Northstars battling at Lewistown tourney

Last weekend was a another busy one for the Havre Northstars American Legion baseball club as they continue to roll into summer.

Havre played at the Harold Gjerde Memorial Tournament in Lewistown, where the Northstars had some strong performance.

Last Thursday saw Havre beat Belgrade 8-4 and Butte 10-7 on the opening day.

Game one saw Shortstop Ezra Pyle single home Tyson Brandon, while Jevin Jenkins hit brought Pyle into score. Chason Mader brought Terek Shipp home on a sacrifice fly and then Connor Essert, singled in Jenkins. Belgrade got a run in the bottom of the inning and wouldn’t score again until the fifth. The Northstars had a big inning in the fourth, scoring three times to take the lead. Shipp was the winning picketer for the Northstars.

Havre got off to a fast start against the Miners, scoring two early runs. Havre also got a run in the third inning and broke the game open in the fifth, scoring six runs. Butte rallied to come back to make it 9-5, after five innings. The Miners brought the tying run to the plate in the last half of the seventh, but were only able to push across one run. Mader picked up another three hits, which gave him six in the doubleheader. Shipp and Brandon had multi-hit games as well.

On the second day of the tournament, Havre fell short against the Cody Cubs, 10-7. Cody scored the first 10 runs of the game, which ended up coming in the first three innings. The run rule was in effect for the next two innings, but the Northstars didn’t quit. Havre put up five in the fifth inning. Seven batters came to the plate and reached successfully, including on three straight Cubs errors. The Northstars were down to their final out more than once, but they managed to score three more runs before Cody ended the game.

On Saturday night, Havre’s run in Lewistown continued with an 8-7 loss to the Bitterroot Bucs. Both teams got going early with a run each in the first inning. Bitterroot took the lead in the top of the second inning and also tacked on another in the third. Havre fought back with a run of its own in the bottom of the inning to make it 3-2 and then Colter Solomon tripled in two runs to give Havre its first lead of the game at 4-3. The Bucs got two back on a Havre error. Havre got another in the bottom of the fifth. Havre again tied the game in the sixth inning on a Tyson Brandon RBI single that scored Ezra Pyle. The Bucs went back out in front on two singles in the top half of the seventh.

Solomon singled in Connor Essert with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to cut the Buc’s lead to 8-7, but that’s as close as the Northstars would get.

Havre also played in the bracketed tournament on Sunday in Lewistown. The Northstars return to conference play this Wednesday at Great Falls.