North Stars on the road all week

Whether or not the dog days of summer ever get here, the Havre American Legion baseball team is headed for the stretch run of the 2010 season.

The Northern District tournament is a mere three weeks away, and the North Stars have just 13 regular season games remaining.

Havre begins the push towards the postseason today when the North Stars travel to Helena for one, nineinning game against the Helena Reps.

The North Stars beat the Reps 8-6 in Havre back on June 15.

Today's game in Helena, weather permitting, starts a long week on the road for the North Stars. Havre travels to Glendive for a nonconference tournament which runs Friday through Sunday.

And with the stretch run, the North Stars and head coach Steve Fanning are hoping to see some consistency in everything they do.

Havre enters today's game with an 18-16 overall record. The North Stars are 10-7 in conference play. They went into the holiday break winners of three straight league games, putting them in sole possession of third place in the league standings.

But in order to be ready for the postseason, the North Stars will have to deliver more at the plate. Havre's team batting average is good, but hitting with runners in scoring position has been a problem at times this season.

At the plate, the North Stars are led by shortstop Kyle Miller, who leads the team with better than a .400 batting average. He also leads the club in RBIs and has a team-high four homeruns.

CJ Evans has also been hitting at a high rate for the North Stars, as has Brandon Smith, Justin Jensen, Brayden Grimson and Adam Briese. The North Star lineup also got a boost recently, with veteran Shane Kemmer returning to the order. Since coming back at the start of last week, Kemmer has hit safely in every game he's played, he's driven in four runs and stolen three bases.

Kemmer also gives Havre more options defensively, which in turn gives the North Stars more depth in their rotation.

Havre has pitched well all season long, with Evans and Jensen leading the club in wins. Roman Surber has also been stellar on the mound in almost every one of his starts for the North Stars this season. But in order for Havre's pitching staff to thrive, the defense has to play better than it has in recent weeks. Havre has averaged a little over three errors per seven innings, and that trend will needs to decrease if the North Stars are to make a deep postseason run. Mark Vukasin has also been solid just about wherever he's been needed this season, and some of Havre's younger players like Spencer Morkrid, Justin Denny and Kolby Sukut have also played key roles this season, and provided the North Stars with some depth they weren't sure they'd have at the beginning of the campaign.

And to make a deep postseason run, the North Stars are in a good spot heading into the final weeks of the season.

This week is Havre's final nonconference games on its schedule, as the North Stars return home to face league rivals Medicine Hat, Vauxhall and Fort MacLeod next week. With those six games, if the North Stars play well, they can still earn even a top seed in the district tournament, which will increase their chances of reaching the state tournament, which runs July 29- Aug. 2 in Billings.

Havre is in Helena for a game against the Reps which starts this afternoon.

The North Stars' next home games are July 13 against Medicine Hat.