By Kim Staudinger
The Northstars rallied for three runs in the sixth and eight more in the seventh to beat the Comets 11-1 Tuesday night at Legion Field.
Comets pitcher Steve Heberly allowed only one run and two hits through five innings, but tired in the sixth and gave up three runs and four hits.
Jordan Anderson and Kyle Sheppard led off the sixth with back-to-back doubles to tie the game at 1-all. Sheppard later scored on a single by Mike Kellam to give the Northstars the lead.
The Northstars' third run of the sixth came on an delayed double steal by Kellam and Kevin Jurenka with Kellam stealing home on the throw to second.
"Steve pitched well," Northstars coach Mickey Williams said. "It just took us six innings to get (our bats) going."
"We played pretty well," Comets coach Bob Evans said. "The ballgame got away from us. We should have quit after five."
The Northstars' bats continued to dominate in the seventh, pounding out nine hits seven singles and two doubles off Comets relief pitcher Chris Chandler.
Dusty Heath started the inning with a leadoff single and was sacrificed to second on a bunt by Dan Wirtzberger. Garrett Hanson and Anderson followed Wirtzberger with consecutive doubles to make the score 5-1.
Three straight singles by Sheppard, David Knight and Kellam gave the Northstars the 10-run lead. Kellam then stole second and moved to third on a single by Jurenka. On a double steal, Jurenka stole second and Kellam stole his third base of the night by racing home.
"We didn't get our job done in the last inning," Evans said. "We didn't expect them to score eight runs."
Bobby Bergren led off the seventh for the Comets with a double and moved to third on an error, but was left stranded to end the game.
"I sweat them (Comets) more than anyone else in the conference," Williams said. "We don't want to lose to them. They always play us tough. ... Anything can happen and they have the talent enough to make it happen."
The Northstars leave today for a weekend tournament in Williston, N.D., while the Comets play conference games in Medicine Hat Thursday and Cut Bank on Saturday.
