North Stars fall to Great Falls

The Havre North Stars American Legion baseball team has a number of young players and with a few of the more experienced players unavailable, the youngsters got a chance to show what they could do.

Havre, which played the Great Falls Outlaws Wednesday night at Legion Field, suffered a difficult 14-1 loss, but its players, especially its first-year guys, learned plenty in the process.

"It was a good experience for them," North Stars head coach Dick Fuzesy said. "We had kids playing that have never played a legion game before and we had kids playing positions that they have never been in before. It was good for them to get out there and see some legion pitching and get used to the pace of the game. That is only going to help them get better."

Brenden Danielson was on the mound to start the game for the North Stars, but after allowing nine runs in three innings, Dylan Carpenter took over. Yet, not even Carpenter could keep the Outlaws at bay, as they added three more runs in the top of the fourth to push their lead to 12-0.

Great Falls then added another run in the fifth and another in the seventh to go ahead 14-0. Yet, the North Stars didn't give up and in the bottom of the seventh inning, Gavin Mosbruker managed to get on base with a walk and eventually scored Havre's only run of the game on a passed ball.

"That run that they got in the last inning changed the whole day for me," Fuzesy said. "That showed me that they didn't quit. They didn't put their tails between their legs and give up."

It was a tough night offensively for the North Stars, who in addition to scoring one run, managed just a few hits. Yet, there were some bright spots as Ethan Roberts belted a couple of singles to lead the team with two hits on a 2-of-3 night. Carpenter also added a hit as he went 1-for-3 and Brenden Garden, a first-year player, went 1-for-2 with a single and a walk.

The North Stars will be back in action Sunday,- when they will play against Helena at 12 p.m., followed by a game against Tri-County at approximately 4 p.m. Helena and Tri-County will also play each other at 2 p.m.

Great Falls 14, Havre 1

Great Falls 045 401 1 - 14

Havre 000 000 1 - 1

Havre Batting - Ethan Roberts 2-3, T.J. Lovenguth 0-2, Dylan Carpenter 1-3,