions 212 110 4 - 11 10 4

Havre Comets 010 001 0 - 2 11 2

Caleb Kovatch (WP) and Phil Parish; Sean Peterson (LP) and Josh Morse.

STALLIONS HITTING - Tyson Murray 2-4, Ricky Hedstrom 1-4, Elliot Burrow 1-5, Phil Parish 1-1, Bryce Thompson 1-2, Jason Remus 1-4, Jeremy Bates 1-4.

COMETS HITTING - Richard Jarvis 1-4, Jess McLain 2-3, Tom Knudson 0-1, Tyson Anderson 0-2, Josh Lowe 1-2, Austin Small 2-4, Mike Olson 1-3, John Christian 1-2, Bill Siebrasse 0-2, Josh Morse 3-3, Bryden Vukasin 1-4, Scott Ladenburg 0-3.

2B - Murray, Thompson, Remus,

3B - none

HR - none

Great Falls 18, Havre 17

Great Falls Stallions 13 02 030 0 - 18 12 4

Havre Comets 3 43 005 2 - 17 19 4

Kyle DeBolt (WP) and Parish; Austin Small (LP) and Josh Morse.

STALLIONS HITTING - Ricky Hedstrom 2-4, Elliott Burrow 2-5, Owen Yurko 3-4, Bryce Thompson 4-4.

COMETS HITTING - Josh Lowe 3-5 (2 RBI), Jess McLain 3-6 (2 RBI), Mike Olson 2-3 (3 RBI), Austin Small 1-2 (RBI), Tyson Anderson 3-5 (RBI), John Christian 2-5 (3 RBI), Josh Morse 2-4, Sean Peterson 3-5, Bill Siebrasse 0-4, Richard Jarvis 0-0, Tom Knudson 0-1, Scott Ladenburg 0-1.

2B - Anderson 2, Peterson 2, Olson, Parish, Yurko, Thompson 2

3B - Thompson

HR - none