City baseball titles on the line

The American Legion baseball season has been in full swing for more than a month now. So has little league baseball throughout Havre and this week, the youngsters will take center stage as a number of youth baseball tournaments are set to take place.

The first tournament takes place at the Majors age level and that actually started last Monday. Overall, there are five teams competing and unless weather delays things further, the championship is scheduled for tonight at Lions Field.

The five teams that are in the running for the Majors title are Harlem, Frank Leed Construction, Lions, Meridian Construction Company and Domino's Pizza. The championship game will be tonight. The tournament uses a double-elimination format.

While the Majors tournament is supposed to be ending tonight, the Minors and Babe Ruth tournaments are both expected to get underway today. Babe Ruth, which the highest age level of baseball sponsored by Havre Youth Baseball, outside of Legion, will also be running a five-team, double-elimination tournament.

The five teams that will be competing to win the Babe Ruth championship are State Farm, Optimist, Wolfer's Diner, Lions and Harlem. Since the kids are older, the Babe Ruth tends to be one of the most exciting tournaments and with a few players that are on the Havre North Stars roster, it could lead to even more action this time around.

The State Farm team, which is coached by Brent Antley and Shane Reno, posted a 6-1 record during the season and earned the top seed. The roster includes Tony Antley, a North Stars player, as well as Dacen Caplette, Lane Caplette, Ethan Carlson, James Christensen, Austin DeLaRosa, Cameron Pleninger, Quinn Reno, Trent Shettel, Quinn Springer, Logan Twombly and Hunter Velk.

The second-seeded team in the tournament is Lions. The Lions team is coached by Casey Staples and Randy Cloninger. The players on the team are Caleb Allestad, Kaine Birdtail, Caleb Chambliss, Eli Cloninger, Jake Huston, Tyrel Kjersem, Colby Lammers, Jacob Miller, Garrett Parsons, Marc Ramirez, Bridger Staples and Ethan Werk.

Optimist, which is led by Dustin Mally and Travis Abdallah, was 5-3 and enters the tournament as the No. 3 seed. The roster includes Joey Bender, Jacoby Fox, Dylan George, Taylor Gopher, Josiah Harrison, Hunter Lovenguth, Clint Owens, Tanner Parsons, Jeremy Pugh, Kelden Sullivan and Calvin White.

The Wolfer's team is managed by John Davison and after going 2-4 during the season, it will be the fourth seed. The roster features Tommy Brown, Evan Davison, Kellen Detrick, Preston Glock, Jacob Irvin, Carson Lunak, Casey Mariani, Dyllan Murphy, Leyton Shennum, John Conner South and North Star Ethan Roberts.

Harlem, which will also be in the tournament, did not have an available roster. Harlem will enter as the fifth seed after going 0-8 during the regular season. The championship game will be Monday night.

The Minors tournament, which is the youngest group of kids that will play in tournaments this week, will be played at its traditional site on the baseball field in Elks Park. Unlike the Babe Ruth and Majors tournaments. The Minors tournament will feature a total of nine teams, including Office Equipment, Raymond James, Lions, Holden's Hot Wheels, Havre Tire Factory, Subway, Master Sports, Chinook and Harlem. The championship game for the Minors tournament will also be held Monday.