George Ferguson Havre Daily News sports editor gferguson@havredailynews.com
After battling through some stiff competition on its home field, the Havre Babe Ruth 14-15-year-old all-star team can all its self district champions. This past weekend at Legion Field in Havre, the Havre all stars collected 56 runs, won two close games in the final two days of the district tournament and went undefeated to claim the district Babe Ruth championship and set up a run tot he state Babe Ruth 14-15-yearold tournament. Havre started pool play with 17-7 win over the Great Falls Hawks on Thursday. Against the Hawks, Havre belted out 17 hits and the Hawks committed eight errors in the field. Gareth Bernard got the win for Havre, while Justin Jensen also pitched will in relief. At the plate, Bernard and Brandon Brostrom had three hits each, while Logan Conner, Nick Owens, Ryan Mingneau and Jensen each had two hits. Also participating in the tourney was the Havre 13-year-old all stars and they faced the Havre 14-15-year-old team on Thursday night, and suffered a 17-0 loss. The top Havre team racked up 13 hits and starting pitcher Nick Owens and reliever Brayden Grimson combined to throw a one-hit shutout. Owens starred at the plate with three hits, while Conner, Sam Lippy and Brandon Smith all had two hits each. The 13-year-old all stars' lone hit came by way Levi Olson. The Havre 13-year-old team went to lose three more times and was eliminated by Great Falls 20-2. The 13-yearold team was competing against the 14-15-year-olds because no one else in that age group opted to attend in the district tournament. Meanwhile, the winning Havre team went on to finish pool play on Friday with a 6-4 win over the Northern team. In that game, Havre starter Brandon Smith pitched a complete-game, including seven strikeouts and just one walk. At the dish, Havre got two hits each from Grimson and Conner, and Havre erased a 3-3 tie in the seventh inning with a three-run rally. The win over Northern put Havre into Friday night's semifinal where it again faced the Northern team in a 3-2 thriller. Justin Jensen went the distance for Havre, pitching seven innings of onerun baseball. After falling behind 1-0 in the first inning, Havre tied the game in the fourth and but fell behind in the seventh before rallying for two runs in he bottom of the seventh to advance to the championship game. Conner collected two hits for Havre, while Luke Ryan, Nick Owens, Grimsen and Brostrom each had one hit. The win put Havre into Saturday's championship game where it faced Northern for a third time. In that game, Havre broke out offensively, scoring 13 runs in a 13-3 rout. Conner went the distance to pick up thew win for Havre, and also had three hits at the plate. Jensen also had a pair of hits and Ryan added a hit and two RBIs. Jensen was named the tournament MVP as he starred at the plate and on the mound in the tournament. With its undefeated run in he district tourney, Havre will now start play today at the state tournament in White- fish and Kalispell. The state tournament runs through Sunday.
