Northstar comeback falls short in state tourney opener

Heading into their first game of the State A tournament this weekend, Havre Northstars head coach Patch Wirtzberger believed his team needed to win it in order to win the double-elimination tournament. If they were going to do that, the Havre Northstars American Legion baseball club needed to play their best baseball against the West District champions Glacier Twins on Thursday night at Legion Field.

Early on, however, it looked like the Northstars would have no shot at victory. At the end of two innings, the Twins already had a 7-2 lead and looked like they would roll on offense throughout the night. But Havre did not give up as they crawled their way back into the game to eventually make the score 7-5. Unfortunately for them, they could not complete the comeback as they struck out swinging with two runners on base to end the game. While they did not complete the comeback, Wirtzberger was proud of his team for their effort.

"They got nothing to hang their heads about. Everybody battled until the very last pitch," Wirtzberger said. "This team has a lot of heart, I got to give it to them."

Along with sending the Northstars to the tournament's loser's bracket, it also dropped them to 35-15 on the season. It was also their second straight loss after they lost to the Great Falls Chargers in the North District tournament championship game last Sunday.

The night started promising for the Northstars as they took a 2-0 lead before their pitcher even got to the mound. After a single and two walks to load the bases with no outs, Ethan Carlson grounded out into a fielder's choice that got Caden Jenkins home for the lead. Eli Cloninger then scored on a Glacier error to extend the lead.

The Twins quickly responded in the bottom of the first to tie the game. After the first Glacier batter got hit by pitch to reach first, Stevyn Anadrachick hit a triple to center field to drive in the runner to get on the scoreboard. He then tied the game from third on a sacrifice fly from Zach Veneman.

Glacier then got the bats going in the bottom of the second to take control of the game. After the Twins got the bases loaded with no outs thanks to two walks and a single, Mason Peters hit a double to center field to clear the bases. Andrachick followed him up with a single to center to get Peters home to make Glacier's lead 6-2.

"We shot ourselves in the foot there early on with walks and then not errors but mental mistakes," Wirtzberger said.

However, the Northstar defense gathered itself to keep Glacier off the scoreboard the rest of the game. Wirtzberger credits pitcher Kale Reno for keeping them alive in the game. In the last four innings of the game, Reno only allowed one hit and two walks.

As their defense stiffened up, Havre's offense slowly got them back in the game. In the top of the fourth, Drake Berreth scored on a wild pitch to make the lead 7-3. Kale VanCampen then scored on a Glacier error to cut their deficit to three runs. In the top of the fifth, Brody Nanini scored on another Glacier error to make the score 7-5.

However, they could not complete the comeback as they fell 7-5. With their win, the Twins will play tonight at 7 p.m. against the Laurel Dodgers. Meanwhile, the Northstars played the Belgrade Bandits in an elimination game this afternoon. With the season now on the line, Wirtzberger knows that his team will need to bring everything they have to defeat the South District champions to stay alive for a shot at a state title.

"We're going to have to come with a whole lot of heart tomorrow if we want to beat Belgrade," Wirtzberger said. "Belgrade's a great team and we just got to shift our focus to that and doing what we can to stay in the tournament."

Glacier 7, Havre 5

HAV 2 0 0 2 1 0 0 - 5 4 1

GLC 2 5 0 0 0 0 X - 7 6 4

WP - George Robbins

LP - Kale Reno

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