Northstars face tough Class A teams on the road

After the split doubleheader with the Great Falls Lightning last Wednesday evening, the Havre Northstars American Legion baseball club was aiming to find some more wins and to gain experience in their next challenge, which was their first road games of the season, as well.

The Northstars competed in the Gallatin Valley Tournament Friday and Saturday in Three Forks, putting up a 1-3 record in the tourney, putting their overall record at 3-9. Havre beat the Lewistown Redbirds 13-6 to open the weekend Friday, but then lost to the Gallatin Valley Outlaws 6-5 Friday night, the Bitteroot Red Sox 15-3 Saturday and the Dillon Cubs 10-5 to close to tournament Saturday.

The losses over the weekend were rough, but Havre head coach Patch Wirtzberger was glad to see the Gallatin Valley Tournament open on a good note with the win over Lewistown.

"We dug ourselves in a hole right away and gave up six runs right there in that first inning," Wirtzberger said, "but we did a good job of battling back in that one and ended up putting together a couple of rallies there late in the game to come up with the win 13-6. Brody Nanini did a great job at the mound to help us win that game and the defense made some good plays to keep them where they were at. Lane Kinsella did a nice job at the end of the game to come in there and shut them down at the mound."

In the Northstars first matchup against the Redbirds Friday, Havre got its revenge for the doubleheader loss that they suffered at home to them in the season opener. After Lewistown took an early lead 6-0 after the third inning, the Northstars put in work at bat to tie the score after the fourth. As the game went on, the Havre defense kept the Redbirds at bay in the field, while adding seven more runs in the sixth inning to not only take the lead but also secure the first road win of the season.

But then, another tough loss to Gallatin Valley came next and Wirtzberger detailed the struggles of that game.

"The game against Gallatin Valley was a great one," Wirtzberger said. "Trenton Maloughney gave us great innings and made it all the way to the seventh against a great Gallatin Valley team. Again, we dug ourselves a hole there at the beginning, but then we were able to put together a couple rallies to take the lead. A couple bounces didn't end up going our way in the seventh inning, so that gave them the win there. I got great effort from my team in that and it's the most complete game we've played all year."

The Outlaws snagged an early lead 2-0 after the second inning, followed by a run in the third to extend their lead 3-0. Havre pushed back in the sixth inning, putting up five runs to take the lead 5-4, but two runs by Gallatin Valley at the top of the seventh put the Outlaws back in the lead. After that, the Outlaws defense made sure that the Northstars could not get a run going in the bottom of the final inning, losing a close one to Gallatin Valley.

Havre's luck would continue to fall Saturday, where the Bitteroot Red Sox routed the Northstars, another rough loss.

"Kind of the theme on the weekend is that we dug ourselves in a hole right away," Wirtzberger said. "A walk here and there and an error here and there and suddenly we're down by six again. We tried to rally a bit more, but some things that were out of our control came into play and we kind of ran out of pitching. It was kind of disappointing to see, but again, the kids gave a great effort."

Bitteroot started off strong to open the game, with six runs in the first two innings to lead unanswered, while adding eight more runs in the top of the third inning to extend their lead 14-0. Havre put up three runs to answer in the bottom of the third, but one more run by the Red Sox in the fourth inning made sure that the game was done sooner rather than later, handing the Northstars its second loss of the weekend in the Gallatin Valley Tournament.

The last game Saturday for Havre did not go well either, as the Dillon Cubs put a sour ending to the tourney, but Wirtzberger knows that the weekend brought about plenty of good experience for his team.

"The game against Dillon was the one where I was probably the most proud of the kids," Wirtzberger said. "It had been a long week and it was our sixth game within that many days. They got down again right at the beginning, but they were able to bounce and fight back. Dillon is a good hitting team but we didn't back down. We used every one of our outs to try and come back in that game. We gave another great effort, so I was really proud of them."

Once again, the Northstars fell victim to a strong start by their opposition, with the Cubs leading 4-1 after the first inning. Dillon added four more runs in the top of the second to push their lead, while keeping Havre at bay at bat, but in the bottom of the third, the Northstars inched closer with three runs to cut the Cubs' lead 8-4. Dillon and Havre would go back and forth for some innings, with the Cubs adding one run in both the fourth and fifth innings, while the Northstars put up their own in the bottom of the sixth, but it was not enough to stay in the game, giving Havre its third consecutive loss of the Gallatin Valley Tournament.

There were quite a few standouts for Havre, too. In the game against the Redbirds, Brody Nanini was the winning pitcher and Ethan Carlson led the Northstars with a 3-4 batting record. Jeremiah Benson had a perfect 2-2 batting record against Gallatin Valley and Tavish Mclean put in a great effort at the mound versus Bitteroot.

Next up, the Northstars will have another busy week, starting with a doubleheader at home against the Tri-County Cardinals Tuesday at 5 p.m. at Legion Field, followed by a tough weekend against a series of opponents in Lewistown Friday and Sunday.

FRIDAY

Havre 13, Lewistown 6

Lewistown 6 000000 – 6 7 3

Havre 000 6 0 7 X – 13 10 3

WP – Brody Nanini

LP – Luke Clinton

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

Gallatin Valley 6, Havre 5

GVO 0 2 1 00 1 2 – 6 11 2

Havre 00000 5 0 – 5 6 2

WP – Brody Amers

LP – Lane Kinsella

Havre batting – Eli Cloninger 0-1, Quinn Reno 1-2, Ethan Carlson 0-4, Caden Jenkins 1-4, Carson Lunak 0-4, Jeremiah Benson 2-2, Kale Reno 1-4, Brody Nanini 1-2, Julian Benson 0-3, Tavish Mclean 0-3.

SATURDAY

Bitteroot 15, Havre 3

Bitteroot 3 3 8 1 XXX – 15 8 3

Havre 00 3 XXXX – 3 3 2

WP – Mason Anderson

LP – Tavish Mclean

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

Dillon 10, Havre 5

Dillon 4 4 0 1 1 00 – 10 11 3

Havre 1 0 3 00 1 0 – 5 3 7

WP – Jace Fitzgerald

LP – Julian Benson

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