North Stars place second in Deer Lodge

The Havre North Stars American Legion baseball team has some key Northern A district games ahead on the schedule. But, before going head-to-head with three conference foes this week, the North Stars traveled to Deer Lodge to compete in the Mike Walsh Memorial Wood Bat tournament.

The tournament began Friday for the North Stars who won three games in three days against Helena, Mission Valley and Gallatin Valley, while losing just once to Kootenai Valley.Havre then found itself in the championship game, where it lost to Deer Lodge by the score of 6-3 Sunday.

"I thought we played pretty well," North Stars head coach Dick Fuzesy said. "The competition wasn’t always the greatest, but it was a chance to get better. It also gave us a chance to play with the wood bats. I was also especially happy with our pitching, even when we lost, our pitchers did well."

In the opening game of the tournament for Havre back on Friday, the North Stars took on Helena and earned a 4-0 victory thanks to a complete-game shutout tossed by Dylan Carpenter. In his seven innings of work, Carpenter struck out seven and allowed just four hits. While Carpenter was dominating on the mound, the Havre offense scored one run in the top of the first and second innings, as well as two more runs in the fourth to give Carpenter more than run support to win.

Tyrell Pierce led the way for the North Star offense with three hits, including a triple and an RBI. Jeff Miller went 2-for-3 with an RBI at the plate and Travis Roth and Gavin Gunderson each added a hit. Jake Sedahl and Ryne Antley also contributed with RBIs.

After knocking off Helena, the North Stars turned their attention to Mission Valley, which was completely outmatched by the North Stars, who rolled to an easy 20-4 victory. Miller earned the win after allowing no runs on one hit in three innings pitched. He also struck out four. Offensively, the North Stars scored seven runs in the first two innings, then scored an incredible 12 runs in the top of the fourth to put the game out of reach. Antley had a big day at the plate, racking up five RBIs, while Pierce added three. Roth and Carpenter each added two RBIs of their own in the win.

On Saturday, after a 2-0 start in the tournament, the North Stars suffered one of their two setbacks against the Kootenai Valley team. While the Havre offense dominated in its first two games, the matchup ended up being a pitcher's dual after both teams finished the game with just two hits. Kootenai Valley notched runs in the bottom of the first and third innings to grab the lead, then never relinquished it. Pierce was the losing pitcher for the North Stars, but has nothing to be ashamed of after limiting his opponents to two hits in six innings, while striking out seven.

After posting a 2-1 record over the first two days of the tournament, the North Stars went head-to-head with Gallatin Valley for a berth in the championship game and thanks to an 11-run inning in the top of the fourth, Havre easily prevailed by the score of 15-1. Miller was a big catalyst for the North Stars offense with a triple and three RBIs. Roth also added a hit and three RBIs, while Antley pitched in with two RBIs.

With the tournament championship on the line, the North Stars took on the host team Deer Lodge and with Miller on the mound, Havre was in perfect position to win the whole thing with a 3-2 lead going into the bottom of the sixth inning. Yet, the Wranglers scored four runs in the sixth, then shut down the North Stars in the top of the seventh to seal the win and the championship.

Despite the loss, Miller was solid for six innings, allowing six runs on 16 hits and striking out two. Sedahl and Antley led the North Star offense with a pair of hits apiece. Antley also contributed with three RBIs in the loss.

With three wins and two losses, the North Stars improved their overall record to 11-13-1. But, their record in district play is still 5-3, which is important this week with a total of eight district games on tap in five days starting Wednesday when Havre will host Tri-County at Legion Field. First pitch will be at 3 p.m.

"This is an important week for us," Fuzesy said. "Our mindset going in is trying to sweep the games at home and split on the road and, if you can do that, you will win the district."

The North Stars will try to get the sweep against Tri-County Wednesday and will do so by sending their top pitchers, Carpenter and Pierce to the mound. Then, after the two teams battle Wednesday, they will turn around and play a second doubleheader, this time with the Cardinals being the host team Thursday.

