Chargers end Havre's season

After falling to the Lewistown Redbirds last Thursday in its opening game of the Northern A District tournament, the Havre North Stars American Legion baseball team still was not eliminated.

Yet, to keep their season alive, the North Stars needed to beat the Great Falls Chargers last Friday and, unfortunately, Havre was stopped in its tracks in a 13-1 defeat, in seven innings, at the hand of the Chargers in Great Falls. With the loss, the North Stars were eliminated from the district tournament and finished the season with a 14-29 record.

Kennedy McKay started the game on the mound for the North Stars and ended up getting the loss after giving up eight runs in three innings. Dylan Carpenter later came on in relief and tossed the final three innings of the game.

The Chargers, who will host the State A baseball tournament and as the host team, already have a berth locked up, held a 9-1 advantage heading the bottom of the sixth. Then, Great Falls plated four more runs to take a 13-1 lead. The North Stars struggled to mount any offense, they got just two hits, and were unable to manufacture any runs to keep the game going beyond the seventh inning.

The lone hits in the game for Havre wound up coming from McKay and Brendan Garden. Great Falls finished the game with a 17 hits.

In Sunday’s championship game, Vauxhall beat Medicine Hat to claim the Northern A title in an all-Alberta finale. The Spurs advanced to the state tourney later this week, also in Great Falls. Because the Chargers are the host team, they are also in the state tourney field, while Medicine Hat wasn’t able to advance. Lewistown finished in third place.

Chargers A 13, North Stars 1 (7)

Havre 010 000 0 – 1 2 1

Great Falls 206 104 x – 13 17 1

Kennedy McKay, Dylan Carpenter (3) and Jake Sedahl. Cal Cromwell and Alan LaRocque. W – Cromwell. L – McKay.

North Stars – Duck Danielson 0-3, Jerod Boles 0-3, Jake Sedahl 0-3, Dylan Carpenter 0-3, Gavin Mosbrucker 0-3, Kennedy McKay 1-2, Trey Murphy 0-1, Brendan Garden 1-2, Ethan Roberts 0-2.

Chargers – Josh Lowery 4-5, Derick Spring 2-3, Cal Cromwell 2-3, Braden Hirst 3-4, Alan LaRocque 1-4, Matt Gange 1-2, Liam Sexton 0-2, Tucker Pietrykowski 2-3, Brent Shepherd 0-2, Jordan Smith 2-2.

2B – Hirst. RBI – Garden; Lowery, Cromwell 3, Hirst 3, LaRocque, Sexton, Shepherd, Smith.