Northstars split conference opener against Lewistown

With the school year and spring sports season over, the Havre Northstars American Legion baseball club now has all its players as they head into the summer. The Northstars started the summer on the road Tuesday night in a conference doubleheader against the Lewistown Redbirds.

In their first conference games this summer, the Northstars had their highs and their lows. They made several mistakes in their first game that led to a 5-4 loss. In the second game, they battled to win, 8-6, in an 11-inning contest.

"It was kind of a mixed bag today," Havre head coach Patch Wirtzberger said. "I don't think we played particularly well on defense and we didn't hit the ball really well all day long but came up with key hits there in the last game that we really needed to come up with the split."

After a slow start to the opening game of the doubleheader, the Redbirds and Northstars found some offense halfway through the game. In the bottom of the fourth, the Redbirds made a couple of hits, including an RBI double from Tate Mangold to take a 1-0 lead.

The Northstars then responded in the top of the fifth. After Kale Reno got on base to start the inning, Ezra Pyle put the ball in play with a single. A fielding error then allowed Pyle to reach second and for Reno to score to tie the game. Pyle then scored on an RBI single by Eli Cloninger to give Havre a 2-1 lead.

But the Redbirds took control of the game in the bottom of the fifth. After a walk to start the inning, an RBI single from Nolan Fry tied the game once again. Later in the inning, a sacrifice fly from Travis McAlpin got another runner home for the 3-2 lead.

Another Lewistown runner scored on a wild pitch to push the lead to 4-2. A bunt from Taylor Smith then put the ball in play and allowed another Lewistown runner to score to further extend the lead to 5-2.

"We just made a couple of mistakes on bunt coverages in their big inning," Wirtzberger said. "It's stuff that we'll get cleaned up in practice."

The Northstars tried to fight their way back into the game. In the top of the sixth, Conner McKay grounded out into a fielder's choice that got Brody Nanini home to cut into the lead. After a double to start the top of the seventh, Reno scored on a wild pitch to cut the deficit to 5-4. But the Northstars were unable to continue that momentum as they grounded out to end the first game of the doubleheader.

None of the Northstars recorded more than one hit in the game while Cloninger and McKay recorded the only RBIs for Havre. Nanini pitched all six innings for Havre where he allowed eight hits, three earned runs and three walks and he recorded four strikeouts.

After a scoreless first inning to start the second game, the Northstars took the lead in the top of the second. After Reno was walked to get on base, Kale VanCampen hit a double to right field to drive in a run for the early lead.

But like the first game, the Northstars could not hold onto the lead. After getting two outs to start the bottom of the third, Fry and Xander Wright hit back-to-back singles to get on base. McAlpin then got a single on a pop fly to bring home both runners for the 2-1 lead. Trajan Sparks followed that up with a single that got McAlpin home to push the lead to 3-1.

After a few scoreless innings, the Northstars fought their way back in the top of the sixth. After Nanini opened the inning with a single, Pyle brought him home with an RBI single. Later in the inning, Pyle scored on a passed ball to tie the game.

The Northstars kept the momentum going into the top of the seventh. With two men on, Nanini hit a single to right field to bring in one run for the 4-3 lead. But the Redbirds responded in the bottom of the seventh to stay alive. Following a single to open the inning, McAlpin hit a double to left field to bring home the runner to tie the game and send it to extras.

Despite scoring opportunities for both teams, neither team was able to break through to score in the eighth inning. Neither team got anything going in the ninth or tenth innings as the game went to the 11th inning.

In the top of the 11th, the Northstars finally took control. After a pair of walks early in the inning, Theron Peterson brought home both runners with a double to deep center field to give Havre a 6-4 lead. Peterson then scored on a fielder's choice to push the lead to 7-4. VanCampen got another runner home with an RBI single to push Havre's advantage to 8-4.

"(It was a) good thing that our focus throughout the day stayed really sharp," Wirtzberger said about their late-game offense. "(We) battled through some really tough at bats, got some key walks, a couple of nice bunts there at the end and were just really dedicated to what we were trying to accomplish out there."

But the Redbirds continued to threaten in the bottom of the 11th. After a flyout to start the inning, three straight walks loaded the bases for Lewistown. Even after a strikeout for the second out, a bases-loaded walk cut Havre's lead to 8-5. But a groundout ended the game to split the doubleheader between Havre and Lewistown.

The Northstars performed much better at the plate in their second game of the night. Pyle had an excellent game as he went 3-for-5 at the plate with an RBI. Peterson and VanCampen also took advantage of scoring opportunities as they each had two RBIs.

The Northstars now have a 7-9 record and are 1-1 to start conference play. While a split is not a shaky start to conference competition, Wirtzberger knows there is plenty of work still needed to be done in order to reach their goals this summer.

"We got a lot of things that we need to get better at and this team is far away from reaching their potential," Wirtzberger said. "But that's the fun thing for us because then we get to go back to work and practice and play some more games this weekend."

The Havre Northstars will next play in the Havre Jamboree starting this Friday.

Lewistown 5, Havre 4

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

LEW 0 0 0 1 4 0 X - 5 8 3

WP - Wyatt Elam

LP - Brody Nanini

Havre Batting - Eli Cloninger 1-4, Trenton Maloughney 0-4, Brody Nanini 1-3, Jevin Jenkins 1-3, Conner McKay 0-2, Theron Peterson 0-3, Kale Reno 1-2, Ezra Pyle 1-3, Kale VanCampen 0-2.

Havre 8, Lewistown 5

HAV 0 1 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 4 - 8 11 2

LEW 0 0 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 - 5 12 1

WP - Colter Solomon

LP - Luke Clinton

Havre Batting - Eli Cloninger 0-6, Trenton Maloughney 1-5, Brody Nanini 2-5, Conner McKay 1-5, Theron Peterson 2-6, Ezra Pyle 3-5, Kale Reno 0-3, Kale VanCampen 2-5, Colter Solomon 0-2.