Northstars storm past the Reds at Legion Field

After another split doubleheader against the Great Falls Lightning Sunday, the Havre Northstars American Legion baseball club was looking forward to a doubleheader against the Glasgow Reds at home. But after a storm rolled through Havre, the meeting was shortened to one nine-inning showdown at Legion Field, where the Northstars had a great night.

Tuesday night saw Havre grab a win over Glasgow 6-3 in a non-conference battle. Another win on the record puts the Northstars in a nice spot to make a push in the postseason, with their overall season record now at 10-18. It is a tough road ahead from now on, but there is a lot to look forward to, as well.

At the end of the day, Havre head coach Patch Wirtzberger was glad to see that his team pulled through a great game against Glasgow.

"We battled through some adversity, had some good innings on the mound for our pitchers, played well out in the field and executed well enough on offense to gain a lead there towards the end," Wirtzberger said. "We finished it off and I was proud of them."

The Northstars started off on a good note, when Caden Jenkins still scored on a fielder's choice to put Havre up 1-0 after the first inning. Innings two through four would all find no runs put on the scoreboard, as Brody Nanini and the defense shut down the Reds offense multiple times, but Glasgow put up one run on a Havre error and then another run to lead 2-1 after the top of the fifth inning.

But the Northstars battled right back in the bottom of the fifth, with senior Quinn Reno hitting a triple to put two runners home, followed by Reno scoring himself not long after to give Havre the lead 4-2 after the fifth. The six inning saw no scores, but Eli Cloninger scored a run in the seventh off another Reno triple and Trenton Maloughney made it home in the eighth inning to then lead 6-2 after the eighth. The Reds put up one more run on the night, but it was not enough to win over the Northstars.

It was a great win for Havre, but when it came to the team's biggest strength of the night, Wirtzberger credited his defense for putting on a good show.

"I thought our fielding was on point," Wirtzberger said. "I thought we made good, solid, sound baseball plays to keep their runners into spots where they couldn't hurt us. Obviously, our pitchers did a tremendous job, as well. It was great."

In the case of Reno, he sparked two separate chain-reactions that brought in half of the Northstar's runs Tuesday night and he was glad to see the win come out of the game, even if it was a longer one than usual.

"I just waited for my pitch," Reno said. "The second triple was on two strikes and I saw a gap in right center. I feel pretty good about the win. It's a longer game with two more innings than we're used to."

Reno put up three hits at four at-bats to lead the Northstars, as well, while Julian Benson had a perfect one hit at one at-bat to help the offense drive. Nanini was dubbed the winning pitcher for the game.

Next on the revised schedule, the Havre Northstars (10-18) will play against the Lewistown Redbirds Saturday in Lewistown for a doubleheader at 3 p.m., with the Redbirds then coming up to Legion Field for another doubleheader game at 5 p.m. next Monday.

Havre 6, Glasgow 3

Glasgow 0000 2 000 1 – 3 10 3

Havre 1 000 3 0 1 1 X – 6 8 2

WP – Brody Nanini

LP – Rance Rhoads

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