Northstars sweep Lewistown in home doubleheader

The Havre Northstars American Legion baseball club looked to make the most of its return to Legion Field Wednesday night. In a doubleheader against the Lewistown Redbirds, the Northstars played well in front of their home crowd with a 7-1 and a 3-1 victory to sweep the night. After a rough outing at the Harold Gjerde Memorial Tournament, Havre head coach Patch Wirtzberger was happy to see the Northstars rally defensively.

"Solid pitching and good defense is kind of what laid the foundation of this program the last few years," Wirtzberger said. "That showed up tonight so that was good to see."

In the first game of the doubleheader, the Northstars took the lead in the bottom of the first inning. After getting on base thanks to a walk, Brody Nanini advanced to third thanks to an error. Nanini then scored on a sacrifice fly from Terek Shipp to give Havre the lead.

The Redbirds responded in the top of the second to tie the game, 1-1, but the Northstars quickly retook the lead in the bottom of the second. With the bases loaded with two outs, Conner McKay hit a single to left field to drive in a pair of runs for a 3-1 lead. After loading the bases again, Drake Berreth drove in a run with an infield single to push the lead to 4-1.

In the bottom of the third with two outs, Nanini drove in a run with a single to left to make it a 5-1 lead. Then in the bottom of the sixth with the bases loaded, Ezra Pyle drove in a run with a single to left. Berreth then scored on a sacrifice fly from Chason Mader to push the lead to 7-1.

The Northstars recorded three outs in the top of the seventh to secure the win. Nanini pitched all seven innings for the Northstars where he allowed five hits, one run, one walk and he recorded five strikeouts.

"I was just feeling it up," Nanini said about his pitching performance. "I let my players back me up, which they did. They did a good job."

The Northstars also excelled at the plate to start the night. McKay went 2-4 with two RBIs while both Nanini and Berreth went 2-3 with an RBI. As a team, the Northstars finished the game with 10 hits, which Nanini attributed to their resiliency at the plate.

"I think we hit pretty well with two strikes," Nanini said. "We had really good at bats all around. I think that was just what we did better than them today."

Both teams started slow in the second game of the doubleheader. It was not until the bottom of the fifth did the Northstars break the scoreless tie. With the bases loaded with two outs, Jevin Jenkins hit a double to center to drive in a pair of runs for a 2-0 lead.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Northstars pushed the lead to 3-0 when Nanini hit an RBI single to left. The Redbirds struggled to score through most of the game, but did threaten in the top of the seventh. The Redbirds scored a run in the inning, but the Northstars put them away to end the night with the sweep.

Tanner Delarosa pitched a great game for the Northstars as he allowed five hits, one earned run, two walks and he recorded seven strikeouts in 6.1 innings pitched. While Delarosa was unable to pitch the entire game, Wirtzberger liked what he gave his team.

"He was really good. He had a couple rough starts there in the first and second inning, but he was able to get out of it," Wirtzberger said. "He gave us a lot of really good innings and we're proud of him."

With the sweep, the Northstars improved their record to 18-13-1 this season. They will get little time to rest as they next have a road trip north of the border this weekend. First, the Northstars will face the Vauxhall Spurs in a doubleheader Friday. The Northstars went 2-0 against the Spurs last season, but Wirtzberger knows the conference foe will provide a challenge.

"Vauxhall's a very good team," Wirtzberger said. "We know that they're going to hit the ball hard all over the ballpark so our defense is going to need to be on point. The pitchers are going to need to do what they do but we got to hit the ball as well."

The Northstars will continue their road trip with a doubleheader against the Fort Macleod Royals Saturday. It has been a while since the Northstars have faced the Royals, so Wirtzberger looks forward to seeing how it plays out this weekend.

"They're just getting their program going again this year," Wirtzberger said. "They're kind of a weaker team in our district this year as they start with young kids but it'll be a good opportunity for us to get better."

With conference games this weekend, the Northstars will need their best players to perform well on the road. Shipp leads the Northstars with 34.0 innings pitched this season as he has a 3-3 record, 35 strikeouts and a 2.676 ERA. Kale Reno should also get some time on the mound as he has a 3-3 record and 33 strikeouts this summer.

The Northstars will also look to put up the runs this weekend. McKay leads the team with a .406 batting average and has recorded 16 RBIs this season. Shipp has also produced at the plate with a .375 batting average and 21 RBIs and Reno has played well with a .370 batting average and 15 RBIs. While he is happy with their wins over the Redbirds, Wirtzberger believes the Northstars need to get rolling at the plate in order to have a successful road trip.

"The pitching and defense was really good so I hope we stay there, but I would like to see us score a few more runs," Wirtzberger said. "I feel like we hit the ball pretty hard against Lewistown but some of our at bats weren't as good as what we know we can compete at and hopefully we can keep on getting better."

The Havre Northstars will head on the road to play the Vauxhall Spurs in a doubleheader starting at 5 p.m. Friday. The Northstars will continue their road trip when they face the Fort Macleod Royals in a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Havre 7, Lewistown 1

LEW 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 5 1

HAV 1 3 1 0 0 2 X - 7 10 2

WP - Brody Nanini

LP - W. Elam

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

Havre 3, Lewistown 1

LEW 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 1 6 0

HAV 0 0 2 1 0 0 X - 3 8 1

WP - Tanner Delarosa

LP - T. Mangold

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