Young North Stars ready to play ball

There are few sports traditions in Havre like the Havre North Stars American Legion baseball team. And the local boys of summer are set to open another season.

The official start for the North Stars’ 2017 campaign comes Sunday, when the team will pay a visit to the Great Falls Outlaws for their season-opener. The two teams will play a doubleheader, with the first pitch set to go out at noon.

“I think we are definitely ready to get out there and play some baseball,” North Stars head coach Dick Fuzesy said. “There is only so much practicing you can do. You can only hit in the cages and have practice for so long. At some point, you need to play a game and we are glad we will get to do that this weekend.”

While in previous years, the North Stars have played a hectic spring schedule, this season, fewer teams were willing to schedule games, which will leave Havre with three single games and three doubleheaders in the month of May.

Havre will open play in the Northern A district May 21 with a conference doubleheader against the Tri-County Cardinals. From that point, outside of a few tournaments and the Havre Jamboree, the North Stars will play conference games almost exclusively, leading all the way up the District tournament, which will be in Havre, starting July 19.

“I think it’s going to be exciting,” Fuzesy said. “I think that we have the chance to be one of the better teams in the district. Lewistown is going to be tough again, but after that, I think it’s teams like us, Tri-County, Vauxhall and Medicine Hat.”

With the district tournament in Havre, Fuzesy is hoping his young team can make a run to the state tournament this season, which would end a lengthy drought for the North Stars. It would also set the stage for a strong returning team in 2017, with no seniors slated to be on the roster this season.

“The way I look at it, we have no seniors,” Fuzesy said, “so I am hoping that we can make a run and make it to state and then we will have pretty much everyone coming back. We are a young team, but we have guys that got to play a lot last season, so it’s not like we are inexperienced.”

One of the things that has to give Fuzesy hope this season, is that one of his best players from a year ago, Jake Sedahl, will be back behind the plate. Not only is Sedahl a steadying presence at catcher, he’s also the team’s best hitter, batting .354 a season ago, with close to 20 extra-base hits and nearly 40 RBI.

“Last year, we actually did a good job of hitting, we just didn’t hit in key spots,” Fuzesy said. “So that’s something that we are focusing on. We need to find a way to get guys in. Jake is going to bat third, because he just needs in the first inning every game, but we need to find someone who can get him in, too. Last year, Jerod Boles led us in runs scored because he was behind Jake. So that’s been a focus for us, is making sure we aren’t just up there swinging, even when we are in the cage, we want to have a focus.”

Outside of Sedahl, the North Stars have a number of other key returning players such as Brenden Danielson, Trey Murphy, Kennedy McKay, Ethan Roberts, Tony Antley, Gavin Mosbrucker, Brendan Garden and Cody Rennick.

Danielson, McKay, Garden, Mosbrucker, Antley and Murphy should all see time on the mound this season, especially with some new rules now in place that restrict how much pitchers can be used. Pitchers are not only limited in the number of pitches they can throw, but how many times they can pitch in a certain number of days.

“I think that it could make some rough games around the state this year,” Fuzesy said. “But I think that it will develop pitchers and that is the point. And you will still see times when you have the No. 1 guy pitch against the No. 1 guy, but you might not always have that. But it will force more kids to learn how to pitch.”

While Sedahl is going to be a key part of Havre’s offense, Danielson and Roberts will also be joining him near the top of the lineup. Others that will be counted on to contribute in a big way offensively, are Garden, McKay and Murphy, who all played a lot last season.

Another thing Fuzesy will have going for him, is a bunch of youngsters who have added both depth and flexibility to the roster.

“Defensively, I think we will be pretty good,” Fuzesy said. “We have a lot of guys that can move around and play at different spots.”

The newcomers for the North Stars include Kelden Sullivan, Evan Davison, Calvin White, Brady Ophus, Caleb Allestad and Austin Delarosa.

The North Stars open their season Sunday, on the road, against the Great Falls Outlaws. Havre will play the same team in its home opener May 11.