Northstars fall to Great Falls in a tight contest

In between its busy weekends, the Havre Northstars American Legion baseball club hosted a game against the Great Falls Chargers AA team at Legion Field Wednesday night. It was a back and forth game, but the Chargers pulled off the 6-5 win over Northstars. Despite the loss, Havre head coach Patch Wirtzberger liked how the Northstars played.

"I thought the boys played really hard," Wirtzberger said. "We hit the ball fairly well, made some mistakes in the field, pitchers competed really hard and we just couldn't hold them in that last inning to try and keep it going."

In the top of the first inning, a couple of errors allowed the Chargers to score a run to take the lead. Another error resulted in another run to push the lead to 2-0. The Northstars responded in the bottom of the first with an RBI single from Conner McKay to make it a 2-1 game.

In the bottom of the fourth, Jevin Jenkins scored on a groundout to tie the game. The Chargers responded in the top of the fifth with an RBI single to retake the lead. The Northstars then really got rolling in the bottom of the fifth. After loading the bases, a walk drove in a run to tie the game. Drake Berreth then hit a double to right field to drive in a pair of runs to give Havre a 5-3 lead.

However, the Northstars could not hold down the Chargers. After loading the bases to start the top of the sixth, a single drove in a pair of runs to tie the game 5-5. Then in the top of the seventh, a passed ball allowed a Charger to score to take a 6-5 lead. While the Chargers had a good approach at the plate, it was the Northstars' miscues that allowed them to score.

"It was mostly our mistakes. Walks and errors," Wirtzberger said. "But I thought the guys were really trying to make pitches and we just missed a few and all of our errors were really aggressive mistakes."

The Northstars still had a chance in the bottom of the seventh. After reaching on an error, Jenkins reached second base to put himself in position to score and tie the game. However, Brody Nanini grounded out to end the game.

At the plate, Terek Shipp had the best night for the Northstars as he went 2-4 with two RBIs. However, he also earned the loss at pitcher as he allowed one run, three hits, one walk and recorded two strikeouts in 1.1 innings pitched.

With the loss, the Northstars fell to 6-5 on the season. While it is a tough loss, Wirtzberger believes there are plenty of positives to take away as they move forward into the rest of the season.

"They're competing as a team really well. I really like to see that," Wirtzberger said. "That's a big positive going forward and we're hitting the ball hard so those are two things that we can really take from this one."

The Havre Northstars will next play on the road to play the Laurel Dodgers in a doubleheader this Saturday starting at 1 p.m.

Great Falls 6, Havre 5

GF 2 0 0 0 1 2 1 - 6 8 4

HAV 1 0 0 1 3 0 0 - 5 6 5

WP - N. Redenbaugh

LP - Terek Shipp

Havre Batting - Kale Reno 1-4, Drake Berreth 2-3, Conner McKay 1-4, Jevin Jenkins 0-2, Terek Shipp 2-4, Ezra Pyle 0-3, Tanner Delarosa 0-3, Brody Nanini 0-1, Tyson Brandon 0-1, Colter Solomon 0-2, Chason Mader 0-1, Logan Kinsella 0-1.