Northstars drop four at tough Helena tourney

For the Havre Northstars American Legion baseball club, the competition was taking place on the road rather than at home this past weekend, including last Thursday's games at the Helena Tournament at Kindrick Legion Field.

The Helena Tournament continued Saturday, as well, with the Northstars taking on the Kalispell Lakers at 3 p.m. and the Laurel Dodgers at 12:30 p.m., after losing to the Bozeman Bucks and coming back against the Livingston Braves Last Thursday. Unfortunately, Havre hit some more bumps in the road Saturday, losing to the Dodgers 8-3 and then the Lakers 11-4, making their record for the Helena Tournament 1-3, with their overall record for the season now 7-16.

In the first game against Laurel, the Dodgers took the lead early, with Keagan Thompson, Kade McIlvain and Richie Kayne putting up runs in the first inning, with the Northstars pushing back with two runs to end the first. After putting up two runs in the fourth, Keagan Campbell led the charge to add three more runs in the fifth inning to extend the Dodgers lead.

Havre found its last score of the game from a home run by Trenton Maloughney in the bottom of the sixth, but from there, Laurel kept control of the game and took the win. Brody Nanini led the Northstars with two hits in two at-bats, while the defense did not have a single error in the field and Eli Cloninger had five chances in the field.

In the game against Kalispell to close off the Helena Tournament for Havre, things did not go well once again, with the Lakers scoring strong in the first inning from a single by Elijah Owens, an error from the Northstars and a sacrifice by Gabe Lecrrpix in the first inning. Havre added one run in the bottom of the first, but then Kalispell tacked on two more runs in the second to keep the lead.

From there, Devon Wallack and Owen Schilling helped put up three more runs for the Lakers in the third inning, while once again Havre was only able to respond with one in the bottom of the third. Kalispell would add on three more runs in the fourth inning to cap off its day, while the Northstars grabbed two more runs in the fourth as their final scores of the game.

At the end of the day, Cloninger, Caden Jenkins and Jeremiah Benson led Havre with one hit each against the Lakers.

Next up, the Northstars will continue to go to work on the road, with a doubleheader against the Lewistown Redbirds Tuesday at 5 p.m. in Lewistown, followed by a showdown against the Tri-County Cardinals Wednesday at 2 p.m. in Conrad.

Laurel 8, Havre 3

Laurel 3 00 2 3 0 X – 8 13 1

Havre 2 0000 1 0 – 3 5 0

WP – Isaac Nietd

LP – Tyrel Kjersem

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

Kalispell 11, Havre 4

Kalispell 3 2 3 3 XXX – 11 7 4

Havre 1 0 1 0 2 XX – 4 3 8

WP – Ayden Driear

LP – Trenton Maloughney

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

Bozeman 5, Havre 2

Bozeman 2 0 2 0 1 0 X – 5 8 2

Havre 000 1 1 00 – 2 7 2

WP – Jackson Burke

LP – Julian Benson

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

Havre 13, Livingston 10

Livingston 5 1 3 1 00 X – 10 9 2

Havre 000 2 4 7 X – 13 15 4

WP – Carson Lunak

LP – Zack Beal

Havre batting – Theron Peterson 2-5, Quinn Reno 2-4, Tyrel Kjersem 2-4, Caden Jenkins 3-4, Trenton Maloughney 2-3, Eli Cloninger 0-4, Carson Lunak 3-4, Jeremiah Benson 1-3, Kale Reno 0-2, Julian Benson 0-1.