Chris Peterson
Havre Daily News
cpeterson@havredailynews.com
Rain washed away what was supposed
to be a big weekend of American
Legion baseball action for both the
Havre Comets and the Havre
Northstars, as both Saturday and
Sunday’s action at the Havre Jamboree
was cancelled.
Before things got completely washed
out, both the Northstars and Comets got
one game each on Friday night.
The Havre Northstars were riding
high as they entered their contest
against the Glacier Twins on Friday
night at Legion Park after they completely
dismantled the defending state
champion Gallatin Valley Outlaws 8-0 on
Thursday night.
Often times after a big win like the
one the Northstars got against Gallatin
Valley, teams tend to suffer letdowns.
But that was not the case with the
Northstars as they offered up a repeat
performance of Thursday night by
trouncing the Twins 7-1.
The Northstars didn’t wait long to
strike first as Sean Peterson laced a
base hit into centerfield to kick off the
bottom of the first inning. Then
Peterson did what he does best as he
stole second base and worked his way
into scoring position, allowing John
Christian to knock him on a groundout.
Anthony Wirtzberger would later score
on an error, and the Northstars had an
early 2-0 lead.
Neither team managed to score in
the second or third innings, but in the
fourth inning, the Northstars added a
couple of insurance runs as Jeremiah
Moog scored on an sacrifice fly by Josh
Morse, and Peterson once again worked
his magic on the base paths to eventually
score on an error, giving starting
pitcher Austin Small a 4-0 cushion to
work with.
As it turned out, four runs was more
than enough for Small as he held the
Twins scoreless for five innings on his
way to a complete-game victory. Small
did surrender a meaningless run in the
top of the sixth inning, but the
Northstars answered with a run in the
fifth and two runs in the bottom of the
sixth, giving them an insurmountable 7-1
lead.
Small earned the victory after throwing
seven strong innings and allowing
just one run on six hits while walking
four and striking out two. The loss went
to Twins pitcher Brad Nielsen, who
allowed seven runs, only four of which
were earned off of 10 hits. He also
walked three and struck out six in the
loss.
Peterson sparked the Northstars’
offense all game long, going 2-for-3 and
scoring three runs. Tanner Donovan
also had a big day at the plate for
Havre, going 3-for-4 with two extra-base
hits and two runs batted in.
In the nightcap on Friday night the
Havre Comets matched up against
Gallatin Valley, who looked to rebound
from their embarrassing loss the night
before to the Northstars.
However, the Comets refused to be
pushed around by the state champions
and after surrendering a run in the top
of the first inning, the Comets sent a
message that they were up to the challenge
of knocking off the champions
with a three-run first inning of their
own.
Marshall Cartwright got things going
with a one out single that was followed
by an Andrew Lindquist walk and a
Ryan Callahan single to load up the
bases. Then Outlaws pitcher Shane
Koski hurt his own cause by walking
Seth Jensen, allowing Cartwright to
stroll in for the tying run.
The Comets added their final two
runs when Scott Vigliotti knocked in
Lindquist on a groundout and Todd Roe
scored Jensen with an RBI-single giving
the Comets a surprising 3-1 lead.
“They are a really good team,”
Comet head coach Steve Fanning said.
“I was pretty pleased with how our guys
came out with a lot of energy and got
some runs right away. I just wish that
we could have scored a few more runs,
but it was a nice start.”
However, the Comets’ lead did not
last for long as starting pitcher Jeremy
Jensen quickly surrendered two runs to
tie the game when Riley Cope doubled to
score Loran Carosella and Ethan
Elsbernd scored on a sacrifice fly by
Toby Marx to square things up at 3-3.
The Comets hung tough keeping the
game tied up until the top of the fourth
inning when Keith Frost ripped a double
to left field scoring two runs and giving
the Outlaws a 5-3 lead.
Then the Outlaws put the game away
with a run in the fifth inning and two
runs in the sixth inning to give them an
8-3 lead. The Comets had a few opportunities
to possibly get some runs across,
but they could never quite capitalize as
Koski held them scoreless for the final
six innings after giving up three runs in
the bottom of the first.
“I thought that we played pretty well
even though we lost,” Comet head coach
Steve Fanning said. “We made a couple
of mistakes on defense that hurt us and
we missed some opportunities to score
some runs, but overall I thought that the
team did a really nice job. They competed
well against a very good baseball
team and a team that was probably
pretty motivated after getting beat they
way they did by the Northstars. But, I
think that this is another step in the
right direction and we are getting closer
to where we need to be. We are not
quite there yet, but were getting closer
and this game showed that.”
Koski earned a complete game victory
for the Outlaws by giving up just
three runs none after the first on six hits
while striking out four and walking just
two. Jeremy Jensen got the loss for the
Comets after giving up five runs all of
them earned on eight hits in four
innings of work.
Seth Jensen had a solid day at the
plate as he got on base all three times
he came up to bat with one single and
two times he was hit by a pitch. Roe
also went 1-for-3 and had an RBI in the
loss. Cartwright, Callahan, Vigliotti, Roe
and Logan Reichelt all added hits for
the Comets.
For the Outlaws Riley Cope had a
outstanding day at the dish going 4-5
with an RBI and two runs scored.
The Northstars and Comets will be
back in action on Wednesday night when
they square off against each other for
the final time during the regular season.
The game between the Northstars and
Comets is slated to get under way at 7
p.m. at Legion Park.
