Tourney Time at Legion Field

It has been an up and down season for the Havre North Stars American Legion baseball team, but none of that matters now. What matters is what the North Stars do this week at the Northern A District tournament.

After finishing in eighth place a year go and entering the tournament as the lowest seed, the North Stars showed dramatic improvement from a season ago and open Thursday's tournament as the fourth-seeded team. Havre, which is hosting the Northern A tournament, will play its opening game Thursday night against Lethbridge. The first pitch will go out 6 p.m.

"This is what we have been working for," North Stars head coach Dick Fuzesy said. "It's nice that we aren't coming in as the No. 8 seed this year and we get to be at home, so you never know what can happen. That's my attitude at least. We just need to take it one game at a time."

While the North Stars finished the season 21-23, they were 15-13 in district play, with two of those wins coming against Lethbridge. Havre did also beat every other team in the district at least once, but was just 3-9 against the top three teams in the district Lewistown, Vauxhall and Medicine Hat.

"I think the fact that we have beat every team at least gives them all something to think about," Fuzesy said. "At least we know in the back of our minds that we have done it."

The ultimate goal for Havre is to advance to the Class A Legion state tournament. The two participants in the championship game will move on to that, but first, the North Stars need to get that first win, especially after going 0-4 at districts the past two years.

"The best way to do it, would be to win our first three games, that would be the easiest path," Fuzesy said. "But that first game is important. I think if we can win that, that will be a nice confidence booster for us. Then in a tournament, you never know what can happen."

When it comes to postseason baseball, pitching is always important and if the North Stars are going to get that much-needed first win, they will need a stellar performance from their ace Brendan Garden, who will get the ball against the Miners. Garden was 1-0 against the Miners this season but did allow 10 runs in the start he won against them. Overall, his record is 6-2 and he boasts an ERA of 4.2.

Not only did Garden pitch more innings than any other North Stars pitcher, but he also got opposing batters out at a higher rate than anyone on the team. He also led the club in strikeouts and is among the team leaders in first-pitch strikes. Garden will get the ball against Lethbridge, but beyond that, things are fairly wide open. Fuzesy said that Kennedy McKay, Brenden Danielson and Ethan Roberts are all options to start. Gavin Mosbrucker will continue his role in short relief.

"Those will be the guys that I will rely on the most," Fuzesy said. "But Brendan has been our guy all year so he is going to get the ball first. He's not going to overpower you with his stuff or anything, but he just throws a lot of strikes and finds a way to get people out."

Havre has some solid options for its rotation, but the bottom line still is that if the North Stars are going to find a way to advance past this weekend, they are going to need to score runs and score them in bunches. As a team, the North Stars hit .340 collectively this season, so they have the potential, but guys like Jake Sedahl, Tony Antley, Danielson, Roberts and Kelden Sullivan will need to come through in a big way.

Sedahl is currently leading the team with a .398 batting average, while also being among the team leaders in both RBI and runs scored. Danielson isn't far behind with a .380 batting average. He also ranks third in RBIs and first in runs scored. Antley, who leads the North Stars in RBIs is also hitting .362.

"We are going to have to be able to score some runs," Fuzesy said. "We are going to have to be aggressive and maybe take some chances and try to force the other teams into some errors."

Havre and Lethbridge will be playing the nightcap Thursday, but the Northern A tournament actually starts Thursday at 10 a.m., with Medicine Hat, the No. 3 seed, taking on Great Falls, the No.6. Lewistown, which comes in as the No. 2 seed, will then take on seventh-seeded Fort MacLeod at 12:30 p.m., followed by top-seeded Vauxhall taking on Tri-County at 3 p.m.

From there teams will advance to the winners or losers bracket. The tournament is double elimination and the championship game is set for Sunday at 2 p.m. All games will be played at Legion Field.