North Stars' season ends in Lethbridge

It seemed like everything was in place for the Havre North Stars American Legion baseball team to advance from the Northern A district tournament to the Montana State A tournament. After all, the North Stars were the top-seeded team in the tournament and even had a first-round bye.

But, as they say, that’s why they play the games.

After being off Thursday thanks to a first-place finish in the Northern A regular season standings, Havre took on the Vauxhall Spurs, a team that had beaten them three times in four games during the regular season. And just like in the regular season the Spurs had their way with Havre in the second round of the district tournament in Lethbridge and advanced over the North Stars by way of a 21-9 win.

Then Saturday, the North Stars tried to stave off elimination but were upset for the second-straight day by the Tri-County Cardinals, who upended Havre by the score of 4-2, ending Havre’s season in Lethbridge.

“It was definitely disappointing,” North Stars head coach Dick Fuzesy said. “But I still think it was a successful season. We had a good regular season and we finished with a winning record. And winning the district is not an easy thing to do. We just need to learn how to win and sometimes it takes losing like this to learn how to do that.”

The North Stars had their ace Dylan Carpenter on the mound against the Spurs, but he was ineffective against a Vauxhall team that was on fire at the plate. Havre fell behind 5-0 early but rallied with three runs to trim the lead down to 5-3. Yet the North Stars had no answer for the Vauxhall offense and were overwhelmed by the Spurs offensive onslaught.

“They just really hit the ball well,” Fuzesy said. “I didn’t think that we pitched badly but they just hit everything. But we did some good things. We scored in every inning, and you can’t ask for more than that. We just couldn’t get them out.”

Carpenter got the loss in the first game and in the second game of the tournament, the North Stars sent Jerod Boles to the mound. Boles performed admirably, but with the Cardinals up 2-1, the North Stars failed to score with three runners in scoring position and then allowed Tri-County to add some insurance runs to seal the win.

Boles was given the loss for the North Stars, who finished the season 21-21-2 and even though they failed to reach the state tournament, according to Fuzesy the season was still a success.

“It was just one of those things,” Fuzesy said. “But I still thought it was a good year. People were talking about baseball a lot more this season, and I think this year was the first step in the rebuilding of baseball in Havre.”

While the North Stars were at the district tournament, the 2015 Northern A All-Conference team was announced, and Havre senior center fielder Ryne Antley made the list. Antley, playing his fifth season for the North Stars, was also voted All-Conference in 2014.