North Stars take one from Cardinals

If the Havre North Stars American Legion baseball team was looking to go into the holiday break on a high note — mission accomplished.

Havre will ride a three-game winning streak into a five-day layoff, after taking the only game played of a twogame set with the Tri-County Cardinals on Thursday at Legion Field in Havre.

The North Stars beat Tri-County 4-2 in the first of two Northern District games on Thursday. The second game was cancelled after just two innings after a large thunderstorm swept through and drenched the field. The game has not been rescheduled at this point, but making it up will be a possibility.

However, Thursday's win, coupled with a sweep of the Great Falls Stallions on Wednesday puts Havre at 10-7 in league play and 18-16 overall.

But like many games between the two Hi-Line rivals, Havre's one victory didn't come easy.

The North Stars rode a stellar combined pitching effort from Mark Vukasin and Roman Surber as hits were hard to come by. The Havre duo combined to two-hit the Cardinals. Vukasin started the game, and Surber was excellent in relief.

But while the North Stars got outstanding pitching, as Vukasin and Surber shut down a powerful Tri-County lineup for seven innings, they had trouble of their own with Tri-County hurler Joe Hallenberg.

Havre managed just four base hits on Thursday, but a big first inning gave the North Stars the cushion it needed.

Justin Jensen and Kyle Miller had back-to-back singles in the bottom of the first and they came around to score when Brayden Grimson reached on an error. With Vukasin at the plate, Grimson would also come around to score on another Cardinals' error, making the score 3-0 after one inning.

The North Stars upped that lead to 4-0 in the second inning when Kolby Sukut, who led off the inning with a single, came around on a wild pitch. Sukut advanced on a Shane Kemmer single.

But that would be all the Havre offense would get, although with the North Star's stellar pitching, it's all they would need.

Tri-County's picked up a run in the third inning, then tried to mount a seventh-inning rally. On back-to-back walks, an error in the outfield and a single by Bryce Watterud, the Cardinals got the game to within two runs and had the bases loaded in the last inning.

But Jade Premo grounded out to end the rally and the game.