North Stars fall to Redbirds

The Havre North Stars had hopes of being a sleeper team at the 2016 Northern A District American Legion baseball tournament. But, after the opening round, the North Stars are going to have to fight just to keep their season alive.

On Thursday afternoon at Great Falls' Centene Stadium, the eighth-seeded North Stars dropped their tournament opener 14-2 to the Lewistown Redbirds. The loss dropped Havre into the loser-out bracket where the North Stars will face the Medicine Hat Knights today, in hopes of staying in the tournament.

It was a tough start for the North Stars as they lost All-District first baseman Jeff Miller to a foot injury in the very first inning. And things stayed rough from there as starter Dylan Carpenter, and relief pitchers Jerod Boles and Gavin Mosbrucker couldn't keep the Lewistown bats at bay.

Carpenter started the outing and got the loss for the North Stars, who got hits from Jake Sedahl, Boles, Mosbrucker, Trey Murphy, Brendan Garden and Brendan Danielson in the game.

Havre will now try and bounce back against the Knights. If the North Stars fall this morning, their season will come to an end.

Miller honored

Thursday wasn't a total loss for Miller. While his injury may have ended his North Star career, he was the only North Star to be named to the Northern A All-District Team, which was announced Thursday night in Great Falls.

Miller led the North Stars in batting average this season, slugging near .400 for the summer. He was also a defensive genius at first base, while also playing short stop and pitching for Havre in his final season of a strong baseball career.

The All-District nod gave Miller three different All-Conference honors for his last year of high school sports, as he was also All-Central A in golf and tennis, as well as Class A All-State for the fourth year in a row in tennis.