"Honestly, I think we have a chance to win all four games against Tri-County," Fuzesy said. "But, they are a scrappy team. The important thing against them is playing all seven innings. They travel from five different towns to play, so you know they love playing ball and they just never quit."

After playing Tri-County a combined four times Wednesday and Thursday, the North Stars will return home for a pair of key conference doubleheaders against the Lethbridge Miners and Vauxhall Spurs Saturday and Sunday. Both doubleheaders will kick off at 5 p.m.

Currently, the North Stars are sitting in fourth place among the seven teams in the district and as of now, it's Lethbridge sitting at the top of the standings with an overall record of 10-4. The Miners are followed by Medicine Hat, which sits at 9-7, then Vauxhall, which is 7-5. The difference between all of those teams and the North Stars is that they have all played at least 12 games, while Havre has played just eight district games up to this point.

However, after this weekend, the North Stars will have played 16 district games and by the time Sunday night rolls around, they will have a good idea of where they stand in the district with just eight games to go.

"Realistically, I think we have a chance to win five or six games this week," Fuzesy said. "The key, as always, is going to be our pitching. If we can keep pitching the way that we have been, we should be fine. Hopefully, there isn't any problems going back to the metal bats, but I don't think there will be and as long as we get good pitching and play good defense, we should have a good chance to win some games."

The North Stars will play at home against Tri-County on Wednesday, before hitting the road to battle the Cardinals on Thursday in Conrad. Both doubleheaders will start at 3 p.m. Then, this weekend, Havre will host Lethbridge and Vauxhall on Saturday and Sunday with the first pitch of each doubleheader scheduled for 5 p.m.

Havre 4, Helena 0

Havre 112 000 0 - 4 7 2

Helena 000 000 0 - 0 4 1

Havre - Gavin Gunderson 1-3, Travis Roth 1-3, Jake Sedahl 0-4, Ryne Antley 0-3, Tyrell Pierce 3-4, Jeff Miller 2-3, Dylan Carpenter 0-3, Trey Murphy 0-2, Brenden Danielson 0-1.

Havre 20, Mission Valley 4

Havre 251 12 - 20 10 3

Mission Valley 000 4 - 4 5 6

Havre - Gavin Gunderson 0-2, Travis Roth 2-2, Jake Sedahl 1-1, Brenden Danielson 0-1, Ryne Antley 1-3, Tyrell Pierce 2-4, Dylan Carpenter 1-4, Jeff Miller 1-2, Trey Murphy 0-2, Cole Keller 1-2, Tanner Hentschel 1-3.

Kootenai Valley 2, Havre 0

Havre 000 000 0 - 0 2 0

Kootenai Valley 101 000 x - 2 2 0

Havre - Gavin Gunderson 0-3, Travis Roth 0-2, Jake Sedahl 0-3, Ryne Antley 1-3, Dylan Carpenter 0-3, Jeff Miller 0-2, Trey Murhphy 1-2, Tanner Hentschel 0-2, Brenden Danielson 0-2.

Havre 14, Gallatin 1

Havre 130 110 - 15 7 0

Gallatin Valley 100 00 - 1 2 3

Havre - Gavin Gunderson 1-1, Trey Murphy 0-1, Travis Roth 1-3, Jake Sedahl 1-2, Ryne Antley 0-1, Tyrell Pierce 1-3, Jeff Miller 1-3, Cole Keller 0-0, Dylan Carpenter 0-3, Brenden Danielson 0-0, Jerod Boles 2-4.

Deer Lodge 6, Havre 3

Havre 100 002 0 - 3 8 0

Deer Lodge 011 004 - 6 16 1

Havre - Gavin Gunderson 1-4, Travis Roth 1-2, Jake Sedahl 2-3, Ryne Antley 2-3, Tyrell Pierce 0-2, Trey Hanson 1-3, Branden Danielson 0-3, Trey Murphy 0-2, Jeff Miller 1-1, Jerod Boles 0-3.