Northstars sweep Great Falls on senior day

The regular season has finally come to an end for the Havre Northstars American Legion baseball club this year as they hosted the Great Falls Chargers for a doubleheader at Legion Field Sunday. As the regular season came to an end, the Northstars celebrated their three seniors, Ethan Carlson, Eli Cloninger and Carson Lunak, with their senior day. Despite the emotions of the day, the Northstars swept the Chargers to end the regular season on the right note.

"The kids handled it really well. It's a mature group of kids that likes being together so I think it was just a good thing for everybody," said Havre head coach Patch Wirtzberger. "The seniors handled it really well. There's always going to be some emotions, but I'm really proud of them."

While the seniors are sad that their careers are coming to an end, they also know they are fortunate to get another chance to play at Legion Field when they host the state tournament at the end of the month.

"It's bittersweet because I love this game," Carlson said. "But it's not as sad because we have state here, so it's really not our last game and we have a lot more that we need to do."

Carlson looked to start senior day on the right note in their first game. In the bottom of the first inning with two runners on base, Carlson hit a double to center field to give Havre a 2-0 lead. Trenton Maloughney then scored on a passed ball to extend Havre's lead to 3-0.

After a few innings with no runs, the Northstars finally got it going again in the bottom of the fifth. Maloughney got another runner on the board for the Northstars when he hit a single to right field. Lunak then grounded out into a fielder's choice to make Havre's lead 5-0.

The Chargers finally got on the scoreboard with two runs in the top of the sixth to cut their deficit to three runs. Havre responded in the bottom of the sixth to maintain control of the game. Kale VanCampen started the scoring with an RBI double to center field. Good base running from Caden Jenkins then allowed him to score to make the score 7-2.

Great Falls scored a run in the top of the seventh but Havre held on for the 7-3 victory. Along with their strong offensive performance, Kale Reno had a solid day on the mound, where he allowed seven hits, no earned runs and struck out five batters.

"He was really good again. He's become somebody that we can rely on to keep us in ball games for as long as he needs to," Wirtzberger said.

Unlike the first game, Havre struggled to score early on in the second game. The Chargers scored first in the top of the second to take a 1-0 lead. However, the Northstars responded in the bottom of the second when Reno grounded out into a fielder's choice that allowed Lunak to score and tie the game.

The Northstars took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth when Tavish McLean scored on a wild pitch. In the bottom of the fifth, the Northstars finally took control of the game. It started with another huge hit from Carlson who hit an RBI single to left field to make the score 3-1. Even though he had recorded his second RBI hit of the day in a big moment on his senior day, Carlson was just happy to help the team take momentum.

"It was huge. It's fun to do it on senior day but it's more about winning games," Carlson said.

The rest of the Northstars followed Carlson's lead as they got the bats going and took advantage of several Charger's mistakes to run up the scoreboard. With a 10-1 lead, Lunak hit a double deep to center field to drive in another runner and end the game early with the 11-1 win. While he was happy to end his senior night on such a strong note, he knew it would not have been possible without his teammates.

"It felt really good," Lunak said. "It's nice to have good teammates. We rallied and they just made it easy for me to just be in the right position at the right time."

On the other side of the plate, the Northstars got a strong performance from starting pitcher Brody Nanini. While he is dealing with a recent foot injury, he was able to pitch all five innings where he allowed five hits, one run and two walks while striking out two batters.

The sweep Sunday came after the Northstars split a doubleheader on the road against the Lewistown Redbirds Saturday. The Northstars won the first game, 8-3, thanks to a strong showing in the second inning where they scored five runs. However, Lewistown ended the night with a 14-4 win in five innings.

With the sweep on senior night, the Northstars finished the regular season with a record of 32-12 and 10-2 in conference play. They have been playing some of their best baseball recently as they have a 20-2 record over the past month including a stretch of 15 straight wins. With their first win Sunday, they also won the regular season Class A North District title which earned them the No. 1 seed in the district tournament this weekend. As the Northstars head into the postseason, Wirtzberger is confident in his team.

"We feel good. I think this weekend, we didn't hit the ball as we had been so that's something that we need to work on but I felt like defensively today at least we cleaned it up a little bit and made some nice plays," Wirtzberger said. "Just keep on playing as a team. We got to pick each other up."

The Havre Northstars will begin the postseason with the Class A North District Tournament this Friday in Lewistown.

Havre 8, Lewistown 3

HAV 0 5 1 1 0 0 1 - 8 9 2

LEW 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 - 3 8 1

WP - Carson Lunak

LP - Xander Wright

Havre Batting - Caden Jenkins 0-2, Eli Cloninger 2-5, Trenton Maloughney 0-4, Ethan Carlson 2-3, Carson Lunak 1-4, Theron Peterson 1-3, Tavish McLean 2-4, Kale Reno 0-3, Drake Berreth 1-3.

Lewistown 14, Havre 4

HAV 0 1 0 2 1 X X - 4 7 5

LEW 4 4 3 2 1 X X - 14 15 1

WP - Brody Jenness

LP - Trenton Maloughney

Havre Batting - Caden Jenkins 1-2, Eli Cloninger 0-1, Jevin Jenkins 1-2, Carson Lunak 1-3, Ethan Carlson 1-2, Theron Peterson 1-3, Tavish McLean 0-2, Kale Reno 1-1, Kale VanCampen 0-2, Drake Berreth 0-2.

Havre 7, Great Falls 3

GF 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 - 3 8 0

HV 3 0 0 0 2 2 X - 7 7 2

WP - Kale Reno

LP - Austin Armstrong

Havre Batting - Eli Cloninger 3-3, Trenton Maloughney 1-2, Ethan Carlson 1-3, Carson Lunak 0-3, Theron Peterson 0-2, Tavish McLean 0-3, Drake Berreth 1-3, Kale VanCampen 1-3.

Havre 11, Great Falls 1

GF 0 1 0 0 0 X X - 1 5 2

HV 0 1 0 1 9 X X - 11 8 1

WP - Brody Nanini

LP - AJ Sloan

Havre Batting - Caden Jenkins 1-4, Eli Cloninger 1-3, Trenton Maloughney 1-2, Ethan Carlson 2-3, Carson Lunak 1-4, Theron Peterson 0-1, Tavish McLean 1-2, Kale Reno 1-3, Drake Berreth 0-2.