Northstars take aim at state

The regular season has passed for the Havre Northstars American Legion baseball club, as the first leg of the postseason will be upon them Wednesday and Thursday. It will be a grueling two days at the Northern A District Tournament in Great Falls at Centene Stadium, where Havre looks to punch its ticket to the Class A State Tournament in August.

Wednesday will be the start of the tournament, with the No. 3 Northstars playing against the rough-and-tough No. 2 Tri-County Cardinals at 1:30 p.m. at Centene Stadium. Needless to say, the first game for Havre will not be an easy one, as Tri-County has been a relentless foe this season.

Northstars head coach Patch Wirtzberger knows that the tournament will be full of tough competition.

"The Northern A has experienced teams," Wirtzberger said. "There's no one team where you're like, oh yeah they're strong. There's just a lot of good teams across the board. Tri-County is full of experienced players, Great Falls is an experienced team with great players and, obviously, Lewistown has done pretty well this year, too. There's plenty of competition across the board, so you got to come ready to play if you expect to win."

The game against the Cardinals will not be an easy beginning of the postseason, but the Northstars have carried some great talent with them throughout the regular season. The biggest powerhouses of Havre this year have been seniors Quinn Reno and Tyrel Kjersem. Reno has been a force at-bat, putting up multiple games with perfect hit-to-at-bat records and has been a key to keep the Northstars offense driving. Meanwhile, Kjersem not only has been a key part of the lineup, but his fielding and pitching prowess have been essential for Havre this season.

The rest of the lineup features a variety of great players, too. Eli Cloninger, Trenton Maloughney, Brody Nanini, Caden Jenkins, Ethan Carlson, Carson Lunak, Jeremiah and Julian Benson, Tavish Mclean, Theron Peterson and Kale Reno have made strong contributions to the offense this season. Defensively, Lunak, Maloughney, Kale Reno and Julian Benson have made great strides on the mound, while the defense as a whole can shut down any team when they are at their best.

The regular season has been full of ups and downs for the Northstars, but there have been many takeaways that Wirtzberger knows his team can utilize at Centene Stadium.

"I think that before last Saturday, we were playing some really good baseball," Wirtzberger said. "But we've really improved since the beginning of the year. I'm hoping that's just a blip on the radar and we can get back to playing a good game."

But before the game against Tri-County, the first game of the tournament will see the No. 1 Lewistown Redbirds take on the No. 4 Great Falls Lightning at 10:30 a.m., where if the Northstars win against the Cardinals, Havre will play the winner of the Lewistown-Great Falls game for the semifinal showdown at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Meanwhile, the losers of the opening round will play each other at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday for the first loser-out game.

Thursday will see its action start at 11 a.m., where the semifinal loser plays the first loser-out winner for the second loser-out game of the tourney. The winner of that game will move on to the championship game against the winner from the winner's bracket at 2 p.m. The tournament is true-double-elimination, as well. If the loser-out bracket winner beats the winner's bracket team, the two teams will play a true championship at 5 p.m.

And at the end of the day, Wirtzberger not only knows who the toughest competition will be at the tournament, but he knows that keys that can help his team do well, too.

"Lewistown has had a great season against the other teams," Wirtzberger said. "but we beat Lewistown three times this year, so if we go out and play a good game, we can beat them. We know that it doesn't have much to do with what the other teams do, but how we go about our business. If we throw strikes, field the ball and hit the ball, we can beat anybody. We just have to hit the ball. I think if we hit the ball and do the right thing on the bases, it will carry over to the rest of the game. I think that's the biggest key."

With that, the No. 3 Havre Northstars will start their postseason action against the No. 2 Tri-County Cardinals at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at Centene Stadium in Great Falls. If the Northstars win, they will either meet the No. 1 Lewistown Redbirds or the No. 4 Great Falls Lightning at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday for the semifinal game. Two berths to state are on the line.