George Ferguson Havre Daily News sports editor gferguson@havredailynews.com
While the Havre North Stars American Legion baseball team will use this weekend’s North Stars Memorial Baseball Tournament to honor past individuals who have been a part of, contributed to and supported baseball through the years, they will also use it to find out just how good they are, and how good they can be. The memorial tournament, which starts today at 4 p.m. at Legion Field, features seven visiting teams, and those teams represent some of the best that Class A Legion Baseball has to offer. “There isn’t going to be one game in this tournament that won’t be really challenging for us,” Havre head coach Steve Fanning said. “All of the teams in this tournament will be very competitive, so this is going to be a real good test for our team.” Teams playing in Havre this weekend include the Bozeman Spikes and Lethbridge Spitz Miners, both Class A teams that have Class AA teams as well. Also coming to Havre are Class A powerhouses Gallatin Valley and the Bitteroot Red Sox, as well as Richland County (Sidney) and Lewistown. Gallatin Valley has been a perennial Class A contender, while Richland County finished second at the Class A state tournament a year ago. Each team in the field will play five, seven-inning games in Havre this weekend, and Fanning says that none of Havre’s games will be easy by any stretch. “Gallatin Valley is always tough, every year they just keep producing good teams,” he said. “And I think Lewistown is very good again this year. Plus you have Sidney who took second at state last year, and I think Bitteroot is back this season. They had a down year last year, but they don’t stay down for long. “This is going to be a step up in competition for us,” Fanning added. “We’ve played some good teams, but they were young teams, so now we’re going to find out just how our kids respond to better pitching and better hitters.” Speaking of young teams, the North Stars are a young team themselves, but that hasn’t stopped them from going 6-4 to start the season, including a current four-game winning streak heading into this weekend’s tournament. Havre has plenty of youth, and several kids playing up this season, but so far, the North Stars have rode some outstanding pitching by the likes of Paul Jensen, Josh Haas, Kyle Miller, Roman Surber and Shane Kemmer, as well as solid defense behind the pitching staff. At the plate, Havre has had its ups and downs this season, but Kemmer, Haas, Miller, Nick Nault and Justin Jensen have done enough to spark Havre’s offense so far this season. Still, with games against five quality teams this weekend, Fanning knows that his team must take its game to the next level, especially at the plate. “We just have so many young kids and kids playing up this season,” Fanning said. “But those kids have also performed really well at times. Now we need to see them take it up a notch, because we’re obviously going to face much better pitching this weekend, and really throughout the rest of the season. “Our pitching and defense has been solid all season,” he added. “But we are going to look for our pitchers to go deeper into games now. And at the plate, we’re going to need guys to carry us through the season. I think when our pitching and defense is on, we can play with anybody, but we are going to have to score enough runs and generate enough offense to keep up with teams too.” Havre will start this weekend’s tournament with a doubleheader tonight. The North Stars will play Lewistown at 6:30 p.m. and the Richland County Patriots at 9. On Friday, Havre will face Gallatin Valley at 9 p.m. and the North Stars will take on the Bitteroot Red Sox at 9 p.m. on Saturday. Havre will also play the final game of the tournament on Sunday at 2 p.m. against Lethbridge. Today’s schedule also includes a game at 4 p.m. between Bozeman and Lewistown. Five games are scheduled on Friday, six games on Saturday and three games on Sunday. All of the action this weekend will take place at Legion Field. Note: The forecast for today calls for cont inued rain and high winds. However, the recent trend of wet conditions is scheduled to taper off by Friday afternoon, and Fanning said that with the tarp that Legion Field has, weather delays hopefully won't impact the tournament schedule too much. First Annual Northstar Memorial Tournament Today’s Games 4 p.m. Bozeman vs Lewistown 6:30 p.m. Havre vs Lewistown 9 p.m. Havre vs Richland County Friday’s Games 11 a.m. Lewistown vs Richland County 1:30 p.m. Bitteroot vs Richland County 4 p.m. Bitteroot vs Bozeman 6:30 p.m. Lethbridge vs Bozeman 9 p.m. Havre vs Gallatin Valley Saturday’s Games 8:30 a.m. Richland County vs Bozeman 11 a.m. Richland County vs Gallatin Valley 1:30 p.m. Lewistown vs Gallatin Valley 4 p.m. Lethbridge vs Lewistown 6:30 p.m. Lethbridge vs Bitteroot 9 p.m. Havre vs Bitteroot Sunday’s Games 9 a.m. Gallatin Valley vs Bitteroot 11:30 a.m. Gallatin Valley vs Lethbridge 2 p.m. Havre vs Lethbridge
