Northstars complete a perfect jamboree

Patch Wirtzberger, the head coach of the Havre Northstars American Legion baseball team, had a lot of goals for his team heading into the three-day Havre Jamboree that took place at Legion Field over the weekend.

Going 4-0 wasn’t necessarily one of those goals. Yet, despite trailing at some point in each of their four games over Friday, Saturday and Sunday, that’s exactly what the Northstars did, knocking off Fort Macleod twice, Medicine Hat and then the Montana Regulators Sunday to complete the four-game sweep through their annual jamboree.

“We were behind in every game,” Wirtzberger said, “and the guys just kind of found a way to keep chipping away and that’s something that’s hard to teach. You have to give a lot of credit to these kids. They came out and did it.”

During the first two days of the Havre Jamboree, the Northstars notched wins over district foes Fort Macleod and Medicine Hat in non-conference action. Havre opened the tournament with a 14-10 triumph over Fort MacLeod, followed by a 5-3 win over them Saturday night. The Northstars also defeated Medicine Hat 10-8 Saturday night, leaving only the Montana Regulators in the way of a 4-0 weekend.

The Regulators are from the Kalispell area and with Tyrel Kjersem on the mound, they scored three runs in the top of the first inning as two doubles put the Northstars behind 3-0. In the bottom half of the inning, Quinn Reno sparked some offense with a standup triple and he scored on a grounder by Tony Antley. Antley eventually found his way home on a wild pitch and it was 3-2 after one inning.

“My 18-year-olds and my 17-year-olds are stepping up in a big way,” Wirtzberger said. “They are stepping up the way that you would expect them to.”

After allowing three runs in the first inning, Kjersem wouldn’t allow another and in the bottom of the third, the Northstars evened the score at 3-3 when Ethan Roberts tripled and was driven home with an RBI single by Antley.

In the fifth, Roberts went to work again, this time, finding a way to score mostly with his legs. After drawing a walk, he stole second and then third and scored an on error, making it 4-3. In the sixth, the Northstars added to their lead with an RBI single by Hunter Lovenguth. That made it 5-3 and sent Kjersem to the seventh with a two-run cushion. Then, after a 1-2-3 inning, the Northstars had another win.

Kjersem got the win after throwing 96 pitches, allowing seven hits and three runs and striking out four. Over the last five innings, he didn’t allow a run and gave up just three hits. Lovenguth led the way at the plate with two hits and an RBI, while Roberts, Reno, Antley and Delarosa all had one hit each. Antley also added two RBIs, and Roberts scored two runs.

In the opening game of the weekend for the Northstars on Friday night, Havre took on the Fort Macleod Royals and in a non-conference game against a Northern A rival, the Northstars offense went off for 14 runs on nine hits. Delarosa had a huge day, going 3-for-4 with a double and four RBIs. McKay had two hits and drove in two, while Trenton Malougney also had two RBI in the 14-10 win. Antley was the winning pitcher for the Northstars who took advantage of eight Fort MacLeod errors.

Havre played two games Friday night, the first of which was another contest against Fort Macleod, the fourth against the Royals in the last two weeks. Delarosa was on the mound against the Royals, who got on the board in the third inning after a passed ball. However, an RBI triple from Roberts and then a grounder from Antley put Havre in front 2-1. The Northstars added a few more runs and Delarosa did the rest, pitching all six innings and getting the win after surrendering just four runs on three hits. He also had five strikeouts. McKay finished with a team-high two hits. Eli Cloninger, Roberts and Reno each had a hit in the 5-3 win.

The other victory for the Northstars came Saturday night in a game against Medicine Hat. The first pitch went out right after the win over Fort Macleod. The Knights grabbed a 1-0 lead early and after falling behind, eventually built an 8-4 advantage over the Northstars with five runs in the fourth inning. With Carson Lunak tossing the final three innings, Havre added six runs over the final three innings to come away with a 10-8 victory. Lunak got the win on the mound. Kjersem was big at the plate with two hits and two RBIs. Sullivan added two hits, along with Roberts, Caden Jenkins, Lovenguth, Cloninger and Lunak.

“It’s big,” Wirtzberger said of going 4-0 in the Jamboree. “The guys always enjoy playing in the jamboree. It’s a lot of fun for them, and to play well here in front of the home crowd, that’s important for these guys and something we can take forward into conference play.”

The Northstars (10-4, 4-2) will travel to Lethbridge Tuesday for a Northern A doubleheader that is scheduled to start at 5 p.m.

Havre 14, Fort Macleod 10

FRTM 202 105 0 - 10 8 8

Havre 520 070 x 14 9 4

WP - Tony Antley

LP - Sean Burns

Havre - Ethan Roberts 0-1, Quinn Reno 1-3, Tony Antley 1-3, Tyrel Kjersem 1-2, Austin Delarosa 3-4, Kennedy McKay 2-4, Eli Cloninger 0-3, Carson Lunak 0-3, Trenton Maloughney 1-5.

Havre 5, Fort Macleod 3

FRTM 001 011 - 3 4 2

Havre 002 120 - 5 5 1

WP- Austin Delarosa

LP - Tyson Sommerfeldt

Havre - Ethan Roberts 1-2, Quinn Reno 1-3, Tony Antley 0-3, Tyrel Kjersem 0-2, Austin Delarosa 0-3, Kennedy McKay 2-2, Kelden Sullivan 0-1, Eli Cloninger 1-1, Caden Jenkins 0-1.

Havre 10, Medicine Hat 8

MH 300 500 0 - 9 9 9

Havre 103 114 - 10 9 3

WP - Carson Lunak

LP - Carson Sauter

Havre - Ethan Roberts 1-4, Quinn Reno 0-1, Tony Antley 0-1, Kelden Sullivan 2-2, Tyrel Kjersem 2-4, Austin Delarosa 0-2, Caden Jenkins 1-2, Hunter Lovenguth 1-3, Ethan Carlson 0-1, Eli Cloninger 1-4, Kennedy McKay 0-2, Carson Lunak.

Havre 5, Montana Regulators 3

MTRG 300 000 0 - 3 7 3

Havre 201 011 x - 5 6 2

WP - Tyrel Kjersem

LP - Derick Curry

Havre - Ethan Roberts 1-2, Quinn Reno 1-3, Tony Antley 1-3, Austin Delarosa 1-3 Kennedy McKay 0-2, Kelden Sullivan 0-3, Hunter Lovenguth 2-3, Ethan Carlson 0-3, Caden Jenkins.