North Stars earn a split in final home games

Coming into last Saturday's doubleheader against the Great Falls Chargers, the Havre North Stars American Legion baseball team needed a sweep to keep pace with the Vauxhall Spurs in the race for the top spot in the Northern A district standings.

And after dominating the Chargers in the first game by the score of 15-4 and leading 7-0 heading into the top of the sixth in the second game, Havre appeared well on its way to achieving its goal in its final games at Legion Field.

Then, everything changed. The Chargers managed a hit to lead off the inning and then, after two walks, the bases were loaded. The Chargers quickly plated a pair of runs to trim the lead to 7-2, which is when North Stars head coach Dick Fuzesy brought in Dylan Carpenter to wrap up the win.

Yet, Carpenter, could not stem the bleeding. With the score 7-4, a North Stars error brought two more runs in. That was followed by back-to-back extra base hits by the Chargers and suddenly Great Falls had scored nine consecutive runs and found themselves leading 9-7.

Havre still had at-bats in the bottom of the sixth and seventh innings to try and rally, but it wasn't meant to be and Great Falls ended up stealing the road win after sitting down the final three North Stars batters in order.

"It was disappointing because we had it," Fuzesy said. "We started to make a few mistakes and in the game of baseball anything can happen. But, it was just one regular season game and we can't let it ruin our season. We just have to try and recover as best we can. We have some non-conference games this week before we play Vauxhall, so we just need to get back out there and forget about it."

With the split, the North Stars overall record is 20-18-1, but in district play, the North Stars are 14-8 with just two games remaining. Those games will come Friday in Vauxhall against the team atop the standings right now. With a sweep of Great Falls, the North Stars likely would have just needed a split against Vauxhall to claim the top spot, now a sweep will be needed at the very least.

"It's going to make things a little harder for us," Fuzesy said. "Depending on what happened in the other district games, we are probably going to need to sweep Vauxhall now. But, even if we don't get the top spot, we will either be the two or three seed, so we will still be in good shape."

After demolishing the Chargers in the first game of the double-dip, Havre once built a 7-0 lead thanks to runs in the bottom of the second and third innings, followed by three in the fourth and two in the fifth.

Jake Sedahl was 1-for-4 in the loss but did manage a pair of RBIs to help put Havre in front. Carpenter did end up getting the loss for allowing five runs in just over an inning of work, but he was outstanding at the plate, going 3-for-4. Trey Murphy also added a hit and an RBI.

While the second game was filled with drama, the opening game between the two teams proved to be the exact opposite as the North Stars removed any doubt about the outcome right away.

The North Stars had the sticks going early, particularly Jeff Miller, who belted a two-run double in the bottom of the first to put Havre ahead 2-0. Then, in the bottom of the second, Miller struck again, this time ripping a triple to right-center field with the bases loaded. Three runs scored and the North Stars led 8-0.

Havre finished the second inning leading 9-0 and then tacked on two runs in the third and four more in the fourth to take a 15-3 lead. Great Falls got a run across in the top of the fifth, but it was not enough to keep the game going and they lost thanks to the 10-run rule.

Miller led the way for the North Stars with three hits and five RBIs. Sedahl was 3-for-3 with two RBIs, while Ryne Antley and Travis Roth were each 2-for-3 with two RBIs. On the mound, Carpenter got the win after surrendering just three runs on five hits in four innings of work.

The North Stars will be back on the field Tuesday in Great Falls when they will take on the Great Falls Outlaws in non-conference action at 6 p.m. On Wednesday the North Stars will play two more non-conference games on the road against the Missoula Prospects at 3 p.m., and then they will close out the regular season Friday at Vauxhall with two important district games against the Spurs. That doubleheader will get underway at 1 p.m.

Havre 15, Great Falls 4

Great Falls 003 01 - 4 7 3

Havre 362 4 x - 15 14 3

Havre - Jerod Boles 1-3, Travis Roth 2-3, Jake Sedahl 3-3, Ryne Antley 2-3, Dylan Carpenter 1-2, Jeff Miller 3-5, Trey Murphy 0-2, Kyle Gooch 1-3, Tanner Hentschel 1-2, TJ Lovenguth 0-0.

Great Falls 9, Havre 7

Great Falls 000 009 0 - 9 15 2

Havre 011 320 0 - 7 11 1

Havre - Jerod Boles 1-4, Travis Roth 0-3, Jake Sedahl 1-4, Ryne Antley 0-2, TJ Lovenguth 1-1. Dylan Carpenter 3-4, Jeff Miller 2-4, Trey Murphy 1-3, Kyle Gooch 1-3, Nic Tanner 0-1, Brenden Danielson 1-1, Tanner Hentschel 0-0.