North Stars close out the regular season at home today with Lethbridge

If there was ever a time to make sure all the wrinkles were worked out of the Havre North Stars’ program, that time would be now.

This afternoon, the Havre American Legion baseball team will play its final games of the regular season. And hosting one of the tougher teams they will face this year, the North Stars welcome in the Lethbridge Spitz Miners at Legion Field in Havre. Game 1 was previously scheduled for 5 p.m., but has been moved up to a 1 p.m. start.

And this will be a tough test for the North Stars, as the Miners are the No. 1 team in the Northern A District this year.

Lethbridge is 13-5, while Medicine Hat is close behind with a 13-7 record. Vauxhall is 11-8, sitting in the No. 3 spot, while Fort Macleod is fourth at 10-7. Great Falls is 7-9, and in fourth place, while Havre is currently in sixth with a 4-14 record. Tri County is in seventh place, winning just one district game this year, and sitting at 1-13.

With the end of the season near, the North Stars are focusing on themselves at this point. They were young at the beginning of the season, but have a lot of baseball behind them now. And if Havre wants to defeat the Miners, they have to do a lot of things right, including getting great pitching by more than Tyrell Pierce and Gavin Gunderson, and bringing the bats. The defense can’t give multiple runs on multiple errors, and the North Stars as a whole, can’t get off to a slow start, especially with the Miners having a deep roster, and hot bats like Carter Witbeck, Nicholas Ankermann, and Eric Davies.

One or two bad innings have been a curse for the North Stars this year.

They have been competitive in most games this season, but have also struggled to close out teams, sometimes committing too many errors in crucial moments late in a ballgame. But when the North Stars are playing well, they can challenge most teams on their schedule. Pierce, Chris Vukasin, David Denny, Thurman Holdsclaw, and Travis Roth have led the offense, and that has to continue. Roth has also been a standout in the infield, and needs to spark a strong defensive performance this afternoon.

The Miners can hit, pitch, and field the ball well, meaning they are an all-around great baseball team. If they play error free, they are tough to beat, but if the North Stars can play well, and take advantage of every run scoring opportunity, they should be able to push for a win in their home, and regular season finale.

Today the North Stars host the Miners at Legion Field in Havre for two games. Game one begins at 1 p.m.