By Damion Martindale
The Havre Comets and the Great Falls Sparkies treated the fans at Legion Field to extra-inning games on Wednesday. The Comets split wins.
The Sparkies took a three-run lead into the bottom half of the eighth inning, but the Comets responded.
Dusty Heath came through with the bases loaded with a three-RBI double, scoring Eric Lipp, Tyler VanderMars, and Mike Mereness to tie the score at eight.
The Sparkies had the last word, manufacturing one run on two hits in the ninth inning for the 9-8 victory.
The Comets' Doug Ireland started at pitcher, and gave up five runs, and struck out seven Sparkies in the no decision.
Mike Kellam came in for relief and gave up four runs and took the loss for the Comets.
In game two, the Comets were led offensively by Kellam and Danny Wirtzberger. Kellam went 4-for-5 with four singles and Wirtzberger went 3-for-5.
The Comets went out to an early 3-1 lead after three innings, but the Sparkies tied things up at three, after scoring one run in the fourth inning and one in the fifth.
The Comets regained the lead in the sixth inning when Ireland and Bobby Bergren came in to score on back-to-back Sparkie errors for the 5-4 lead.
The Sparkies sent the game into extra innings by adding one run in the seventh inning.
The game went into 10 innings when, with two outs, Sparkie pitching walked the Comets into a bases loaded situation. Wirtzberger knocked a looper just over the first baseman's glove and the Comets won the game, 6-5, in three extra innings.
The Comets will play at a tournament at Medicine Hat, beginning on Friday.
Game one
Sparkies
001 040 031
9 08 5
Comets
040 001 030
8 15 3
WP Brazington
LP Lipp
S Shaw
Sparkies Patterson 1-5, Calvert 2-4, Shaw 1-5, Shine 1-5, Paul 1-4, Fayden 1-3, Wingerter 1-4.
Comets Mereness 1-4, Heath 2-5, Kellam 2-4, Ireland 2-4, Wirtzberger 2-4, Jurenka 1-4, Lipp 2-4, Vandermars 3-4.
Game two
Sparkies
010 111 100 0 5 09 5
Comets
201 002 000 1 6 13 3
WP Lipp
LP Shaw
Sparkies Patterson 2-5, Calvert 1-4, Shine 1-4, Paul 1-5, Jacobs 2-5, Wingerter 1-5, Fayden 1-4.
Comets Wirtzberger 3-5, Heath 2-5, Kellam 4-5, Ireland 2-5, Bergren 1-3, Vandermars 1-2.
