North Stars primed for home opener Saturday

The Havre North Stars American Legion baseball club opened its season against the Class AA Great Falls Chargers last Sunday. And though the powerful Chargers thumped the North Stars twice, second-year head coach Danny Wirtzberger was more than pleased with how his team played.

However, Wirtzberger also noted that his team's schedule will remain tough through the season. And that schedule includes three games at home this weekend against a top-notch squad from Calgary, Alberta.

The North Stars will play their home opener Saturday at 7 p.m. against Calgary at Legion Field. Havre also has a doubleheader with the Calgary squad scheduled for Sunday afternoon.

"Our schedule doesn't get any easier," Wirtberger said on Sunday. "We've got a really good, fundamentally sound Calgary team coming to Havre this weekend, and those will be really tough games. But that's good for us. That's we want."

Havre is off to an 0-2 start after having games against Lewistown and Belgrade cancelled two weeks ago. However, as Wirtzberger noted, he saw plenty of good things from his young team last Sunday in Great Falls.

The North Stars did manage to hit the ball well at times, and the pitching staff, with Tyrell Pierce and Spencer Ross getting the starts in Great Falls, were sharp for this early in the season. Wirtzbeger said he also saw many things from some of his young, newcomers.

"That's one thing I'll say," Wirtzberger said. "Our new kids, some kids who have been away from baseball for a while, did a great job against Great Falls. They really stepped up and played well. We knew our veteran kids would be ready, but I was really happy with the way some of those younger kids stepped up and played."

And that's what the early portion of the season is about. Havre is a young team, needing game experience to grow. And three home games this weekend will certainly help the North Stars do just that.

Saturday night's home opener against Calgary will begin at 7 p.m. at Legion Field. The North Stars and Calgary will also play at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Sunday. Havre won't play at home again until the end of the month.