Havre Northstars host Billings Expos in a doubleheader to open the season

Just like many athletic programs over the past week, the Havre Northstars American Legion baseball club had to postpone its games because of snow on the Hi-Line. Now, the Northstars finally get the chance to open their season as they host the Billings Expos A team in a doubleheader Sunday at Legion Field.

"I think we're just excited to get the kids out on the field and have them play against somebody other than themselves," Havre head coach Patch Wirtzberger said. "Through practice, we've done a lot of scrimmage type stuff but it's always good to get out there for the first game."

The Billings Expos A team comes into this season after going 19-19 last season. They went 2-0 against the Northstars 15U team last year, but they lost, 7-4, against the Northstars A team at Legion Field. Wirtzberger is not sure what to expect from this summer's iteration of the Expos A team, but he knows they will provide a fight to start the season.

"It's going to be a solid team and it's going to give us a good challenge," Wirtzberger said.

The Northstars finally return to the diamond after going 35-16 last season and qualifying for the state tournament. They were originally set to open the season this past Saturday with a doubleheader against the Kallispell Lakers. But snow forced the Northstars to wait until this weekend to get their season started.

With the poor weather recently, the Northstars have had to split their time practicing inside and outside. While weather has affected how they have practiced, Wirtzberger believes their focus has remained the same heading into this weekend.

"As far as preparation, it doesn't change much," Wirtzberger said. "We're trying to get our pitchers ready, we're trying to get our hitters to see live pitching and (we're trying to) get our fielders to see fly balls and ground balls."

While he has not decided on his starting pitchers yet for this weekend, Wirtzberger will have all his pitchers available if he needs them. Brody Nanini returns after going 9-2 as a pitcher last year and recording a 3.500 ERA. Kale Reno and Trenton Maloughney are also available after they pitched over 50 innings last summer for the Northstars.

"You're going to see a lot of different pitchers on Sunday," Wirtzberger said.

The Northstars also have many batters returning for their lineup this weekend. Eli Cloninger returns for his last year of eligibility after posting a .395 batting average and 27 RBIs last season. Nanini will also bat for the Northstars after a .383 batting average and 33 RBIs last year. Maloughney also played well at the plate last summer with a .298 batting average and 31 RBIs.

This summer, the Northstars are looking to qualify for the state tournament in their third straight year. As they begin their quest for another shot at state, Wirtzberger hopes to see his team come out strong against Billings this weekend.

"The main thing I want to see them do is just compete," Wirtzberger said. "There's going to be some physical mistakes that are made the first time out on the field of course but how we fight through a little bit of adversity will tell us a lot about how our squad is going to be this year and I hope we can do the right things in that regard."

The Northstars begin their doubleheader against the Billings Expos A team Sunday at 1 p.m. at Legion Field.