Senior Sweep: Northstars clobber Medicine Hat on senior day

This past Saturday at Legion Field, the Havre Northstars American Legion baseball club wrapped up the regular season with a 12-2 win and a 13-3 win against the Medicine Hat Knights. In between the games, the Northstars held their senior day as they honored Eli Cloninger, Drake Berreth, Trenton Maloughney, Theron Peterson and Kale Reno.

"So proud of these guys. They just continue to do really great things for our program," Havre head coach Patch Wirtzberger said about his senior class. "It's been fun to watch them grow as ball players but they're even better people and they make it fun for me to come to work every day."

While the Northstars will get some more home games with the district tournament later this week, senior day was emotional for all the players who had devoted the past few years to the program.

"(It's) pretty crazy," Cloninger said about senior day. "I've been here five years, just as long as Patch. It's been pretty fun and it's been a really great ride."

But before their senior day, the Northstars got the week started in Conrad with an 8-6 loss to the Tri County Cardinals on Thursday. night. Later on Thursday night, the Northstars responded to win, 23-13, against the Cardinals. In the bottom of the second, the Cardinals got the high-scoring affair started with a pair of runs to take the lead. But the Northstars got on a roll in the third.

With two runners on, Berreth cleared the bases with a triple to tie the game. Maloughney followed that up with a single to bring Berreth home for the 3-2 lead. Later in the inning, Maloughney scored on a groundout to add onto the lead. Reno then capped off the inning with an RBI double to give Havre a 5-2 lead.

The Northstars kept the bats rolling in the fourth. After two singles to open the inning, Maloughney tripled to right field to clear the bases. Peterson then got him home with an RBI single to right field. Jevin Jenkins followed up that score with a two-run home run to left field to push the lead to 10-2.

Later in the inning, Conner McKay hit an RBI double to right field to add onto the lead. A Tri County error then allowed McKay to score. The Cardinals continued to make mistakes as another pair of errors in the inning allowed Colter Solomon, Cloninger and Berreth to score. Reno capped off the inning with an RBI single to give Havre a 16-2 lead.

The Cardinals responded in the bottom of the fourth as they tried to keep up. Dillon Harrell got the scoring started with a single to drive in a run. Daily then brought in another run with an RBI double. Harrell then scored on a sacrifice fly to cut Havre's lead to 16-5.

Back-to-back hits by the Cardinals drove in another pair of runs to further decrease the deficit. Jacob Beattie then scored on a fielder's choice to cut the deficit to 16-8.

But Havre had another strong inning in the top of the fifth to hold onto momentum. After a single to open the inning, Cloninger hit a double to center to drive in the run. Berreth then brought him home with an RBI single. Another Tri County error allowed Berreth to score to give Havre a 19-8 lead to end the inning.

In the top of the seventh, the Northstars made sure to score some insurance runs. With the bases loaded, a groundout got Maloughney home for the score. Pyle then cleared the bases with a double to left. He then scored himself on a sacrifice fly to give Havre a 23-13 lead.

The Northstars got three outs in the bottom of the seventh to secure the win. Terek Shipp earned the win pitching for Havre as he pitched three innings where he allowed four hits, four earned runs and three walks. Peterson led the team with four hits while Berreth, Maloughney, Reno and Jenkins each recorded three RBIs in the contest.

The Northstars started Saturday with their 12-2 win over the Medicine Hat Knights. The Northstars struck first as Cloninger scored on a passed ball to give Havre a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Cloninger followed up that score with an RBI triple in the second to extend the lead to 2-0.

The Northstars continued to stretch out the lead in the third. After a triple from Nanini to open the inning, Maloughney hit a triple to drive in the run. Later in the inning, Jenkins hit a single to center to drive in another pair of runs to stretch the lead to 5-0.

The Knights finally got on the scoreboard in the fourth. With the bases loaded, Brody Walter scored on a groundout to give the Knights their first score of the day. Dylan Amundson then scored on a passed ball to cut Havre's lead to 5-2.

But the Northstars responded in the fifth to end the game early. After a walk to open the inning, Cloninger hit a triple to center to drive in the run. Cloninger finished the game with two RBIs, tied for a team high in the game.

