Northstars storm past Lightning, twice

The end of the regular season can see an array of different scenarios play out. In some cases, a team can get hot and start winning a good amount of games to boost their record and power going into the postseason. This was a goal the Havre Northstars American Legion baseball club looked to accomplish in its three-game, two-day stretch against some tough opponents. Needless to say, Havre accomplished that goal, putting them in a good spot as the regular season starts to draw to a close.

Wednesday and Thursday night saw a great stretch by the Northstars, as they beat the Glasgow Reds 10-1 Wednesday night in Glasgow, followed by a sweep of the Great Falls Lightning at Legion field Thursday night, where Havre won game one 9-2 and game two 10-6. The Northstars now have an overall season record of 14-21.

Havre head coach Patch Wirtzberger was glad to see his team come out and get a great pair of wins against Great Falls.

"I thought we had good approaches at the plate and that's where it started," Wirtzberger said. "We got the lead in both games early and that was kind of the key to success. Our pitchers did a really nice job. Carson Lunak had a really good game in the first game and he's been pitching really well in the second half of the season here. Him and Trenton Maloughney throw strikes and they pitch with a lead very well as they don't walk a lot of guys. It was nice to see Quinn Reno pitch to close, even if the end of the second game had a more interesting end than we wanted."

The Northstars opened game one with a strong start, with Reno, Eli Cloninger, Ethan Carlson, Maloughney and Julian Benson scoring runs to put Havre up 5-0 after the first inning. After the Lightning put up a run in the top of the second inning, Tyrel Kjersem hit a triple into the outfield and then scored on the next batter in the bottom of the second, keeping the Northstars ahead 6-1 after the third inning, where no runs were scored.

The bottom of the fourth and fifth innings is where Havre continued to put up runs, with one run added in the fifth, followed by two runs scored by Drake Barreth and Reno in the sixth inning. Great Falls tallied on a run in the fifth inning, as well, but were still down 9-2 till the end of the game, giving the Northstars a big win and starting a great night for the seniors, as well.

With it being senior night, the seniors had the goal to play at a high level, which is something that Wirtzberger saw Kjersem and Reno do through and through.

"I thought they did really well," Wirtzberger said. "Senior night is an emotional night, so obviously you don't expect them to go out there and do really well right away, but they did. It didn't affect them at all. That's a good thing because we need those guys to do good to be successful and they were. I'm just so proud of them and they did a really nice job."

The second game continued to see Havre dominate.

After Reno scored a run in the bottom of the first inning, Lunak would join him at home plate in the bottom of the second to give the Northstars a 3-1 lead early on. After the Lightning put a runner home in the top of the third, Caden Jenkins and Julian Benson would get to the home plate in the third, as well. Havre led 5-2 after the third inning.

From there, Kjersem and three other Northstars scored in the bottom of the fourth inning, followed by Great Falls and Havre both dropping one run in the fifth inning, with Kjersem scoring once again. The sixth inning would be void of any runs, but the Lightning managed to sneak in three runs at the end of the game to make things interesting, but the Northstars still came away with the sweep in the end as Reno and Kjersem put up good work as a dynamic duo, with Reno on the mound and Kjersem behind the plate.

At the end of the night, Kjersem did not let the emotions get to his head but was still happy to have the Northstars by his side through it all.

"I took it as a normal game," Kjersem said. "But at the end, it's a relief to know that I got my teammates to have my back and play hard with me for my last two games at home. To get two wins makes me feel really good, actually."

As for Reno, he not only felt great about the sweep against the Lightning, but he was thankful to be able to play this season as a whole, too.

"It was special," Reno said. "Finally got the sweep on those guys. We knew we could beat them all year and we usually split with them, so it was nice to get that sweep. I'm happy to keep going. We're blessed to even be able to play. Most of the kids across the nation aren't even able to play right now."

The Northstars had some players shine against the Reds and the Lightning. Against Glasgow, Kjersem and Maloughney both led Havre with two hits at three at-bats, with Eli Cloninger dubbed the winning pitcher. Versus Great Falls, Kjersem put up a perfect three hits at three at-bats on senior night in game one, while both Lunak and Maloughney were hailed as the winning pitchers.

Havre will continue its trek toward the end of the regular season with a doubleheader against the Glendive Blue Devils Saturday at 3 p.m. in Glendive to close off this week of Northstars baseball.

Havre 9, Glasgow 2

Glasgow 1 00000000 – 1 1 3

Havre 3 2 1 3 000 1 0 – 10 11 3

WP – Eli Cloninger

LP – Tatum Hansen

Havre batting – Quinn Reno 1-6, Eli Cloninger 0-4, Tyrel Kjersem 2-3, Caden Jenkins 1-5, Ethan Carlson 2-4, Trenton Maloughney 2-3, Jeremiah Benson 1-1, Julian Benson 1-4, Kale Reno 1-4, Drake Barreth 0-2, Tavish Mclean 0-2.

Havre 9, Lightning 2

Great Falls 0 1 000 1 0 – 2 3 5

Havre 5 1 0 1 2 0 X – 9 7 4

WP – Carson Lunak

LP – Wes Glicher

Havre batting – Quinn Reno 1-3, Eli Cloninger 1-3, Tyrel Kjersem 3-3, Caden Jenkins 0-3, Ethan Carlson 0-3, Trenton Maloughney 0-3, Julian Benson 1-4, Tavish Mclean 1-1, Drake Barreth 0-2.

Havre 10, Lightning 6

Great Falls 1 0 1 0 1 0 3 – 6 13 7

Havre 1 2 2 4 1 0 X – 10 4 2

WP – Trenton Maloughney

LP – Mavrick Thomas

Havre batting – Quinn Reno 1-3, Eli Cloninger 0-4, Tyrel Kjersem 0-2, Ethan Carlson 1-2, Julian Benson 1-4, Carson Lunak 0-3, Tavish Mclean 0-2, Kale Reno 1-1, Theron Peterson 0-1, Jeremiah Benson 0-1.