Four Days at Legion, Jamboree Style

The Havre North Stars American Legion baseball team has been playing games for more than a month now, but that doesn't change the fact that the unofficial start to summer in baseball in Havre comes this week, with the annual Havre Jamboree.

The Havre Jamboree starts tonight with the Great Falls Outlaws and Glasgow Reds playing at 6. The North Stars will play after that against the Scobey Blues, with the first pitch scheduled to go out at 8.

However, the two games tonight are just the beginning. There will be a total of 16 games played during the four-day jamboree, which will conclude Sunday afternoon. All the games will be played at Legion Field.

"It kind of always feels like the start of summer baseball," North Stars head coach Dick Fuzesy said. "We kind of always make that joke, that OK, the jamboree is over, so now we can't have any more errors or any more of the silly kind of mistakes you make early in the season. It's just a fun weekend, a fun atmosphere. The teams like coming because they all get a bunch of games, but it's also not a tournament. It's just a chance to go out and compete and get some extra games in for everyone."

The North Stars, who come into tonight's game with a record of 3-6, are certainly looking forward to some extra competition and with four games in four days, they will get it. In addition to playing Scobey tonight, Havre will also play the Glasgow Reds Friday at 7 p.m., as well as the Calgary Redbirds Saturday at 6 p.m., and finally Sunday, the North Stars will face off against the Medicine Hat Majestics at 1 p.m.

"I tried to kind of make it balanced," Fuzesy said. "I wanted to try to give us a couple of games where some of our younger guys could get a chance to play a little more, but I have misjudged that before, so you never really know. But either way, they are non-conference games, so it will give us an opportunity to give everyone a chance to play quite a bit."

On top of Havre, Glasgow, Medicine Hat, Calgary, Scobey and Great Falls, there will be three other teams participating, as the Fort MacLeod Royals will also be in attendance, as will the Wolf Point Yellow Jackets. The other team competing will be a Havre U15 team, which is essentially a team of local players currently playing Babe Ruth.

"We had one of the teams pull out on us," Fuzesy said. "So I had a thought that I have enough younger type teams coming that I could give some of our younger kids here in Havre a chance to play and fill up the day at least. I have always been a big fan of moving kids up and playing the next level. So this will at least give those kids a chance to see it. It will be a surprise, but it will give them a chance to see what it's like and, selfishly, I think that will help them decide if playing North Stars is something they want to do next year."

While the North Stars are no stranger to playing games in the evening, they actually play very few true night games, which is always a featured part of the Havre Jamboree and tonight, Havre will get the chance to play under the lights for the first time this season against Scobey.

"Playing under the lights has always been a big part of the jamboree," Fuzesy said. "That is a big deal and the fact that it's a true night game makes it a lot of fun. We have a lot of games that start later and will finish at night, but this will be a true night game for us. It will give people a chance to get off work and come to the games. We usually have a pretty packed house by then and that always makes for an exciting atmosphere."

Fuzesy said that in addition to playing under the lights, his team is also looking forward to its game against Glasgow Friday, as well as the entire weekend, which he said, is a great way to do some team building.

"They are excited about playing Glasgow," Fuzesy said. "They beat us a couple years ago, so the kids are excited to play them again. But this whole weekend, is really a great chance to get some team bonding. The kids help me get the field ready in between games and then we just kind of hang out and watch the teams play. So we get to play a lot of baseball and see some other teams that we don't normally get to see."

The Havre Jamboree gets underway tonight at 6 and will continue through the final game, which will be Sunday at 1 p.m., between the North Stars and Medicine Hat.

Havre Jamboree

Tonight

6 p.m. Great Falls Outlaws vs Glasgow

8 p.m. Havre North Stars vs Scobey

Friday

1 p.m. Havre 15U vs Wolf Point

3 p.m. Great Falls Outlaws vs Wolf Point

5 p.m. Great Falls Outlaws vs Scobey

7 p.m. Havre North Stars vs Glasgow

9 p.m. Fort MacLeod vs Calgary

Saturday

10 a.m. Havre 15U vs Scobey

12 p.m. Fort MacLeod vs Great Falls Outlaws

2 p.m. Medicine Hat Majestics vs Calgary

4 p.m. Glasgow vs Scobey

6 p.m. Havre North Stars vs Calgary

8 p.m. Fort MacLeod vs Medicine Hat Majestics

Sunday

9 a.m. Havre 15U vs Calgary

11 a.m. Fort MacLeod vs Glasgow

1 p.m. Havre vs Medicine Hat Majestics