"(It's) a lot of preparation," Cloninger said about his offensive production. "We've been working as a team and we've just been grinding."

Berreth kept the pressure on as he brought in a run with a triple to right. Nanini followed that up with an RBI double. Nanini then scored on a fielder's choice to push the lead to 9-2. Maloughney later scored on a passed ball. McKay then ended the game with a triple to left to drive in a pair of runs to give Havre a 12-2 win.

"They are swinging (the bats) really well with runners in scoring position and if you're going to score a lot of runs and end games early, that's what you have to do," Wirtzberger said. "It just speaks to their focus and intensity in their training and then carrying it over into the game."

Reno earned the win pitching for Havre as he pitched the whole way as he allowed seven hits and no earned runs while recording two strikeouts. Jenkins led the Northstars at the plate as he went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs.

The Northstars capped off the regular season with a 13-3 win over Medicine Hat. Berreth gave Havre the lead with an RBI single in the bottom of the first. Later in the inning, Reno singled to left to drive in another pair of runs to give Havre a 3-0 lead.

The Northstars continued to roll in the second. After a triple from Solomon, Cloninger singled to drive in the run. Berreth followed him with an RBI single of his own. After loading the bases, Peterson tripled to right to clear the bases. He then scored himself on a sacrifice fly from Kale Vancampen to give Havre a 9-0 lead.

The Knights tried to keep pace with the Northstars. With two runners on in the third, Walter cleared the bases with an RBI double. But it was not enough.

In the third, the Northstars kept the bats rolling. After three straight walks to open the inning, Nanini hit a double to left to clear the bases. He then scored on a sacrifice fly from Vancampen to push the lead to 13-2.

The Knights scored a run in the fifth but the Northstars were able to close it out to win the game in five innings. Maloughney earned the win as he pitched four innings where he allowed four hits and two earned runs. On his senior day, Peterson went 2-for-3 at the plate with three RBIs.

The Havre Northstars end the regular season with a 33-19-1 record and they finished second in conference play. Now they will host the district tournament at Legion Field this weekend, where they will battle to earn a spot in the state tournament. The Northstars have been playing their best ball lately, so their confidence is high heading into the postseason.

"I think we're playing pretty good," Cloninger said. "We should win. We just got to do the little things."

The Havre Northstars will begin the district tournament this Thursday at Legion Field.

Tri County 8, Havre 6

HAV 1 0 0 0 2 0 3 - 6 10 4

TC 0 2 0 3 0 3 X - 8 6 3

WP - Tony Daily

LP - Brody Nanini

Havre Batting - Eli Cloninger 2-3, Drake Berreth 1-3, Brody Nanini 2-4, Trenton Maloughney 1-4, Theron Peterson 2-4, Kale Reno 0-4, Terek Shipp 0-3, Kale VanCampen 0-3, Ezra Pyle 2-3.

Havre 23, Tri County 13

HAV 0 0 5 11 3 0 4 - 23 20 4

TC 0 2 0 6 4 1 0 - 13 11 8

WP - Terek Shipp

Havre Batting - Eli Cloninger 2-4, Drake Berreth 2-5, Trenton Maloughney 3-6, Theron Peterson 4-6, Jevin Jenkins 2-4, Kale Reno 2-6, Lane Kinsella 0-3, Ezra Pyle 1-2, Conner McKay 2-4, Colter Solomon 2-6.

Havre 12, Medicine Hat 2

MH 0 0 0 2 0 X X - 2 7 1

HAV 1 1 3 0 7 X X - 12 13 1

WP - Kale Reno

LP - Cade Moch

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

Havre 13, Medicine Hat 3

MH 0 0 2 0 1 X X - 3 6 1

HAV 3 6 4 0 X X X - 13 9 2

WP - Trenton Maloughney

LP - Parker Hunt

Havre Batting - Eli Cloninger 1-2, Drake Berreth 3-3, Brody Nanini 1-1, Lane Kinsella 0-1, Theron Peterson 2-3, Kale Reno 1-1, Terek Shipp 0-3, Colter Solomon 1-2.