Northstars battle hard in Lewistown

The Havre Northstars American Legion baseball team came into the Harold Gjerde Tournament having won six of their last seven games and starting last Thursday, the Northstars continued their run in Lewistown despite an early slip-up.

Havre won two of its first three games of the tournament, falling to Livingston 7-4, before rebounding to defeat Tri-County 15-1 and Miles City 7-4. Back-to-back wins had the Northstars in title contention, but a loss to Gallatin Valley 15-1 in the final game of pool play ended those hopes. Instead, they wound up playing for third against Glasgow Sunday and dropped the game 7-4 to finish in fourth place.

The Northstars opened the weekend of non-conference action against Livingston. Austin Delarosa was on the mound for Havre and, even though he held Livingston scoreless in five of six innings pitched, he still got the loss after allowing seven runs in the fourth.

Havre scored one run in the top of the first and second innings, as well as two more in the top of the seventh, but it wasn't able to overcome the seven runs allowed in the fourth. David Osen, who got the win, pitched six and two-thirds innings and allowed just four runs on six hits. Delarosa was given the loss but finished the game strong. He gave up seven runs on eight hits while striking out three. Ethan Roberts, Quinn Reno, Tony Antley, Tyrel Kjersem, Ethan Carlson and Carson Lunak all got one hit each in the loss for Havre. Reno, Lunak, Kjersem and Eli Cloninger all pitched in with an RBI, too.

The Northstars saw a familiar foe in their second game against Tri-County, a team from the Northern A District. Havre grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first before scoring 11 runs in the second. The score was 5-0 when Antley broke the game open, ripping a double with the bases loaded, clearing them all and scoring three runs. Reno notched two hits and two RBIs in the same inning.

Leading 12-0, Trenton Maloughney was strong on the mound, throwing 52 pitches and allowing just one run in four innings of work to get the win. He struck out four Tri-County batters in addition to surrendering three hits. Reno finished with a team-high two hits and three RBIs. Antley added three RBIs on top of his double. Roberts, Delarosa, Lunak, Hunter Lovenguth and Carlson all managed hits in the win.

Following its bounce-back win over Tri-County Thursday, the Northstars took on Miles City Friday. Havre was down 2-1 heading into the bottom of the third, but after seeing a run score on four consecutive at-bats, the Northstars built a 5-2 lead they wouldn't relinquish. Kjersem got the win on the mound, lasting just over four innings and allowing two runs on four hits.

Lunak pitched the rest of the way and allowed just two hits and one run in two and two-thirds innings. Roberts was 3-of-4 at the plate and Kennedy McKay was 2-of-3, while Reno, Sullivan, Delarosa, Antley and Lovenguth all had one hit each. Roberts, Antley, Cloninger, Lunak and McKay all finished with an RBI, as well.

Thanks to consecutive wins, Havre was within one victory of potentially playing for the tournament championship, however, Gallatin Valley quickly ended any thought of that with a 15-1 victory. Antley got the loss for Havre which fell behind early and went on to lose by 14 runs. Roberts had two hits; Caden Jenkins, Maloughney and McKay all had one.

The Norhtstars closed out the weekend Sunday, dropping the third-place game to Glasgow. Havre (13-9) finished the weekend with a record of 2-3 and will return home Wednesday night to host the Lewistown Redbirds at Legion Field for a Northern A doubleheader. The first pitch will go out at 5 p.m.

Livingston 7, Havre 4

Havre 110 000 2 - 4 6 1

Livingston 000 700 x - 7 8 2

WP - David Osen

LP - Austin Delarosa

Havre - Ethan Roberts 1-2, Quinn Reno 1-3, Tony Antle 1-3, Tyrel Kjsersem 1-4, Kennedy McKay 0-2, Eli Cloninger 0-4, Ethan Carlson 1-2, Carson Lunak 1-3, Kelden Sullivan 0-1, Trenton Maloughney 0-3.

Havre 15, Tri-County 1

Tri-County 000 10 - 1 3 5

Havre 1 11 0 3 - 15 8 1

WP - Trenton Maloughney

LP - Ben Lehnerz

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

Havre 7, Miles City 4

Miles City 200 101 0 - 4 6 4

Havre 104 101 x - 7 10 2

WP - Tyrel Kjersem

LP - Jackson Watts

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

Gallatin Valley 15, Havre 1

Gallatin 300 57 - 14

Havre 000 01 - 1 5 1

WP - Michael Jones

LP - Tony Antley

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