Chris Peterson Havre Daily News cpeterson@havredailynews.com
It started out as a nice day for baseball, but by days end both the weather and the Lewistown Redbirds decided to rain on the parade of the Havre Comets American Legion baseball team. The Redbirds used a lethal combination of stellar pitching, timely hitting and mistake-free defense to notch an easy 12-1 victory over the Comets Wednesday afternoon at Legion Field. Rain forced the cancellation of the second game of the Northern District doubleheader. Logan Mossey earned the completegame victory for the Redbirds after surrendering just one run on six hits. Mossey struck out eight batters and walked none in seven strong innings of work. Dillon Fugate sparked the Lewistown offense with four hits, including two singles and two triples to go along with four RBIs and two runs scored. Chance Lorry also had a solid day at the plate for the Redbirds, going 3-for-4 with an RBI and four runs scored. Shane Kemmer was stuck with the loss for the Comets after allowing eight runs on 10 hits in just over five innings of work. The loss dropped Kemmer’s overall record to 2-3 on the season. “The kids are just learning so much right now and I think they are sometimes afraid to make a mistake,” Comets head coach Danny Wirtzberger said. “I need them to start forming habits, stop thinking on the field so much and be the athletes that I know they can be.” Brett Normandy and Paul Jensen were the bright spots for a sluggish Comets offense, as they both went 2-for- 3 at the plate in the loss. Normandy had the only RBI for a Comets team that was held without an extra base hit and saw just two runners reach second base. Lewistown led 1-0 going into the top of the third inning when Lorry and Fugate connected on back-to-back singles and later scored on a two-run triple by, Craig Nelson which pushed the lead to 3-0. Havre responded in the bottom half of the third inning when Josh Haas delivered a two-out single and eventually scored on a single by Normandy, cutting the deficit to 3-1. After neither team managed a run in the fourth, Lewistown pushed its advantage to 5-1 in the top of the fifth inning when an error put runners in scoring position for Mossey, who delivered with a two-run single, scoring Nelson and Eli Bowen. Things went from bad to worse for Havre in the top of the sixth when the Comets committed two errors on a Nelson fly ball, allowing three runs to score, including Nelson himself, who scored on a throwing error. Lorry added an RBI single in the seventh and Fugate followed with a two-run single to make the score to 12-1. Because of the massive storm that blew through Havre Wednesday evening the two teams will make up the second game of the doubleheader on Tuesday at 2 p.m. at Legion Field. The Comets will be in action again today as they hit the road for a conference meeting with the Lethbridge Miners. Tonight’s doubleheader will begin tonight at 6 in Lethbridge.
