Northstars, Comets head to Great Falls for Saturday games
By Jason Shoot
For the first time this season, Havre Comets coach Bob Evans Sr. will finally have a full roster when his team hosts Lewistown for an American Legion doubleheader at Legion Field on Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Comets will first join the Northstars on a brief one-day road trip to Great Falls, where both teams will face off against the Stallions in a pair of doubleheaders on Saturday the Comets taking on the A team and the Northstars facing the AA team.
The Comets will face Great Falls at 1 p.m., and the Northstars' twinbill is slated to begin at 3 p.m.
Evans is certainly delighted to finally field a complete 14-man roster for Sunday's games against Lewistown. The Comets' roster is often decimated due to players competing in other high school sports.
"We just started practicing where we're going to have all the Comets at one practice on Wednesday," Evans said. "It's going to take a little while to come together."
Evans also said that any fatigue that may be felt by his players after going through a full day of school, competing in track, golf, tennis or whatever, and then eventually arriving for baseball practice is overwhelmed by the athletes' willingness to simply play the game.
"They want to play and practice," Evans said. "They're pretty happy about being there wanting to play. They don't want to miss practice."
The games will also provide Evans with an opportunity to scout his players and determine who plays where, and who pitches when.
"If we have all 14 kids, nobody should be pitching too many innings," Evans said. "Nobody's going to go seven innings, no matter what the score is. I'm assuming we'll start playing better when we see what positions kids can play."
Lewistown boasts a team similar to the Comets in that the roster is loaded with 16-year-old talent, but Evans said the visiting team still has some 17- and 18-year-olds, too.
"I talked to their coach the other night, and he said they're a young team," Evans said. "But they won't be as young as we are. They're young and inexperienced, but a mixture of 17- and 18-year-olds should help him. He'll have a little more age than we do."
