Lewistown sweeps on a historic night in Havre

It was a big day for local sports, as the Havre Northstars American Legion baseball club got to take the field for the first time in 2020. COVID-19 certainly posed a threat to the Northstars chances of playing at first, but Havre got on the diamond Tuesday night at Legion Field for its season and home opener against Class A North District rival, Lewistown Redbirds.

The doubleheader showdown was exciting as the Northstars were playing Havre's first varsity sporting event since late-February. Unfortunately for the Northstars, they fell to Lewistown in both games, with the first score of 11-5 and the second game score of 11-6. It may not have been the way the 2020 season was planned, but Havre still gave it their all.

Northstars head coach Patch Wirtzberger thought his team put forth a great effort Tuesday night at home.

"I thought we did some really good things," Wirtzberger said. "We got to take away the positives and try and work on some things that we were not so good at. I thought we went in there and hit the ball really well. I thought we had good at bats and for the most part made the plays that needed to be made. Yes, there were some mistakes here and there, but overall we have a lot to build off of."

The first game started off quite well for Havre, with senior Quinn Reno and sophomore Trenton Maloughney putting up scores off two separate singles within the bottom of the first inning to lead 2-0, followed by a round-the-corner run-and-score by Carson Lunak in the bottom of the second to give the Northstars a 3-0 lead.

But then in the top of the third, the Redbirds pushed right back with consecutive single hits and scores by Jake Clinton, Isaiah Marquart and Kyle Lee to tie the score quickly. After an quiet bottom of the third by Havre, Lewistown two more single scores from Kendall Barta and Luke Clinton to lead 5-3 going into the fifth inning.

And the Redbirds kept scoring.

Will Hendricks, Travis McAlpin and Taylor Smith made it home from third base after some smart bunts and well-placed hits to push further ahead 8-3. Eli Cloninger responded later with a run to third base after a single by Brody Nanini, but both Clintons and Marquart would score in the top of the seventh to seal the win for Lewistown.

The Redbirds gave the Northstars a tough first game to start the season, but Wirtzberger was glad to see Lewistown play as advertised.

"They've got a lot of experienced hitters," Wirtzberger said. "They bring it every bat. They don't take any pitches off and they made our pitchers work out there. They made them throw strikes and good pitches. If we left it over the plate, they made us pay for it. That was the biggest thing."

The second game would cause a lot of déjà vu for the Northstars as, once again, Havre broke into an early lead after a score by Jake Clinton in the top of the first. Reno rounded the corner for one, while senior Tyrel Kjersem and Nanini followed suit after a deep hit by Caden Jenkins to give Havre the lead 3-1 after the first inning.

The fourth innning would be the next inning to see some scoring, as Lewistown would tie the game up again after the Clinton brothers, Lee and Trajon Sparks scored off singles to help the Redbirds lead 7-3. In the fifth inning, Sparks, Marquart, Lee and Xander Flick all made it home off of singles to extend the lead 11-3. After some time, Drake Barreth and Cloninger would round the corner to put up two more scores before the end of the game in the bottom of the seventh.

At the end of the night, Wirtzberger saw a good handful of players make an impact against Lewistown, but he still is glad to see his entire team putting their best forward.

"Quinn always does great things out there," Wirtzberger said. "He hits the ball, he did a great job behind the plate and at shortstop. He did a great job on the field, was our leader and did a great job of getting things started. Tyrel Kjersem gave us some great innings in the first game and Trenton Maloughney gave us some great innings in the second game. Kjersem hit the ball really well. Eli Cloninger went in there and gave us three good innings at the end (game two). He's our swiss army knife and that's good stuff. But it's hard to say because I thought every guy did something good."

Next up, Havre takes on the Glendive Blue Devils at 5:30 p.m. and the Gallatin Valley Outlaws at 8 p.m. Saturday, followed by two games Sunday against Glendive at 9 a.m. and the Miles City Mavericks at 4:30 p.m., with all games taking place at Legion Field.

As for the time before this weekend's big schedule, Wirtzberger has his sights set on nitpicking some things to get his team ready for the next series of games at Legion Field.

"We will be working on just fine-tuning some things," Wirtzberger said. "I think we're on the cusp of doing some good things, but there's a lot of youth on this team and they just need more game reps. We'll get there sooner or later, but the more these guys play on the field, the better they'll get."

Lewistown 11, Havre 5

Lewistown 00 3 2 3 0 3 – 11 5 6

Havre 2 1 00 1 0 1 – 5 6 5

WP – Taylor Smith

LP – Julian Benson

Havre batting – Eli Cloninger 0-4, Quinn Reno 1-3, Trenton Maloughney 2-4, Tyrel Kjersem 0-2, Brody Nanini 0-1, Julian Benson 0-1, Ethan Carlson 0-4, Caden Jenkins 0-4, Carson Lunak 2-3, Jeremiah Benson 1-3, Theron Peterson 0-1.

Lewistown 11, Havre 6

Lewistown 1 00 6 4 00 – 11 8 3

Havre 3 00000 3 – 6 6 6

WP – Isaiah Marquart

LP – Eli Cloninger

Havre batting – Cloninger 1-4, Quinn Reno 1-2, Maloughney 0-1, Lunak 0-2, Kjersem 2-4, Nanini 1-4, Jenkins 1-3, Jeremiah Benson 0-2, Kale Reno 0-1, Julian Benson 0-2, Drake Barreth 0-1, Tavish Mclean 0-2.