Lewis Heating and A/C wins majors championship

On Wednesday night at Lions Park, the Havre Youth Baseball Association held its majors championship game. At the end of the night, Lewis Heating and A/C won the championship with a 9-4 win over Clausen and Sons.

Clausen and Sons struck first in the top of the first inning to start the game. With two runners on base, a single drove in a run for the lead. Later in the inning with the bases loaded, a walk drove in a run to give Clausen and Sons a 2-0 lead.

Lewis Heating and A/C responded in the bottom of the first. With a runner on base, a single drove in the run. An error then allowed another runner to score to tie the game 2-2. Lewis Heating and A/C then took control in the bottom of the third.

After a single to open the inning, a runner scored on a passed ball to give Lewis Heating and A/C a 3-2 lead. A double then drove in another run to push the lead to 4-2. After loading the bases, a single drove in another run to make it 5-2. A runner then scored on a groundout to give Lewis Heating and A/C a 6-2 lead.

"We hit the ball really well," Lewis Heating and A/C head coach Patch Wirtzberger said. "That's where it starts and finishes, and it was fun to see these guys hit the ball around the park."

In the top of the fourth, Clausen and Sons cut the deficit to 6-3 when a runner scored on an error. In the bottom of the fourth, Lewis Heating and A/C responded with an RBI single.

A pair of runners then took advantage of Clausen and Sons' mistakes to score a pair of runs to push the lead to 9-3. Clausen and Sons scored in the top of the fifth to cut the deficit to 9-4, but Lewis Heating and A/C recorded the third out in the inning to end the game and secure the championship.

With its loss, Clausen and Sons finished second in the majors. That second-place team consisted of Caiden Cole, Cruz Cote, Benton Wittmer, Zane Hamilton, Maddox Keller, Killian Liddle, Alex Lineweaver, Ean Davison, Parker Harrell and Matthew Garcia.

The championship team of Lewis Heating and A/C was made up of D.J. Freeman, Mason Lewis, Sean Nagle, Braydon Cooper, Luke Griggs, Stephen Strike, Blayke Fuzesy, Brantly Wirtzberger, Terrance Davis, Tryg Christenson and Payson Billy. For the work the players put in, seeing it all come together for a championship was the perfect way to end the season.

"It's fun to see these guys grow from start to finish in the season and see how much better that they got with a little bit of practice and a lot of games," Patch Wirtzberger said. "And it was fun to see these guys be great teammates to each other."