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The Havre North Stars took on a lot of solid baseball teams over the weekend, including a tough stretch, where the North Stars faced three teams in two days.
Friday through Sunday, the American Legion North Stars hosted the Havre Jamboree at Legion Field in Havre. The North Stars played a total of four games on the weekend, but were especially busy Friday and Satruday. Friday, Strathmore, Alberta, defeated the North Stars 6-4 in five innings. And Saturday, the North Stars split in doubleheader action. The North Stars defeated Swift Current, Saskatchewan, 8-6, but fell to Calgary 11-4 in the nightcap.
In the win over Swift Current, the North Stars put together a very solid, fundamentally sound outing. Havre committed just three errors, but also managed to string together 10 total hits, as well as get seven complete innings out of starting pitcher, Chris Vukasin.
And Vukasin kept the Swift Current batters guessing all night long.
For the most part, Vukasin showed great command from all of his pitches, and more importantly, kept his pitches out of the middle of the plate. He did eventually give up 10 hits, but most of those hits came without runners in scoring position, or Vukasin quickly found a way to record an out and get out of a jam. Vukasin forced Swift Current to fly out 10 times and ground out six. Vukasin also didn’t record a walk, and hit just one batter.
“That is what I normally like to do,” Vukasin said. “I like to pitch strikes and let the team make plays. My accuracy was pretty good, and my speed is coming along, but the accuracy was what I was focusing on, so that I could pitch low and away and high and inside, so that the batter would ground out or pop out. But the defense made a lot of great plays for us, Deion (Hammet) had a couple great catches in left, Thurman (Holdsclaw) had one in center, Spencer (Ross) had one in right, and Gavin Gunderson played well at third. Everybody played great.”
The North Stars’ offense showed they can be dangerous in many situations in the win.
In the first inning, Thurman Holdsclaw was hit by a pitch but stole second base and then advanced to third when Tyrell Pierce was later walked to load the bases. Gavin Gunderson struck out with the bases loaded, but Holdsclaw scored the opening run on a passed ball, eventually leading to a 3-0 first inning lead. Havre added another run in the second on a Vukasin RBI single, but had more work to do as Swift Current tied the game at 4-4 in the third
The North Stars scored four runs in the fourth inning, taking an 8-4 lead. They wouldn’t score again, but after holding Swift Current to just two more runs, it was enough to get the North Stars the win.
In the fourth inning the North Stars used two hits and two errors to earn their four runs. Travis Roth opened the inning with a single, and Holdsclaw was hit by another pitch, while Spencer Ross got on with an error to load the bases. Vukisin drove in a run as he too got on with an error, while Ross and Vukasin later scored on wild pitches, continuing to take advantage of every situation.
Holdsclaw was 2-for-2, but was also hit twice by pitches. Roth was 2-for-3, Ross was 1-for-3, and Gunderson was 2-for-4. Vukasin was 2-for-4 with three RBIs to lead the way, while Denny was also 1-for-4 with two RBIs.
“It shows the potential of our team,” North Star head coach Danny Wirtzberger said. “To beat a AAA team like that out of Saskatchewan. It was good to see, we came in and hustled around the bases when we needed to, and it was just really good to get that win.”
But things were tougher for the North Stars in their losses Friday and later Saturday night.
Strathmore jumped out to a 2-0 lead over the North Stars in the top of the first, and stretched the gap to 6-1 after the top of the fifth. The North Stars just settled into an offensive groove in the bottom of the fifth, but the game was called before another inning could be played because of the time limit set in place for the jamboree.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, the North Stars scored three runs on three hits, bringing the deficit to 6-4. It is tough to say how the game could have ended, if the full seven innings were played, but the North Stars eventually came around. Vukasin had a single in the inning, while Ross also had a single, and Pierce had a two RBI triple. Kyle Gooch also drove in a run on a groundout. Pierce also took the pitching loss, while giving up six hits and walking six more.
“I think we built from the momentum at the end of that game into the beginning of the Swift Current game,” Wirtzberger said. “But we weren’t concerned with wins this weekend, we were concerned with getting in innings against teams we don’t usually see. The time limit was a good thing, it keeps us on track so we aren’t playing until two in the morning.”
Havre also held a slim lead over Calgary through five innings, anchored by great pitching by Dane Warp. but the lack of North Star depth proved to be a difference maker.
Warp had a standout showing from the mound. In his five innings of work he gave up seven hits, but gave up just one run. Warp also recorded five strikeouts, as the North Stars held a 4-1 lead when Warp finally exited the ballgame after giving up a single and base on balls to start the sixth inning.
But Deion Hammet wasn’t as sharp in relief, and the North Stars saw the lead, and the win disappear.
Hammet hit a batter to load the bases, followed by another hit batter to give up a run. Calgary earned another run on a bases loaded, fielder’s choice out at second base, and eventually took a 7-4 lead with two more singles in the sixth. Havre didn’t score in the sixth or seventh innings, but Calgary did add three more runs in the top of the seventh to cement their lead and take the win away from the North Stars.
“(Warp) had a fantastic game,” Wirtzberger said. “He just needs to get to practice and build some endurance with his arm. When he does that, he is going to be tough to beat. And (Hammet) usually pitches better than that, and he knows what he needs to do to fix things after that outing. And those two losses were tough, but they were learning experiences for us. We will see these situations in conference games, and hopefully we can learn from our mistakes, and learn from them.”
Overall, Havre had just two hits against Calgary, one from Pierce, and one from Denny. Denny also had an RBI. It was Warp’s pitching, and solid North Star defense that kept them in the game early, but eventually the pitching ran out, and Calgary walked away with solid pitching of their own. The North Stars struck out 14 times.
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