Northstars win district, advance to state

The Northstars finished an undefeated run at the Class A American Legion district tournament with an 18-4 shellacking of the Lethbridge Miners in the championship game Sunday afternoon in Great Falls.

The Northstars' victory followed their only close game of the tournament over the same Lethbridge team in the semi-finals, 8-7.

The Northstars spotted Lethbridge four runs through three innings, and found themselves trailing by two runs. The Havre team got its bats going in the bottom half of the third, erupting for five runs as the Northstars batted around their order.

Their hot hitting continued as Havre plated three runs in the fourth and seven runs in the fifth. Every Northstar reached base and scored in the game. Dusty Heath reached base every time at bat and led the Havre with four runs.

Havre pitcher Cory Junk took advantage of the lead and held the Miners scoreless after the third inning. Junk scattered seven hits on the day, while striking out only one.

Northstar coach Mickey Williams said he was pleased with the team's effort. "Everybody contributed. They all played their roles, and did what was expected of them," he said.

Williams praised the Northstars' work on offense and defense. "We just really hit the ball well and played solid defense. We committed only six errors the whole tournament and other than the sixth inning in the semi-final game, the team played great throughout."

Next up for the Northstars is the state Class A tournament beginning Thursday in Bozeman. Havre will receive a first game bye. The tournament will feature the first- and second- place teams from the five regions, and host team Bozeman.

Coach Williams likes his team's chances. "We have got as good a chance as anybody. Gallatin Valley, Bitterroot, Glendive will all be tough."

The Havre Comets finished their season on Saturday, losing 8-6 to Fort Macleod in loser-out action.

Saturday

Fort MacLeod 8, Comets 6

Comets 100 103 0106 8 1

Fort MacLeod

302 003 00x8 15 3

Chaz Hurlburt, Brandon Morse (7) and Garrett Drake. Dale Scobie, Joel Cisar (8) and Nick Tillsley.

Comets Patch Wirtzberger 2-4, Ben Mader 1-3, Levi Briese 2-4, Trent Normandy 1-4, Brandon Morse 1-1.

Fort MacLeod Jeff Kenly 1-3, Justin Curtis 2-4, Nick Tillsley 3-4, Ben Paskal 3-5, Dale Scobie 3-5, Matt Scwindt 1-4, Quade Armstrong 2-4.

2BPaskel, HRTillsley.

Northstars 8, Lethbridge 7

Lethbridge

001 000 6007 6 5

Northstars

121 002 0108 11 4

Jordon Salmon, Kenneth Fuglerud (10) and Grant Kveder. Doug Ireland and Adam Jenson. WIreland. LSalmon.

Lethbridge Jared Ruff 1-3, Grant Kveder 1-4 Kenneth Fuglerud 1-4, Kenneth Mazurek 1-4, Jordon Salmon 1-3, Dustin Smith 1-4.

Northstars Adam Jensen 2-5, Steve Heberly 2-5, Dusty Heath 2-5, Daine Solomon 1-4, Cory Junck 2-4, Tyler Vandermars 2-4, Tyson Roe 1-3, Tyler Thompson 1-1.

2BKveder, Fuglerud, Solomon, Junck.