News you can use
News you can use
Havre and Great Falls battle to a draw at Legion Field
Havre's Caden Jenkins watches a hit during Wednesday night's American Legion baseball game between the Northstars and the Great Falls Lightning. Havre won the first game, but fell to the Lightning in the second bout of the Northern District doubleheader. For more photos, go to www.havredailynews.com.
Eli Cloninger scores during Wednesday night's game at Legion Field.
Jeremiah Benson fields a grounder during Wednesday night's game at Legion Field.
Ethan Carlson makes a play at first base during Wednesday night's game at Legion Field.
Tavish McLean catches a ball during Wednesday night's game at Legion Field.
Wednesday night saw Legion Field packed with excitment once more, as the Havre Northstars American Legion baseball club took the field for what would be an exciting series against a newer opponent in the Great Falls Lightning.
The Northern A doubleheader showdown at was looking to spell good tidings for Havre, but at the end of the day, it was only half good for the Northstars.
In the doubleheader against the Lightning, the Northstars won the first game of the evening 14-9 in a strong victory. But another tough loss in the second game of the night saw Havre fall 13-5 to Great Falls, making their overall record now 2-6. Even with the split, it showed a lot of improvement and further-growing potential for the young team.
Game one went really well for the Northstars, as a comeback win earned them their second win of the season. Havre head coach Patch Wirtzberger was glad to see things come together in the first game, as well.
"In game one, we gave up a few right off the bat," Wirtzberger said. "Our pitches struggled in the zone, we gave away a couple bases and that's going to happen there. But, we did a great job of battling back, having good at-bat and not giving in. Our attitude and effort was there, so that was good to see."
Senior Quinn Reno, Eli Cloninger and Trenton Maloughney scored on singles to start off the game for the Northstars. Caden Jenkins and Theron Peterson scored for Havre next. Jenkins scored on a walk, while Peterson ran in on a single. Great Falls got hot in the first game in response, with Kellan Lawhon, Jordan Schultz and Kyler Kralich scoring off each of their own RBIs to open the second inning, bringing the score to 6-5.
Havre furthered its lead with scores by Maloughney and Jenkins, which the Lightning answered to by scoring two more runs of their own to keep it close. That trend repeated going into the bottom of the sixth inning, with the score being 10-9. But from there, the Northstars went to work, with Brody Nanini, Reno, Peterson and Cloninger all scoring on runs to seal the game for the win.
Reno went 3-for-5 at the plate to lead Havre in game one, while Peterson racked up multiple hits and runs himself, as well.
It was a tough loss after such a strong win, but Wirtzberger gives credit where credit is due.
"In game two, we kind of ran into some hot bats there with Great Falls," Wirtzberger said. "They hit some balls really well and we at times made their jobs a little easier with some errors on the field and some walks, so obviously that didn't help. Got to give it to them, though, they handled the ball really well."
Game two was a lot tougher for the Northstars, as the Lightning jumped into an early lead once again with two single runs by Wes Glicher and Peyton Fowler in the first inning, followed by a single run by Ryan Hartum in the second to take a 3-0 lead over Havre. Then in the third inning, Great Falls put on a show at bat, scoring eight runs, with Kyle Svir, Lane Seim, Schultz, Glicher, Hartum and Fowler all scoring to extend their lead to 12-2 after the fourth inning.
From there, Havre only scored two more runs by Reno and Peterson, but the Lightning made sure to stake their claim of a win in game two with one final single run to finish the game off. In game two, Maloughney led the Northstars with a 3-for-4 batting record and Reno went 3-for-5.
But Wirtzberger still saw one big takeaway from Wednesday night's doubleheader against Great Falls.
"I would say in every facet of the game we improved a little in this doubleheader," Wirtzberger said. "Obviously, we would have liked to win them both, but we'll take our win, get out of here and just get better."
Next up, Havre heads to Three Forks for the Gallatin Valley Tournament Friday and Saturday for a shot at beating some more tough competition and adding more wins to its now 2-6 overall record on the year. It will be another long weekend and Wirtzberger knows that if his team does everything right, they will be on the right path going forward.
"We'll have some stiff competition again on the weekend," Wirtzberger said. "But it's kind of how we built the schedules, so our guys could play some good teams and get some experience here at the beginning of the season. If they keep working hard and doing the right things, this experience they're getting will pay off at the end of the season."
Havre 14, Lightning 9
Great Falls 2 3 0 2 0 2 0 – 9 4 7
Havre 6 2 00 2 4 X – 14 9 4
WP – Carson Lunak
LP – Wes Glicher
Havre batting – Eli Cloninger 1-4, Quinn Reno 3-5, Trenton Maloughney 1-3, Brody Nanini 1-5, Julian Benson 0-1, Ethan Carlson 0-4, Caden Jenkins 1-2, Jeremiah Benson 0-4, Theron Peterson 2-2, Tavish Mclean 0-2.
Lightning 13, Havre 5
Great Falls 3 1 8 00 1 0 – 13 12 6
Havre 1 1 00 2 0 1 – 5 6 4
WP – Kellan Lawhon
LP – Eli Cloninger
Havre batting – Eli Cloninger 0-4, Quinn Reno 2-4, Trenton Maloughney 3-4, Ethan Carlson 1-3, Caden Jenkins 0-3, Carson Lunak 0-4, Jeremiah Benson 0-3, Drake Barreth 0-1, Theron Peterson 0-2, Kale Reno 0-2.
Reader Comments(0)