North Stars fight hard in own jamboree

The Havre North Stars American Legion team got a lot of baseball in over the weekend and even though they didn't come away with a victory in three outings, they made progress, even in defeat.

Havre, which hosted the North Star Jamboree Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Legion Field, opened the jamboree Friday with a 12-1 loss to the Lethbridge Giants, before tying Strathmore Saturday 3-3 and losing Sunday to the Medicine Hat Majestics, 17-8.

Yet, even though his team didn't win any games, North Star head man Dick Fuzesy was still pleased with how his team performed and competed, especially because he decided to give some of his younger players more playing time to gain added experience.

"It was basically what we thought it was going to be," Fuzesy said. "I thought we played hard. We would have liked to have won a game, but we got a lot of kids some game experience and they did some good things. We made some mistakes and gave up some easy runs and that hurt us, but I thought we had some kids make some progress. We just need to keep working on shoring up the little things and we will be OK."

In the first game against Lethbridge, the North Stars got off to a good start and trailed just 1-0 after the first two innings. But, in the top of the third inning, the flood gates opened and the Giants scored five runs off starting pitcher Tyrell Pierce to grab a 6-1 advantage. Havre added a run in the bottom of the third, but Lethbridge tacked on three more runs in the top of the fourth and the top of the fifth to seal the 11-run victory. Pierce was the losing pitcher for the North Stars and finished the game with four strikeouts.

In the second game of the jamboree for the North Stars Saturday, Havre once again fell into an early hole as Strathmore built a 1-0 lead after the top of the first inning. But, in the bottom half of the inning, the North Stars answered. First, Gavin Gunderson singled and stole a base, then Jake Sedhal drove him in with a single to tie the score at 1-1.

Strathmore responded with two runs in the second inning off pitcher Dylan Carpenter but after that point, Carpenter shut down Strathmore holding them scoreless for the final five innings of play. And offensively, Havre evened things up in the bottom of the third when Jerod Boles scored on a hit by Travis Roth, who later scored on a sacrifice by Sedahl, which tied the game at 3-3.

After that run, neither team scored. The North Stars had a golden opportunity in the bottom of the sixth inning to take the lead but left a runner stranded on second base. Due to time constraints in the jamboree, the game was called a tie after the seventh inning instead of playing into extra innings.

"We had some missed opportunities against Strathmore," Fuzesy said. "The team we played that night was our A team. We know who we are and I told our guys that, too. We had a chance in the sixth inning and just couldn't score, but we played good, (Carpenter) pitched well for us and that was the team we are going to be."

Ryne Antley and Roth both led the North Stars with a pair of hits, while Sedahl had a game-high of two runs batted in. Carpenter, who threw a complete game ended with five strikeouts but did not earn a decision.

Sunday, in Havre's final jamboree game, Fuzesy moved some of his younger players into the lineup and again his club fell behind early, this time to Medicine Hat, which managed six runs in the top of the second and suddenly the North Stars found themselves trailing 7-0.

Yet, the Havre offense got things going in the bottom of the second thanks to a single by T.J. Lovenguth and an RBI double by Cole Keller. Later in the inning, Boles singled in a run and Roth ripped a single that scored two runs, capping a five-run inning that trimmed the Majestic's lead to 7-5.

Unfortunately, Medicine Hat came right back in the top of the third and put three more runs on the board to take a 10-5 lead over Havre. Heading into the bottom of the fourth, the lead grew to 11-5 before the North Stars plated three runs thanks to an RBI double from Sedahl, an RBI single from Jeff Miller and a run scored by Gunderson on a passed ball.

After four innings, the North Stars were within striking distance at 11-8, but the Majestics seemed to have an answer every time Havre threatened the lead and scored two runs in the fifth and four more in the sixth to put the game out of reach.

Boles led the North Stars with three hits, while also scoring twice and notching an RBI. Nic Tanner also had a couple of hits in the loss for Havre, while Brenden Danielson was the losing pitcher for the North Stars.

"I was at least proud of the way that we kept fighting and playing hard, even when we were down by a lot," Fuzesy said. "We had some kids that I thought really did well. Cole Keller got hits, Boles continued to play well and Nic Tanner also had a couple hits. It was good to (give) some of those younger guys some playing time because you never know when we are going to need them to play."

Havre (3-5-1) will be off for three days before traveling to Williston, North Dakota, Thursday for a tournament.

Lethbridge 12, Havre 1

Lethbridge 015 33 - 12 8 2

Havre 001 00 - 1 4 2

Havre 3, Strathmore 3

Strathmore 030 000 0 - 3 5 1

Havre 102 000 0 - 3 8 0

Medicine Hat 17, Havre 9

Medicine Hat 163 124 - 17 17 3

Havre 050 301 - 9 11 8

Complete Box Scores Not Available