Havre All-Star teams reflect on their summer season

Local baseball fans have had a lot to enjoy this summer with the success of the Havre Northstars American baseball club as well several little league tournaments in June. However, they did not get the chance to witness the seasons that the Havre 10U and Havre 12U teams had as they mostly played on the road.

Both teams finished their seasons up earlier this month as they competed in their state tournaments, both of which were held in Miles City from July 9 to July 11. At the state tournament, the Havre 12U All-Stars had a strong showing as they placed third. Even though they lost to Gallatin Valley in the tournament semifinal, the 12U team won three games during the weekend as they defeated Glasgow and Miles City twice.

"We did good," said Havre 12U head coach Scottie Leeds. "Kids were playing real good baseball. In fact, it came down to the last inning, last at-bats, in the semifinal to play in the championship game and we fell a little short, but the kids played excellent baseball."

On the other end of the spectrum, 10U head coach Levi Olson believed his team could have played better at the state tournament as they lost both of their only two games during the weekend. The 10U team opened the tournament with a loss against Big Muddy, a team made up of players from towns such as Fairview, Froid and Culbertson. The 10U team's season then ended with a loss to Belgrade. Olson believed the team's inability to hit and get on base doomed them in both games.

"I would say we did underwhelming. We didn't do great at all," Olson said. "Our pitching and fielding was OK, we just didn't put the ball in play."

Even though the 12U and 10U teams saw different results at their state tournaments, both coaches saw positives from their teams throughout the season.

Through the course of the season, Leeds saw his players begin to play as a team as each individual settled into their roles.

"(We) really came together as a team. All the players knew their role, where they needed to be, where they were going to be in the lineup, they understood why we were doing it," Leeds said. "We just meshed."

The 10U team had to face its fair share of adversity throughout the two-month season. They started the year off slow as they did not perform well in a tournament in Conrad. The team hit the practice field hard over the next couple of weeks which proved worthwhile as they had a strong showing at a tournament in Kalispell over the Fourth of July weekend. Even though the season did not end the way he wanted, Olson noticed how his team handled the adversity.

"It was kind of an up and down season," Olson said. "Overall the improvement was very noticeable as a lot of the boys improved over the course of the short season."

One area that he saw the most improvement in was their pitching. Over the course of the season, the 10U team saw about five or six pitchers step up and become reliable at the mound. With the emergence of these players, Olson believes he has something to work with for next season.

"From the start to the end of the season, our improvement pitching-wise was very noticeable," Olson said. "We weren't walking anybody; we were throwing strikes, making the other team earn it, putting the ball in play."

Leeds also saw a lot of promise from his team throughout the season that he hopes can carry over when they return to play next year. Most importantly, he wants his players to remember all the lessons they learned this summer and use them moving forward.

"Team really rules everything and that's what we harped on these kids," Leeds said. "We taught them a lot of things besides baseball. How to be better in a lot of things and ultimately if you put your mind to it, you can achieve it."