Northstars stay alive with a walkoff win in Great Falls

The postseason arrived Wednesday for the Havre Northstars American Legion baseball club, as Havre arrived at Centene Stadium in Great Falls for the Northern A District Tournament. Four teams, the No. 1 Lewistown Redbirds, the No. 2 Tri-County Cardinals, the No. 3 Northstars and the No. 4 Great Falls Lightning were ready to throw down in the Electric City.

As for Havre, it split its Wednesday games. First, the Northstars took a rough loss to the Cardinals 8-5 Wednesday afternoon, but then Havre rallied Wednesday evening against the Lightning, coming back and putting together a 4-3 walk-off win to continue their postseason.

Havre head coach Patch Wirtzberger knows the game against Tri-County was a tough way for the Northstars to start the tourney.

“We came out swinging right in the beginning,” Wirtzberger said. “We got ourselves a pretty good lead in the first inning. Tri-County battled and they stuck through it. They hit the ball really hard and we made some mistakes that pushed some runs across the board. Otherwise, it would have been a different story, but they hit the ball really well.”

The Northstars started off the game against the Cardinals well, though, as Havre put up five runs in the first inning to take an early 5-1 lead after the first. But, Tri-County battled back to eventually tie the game after the second inning, putting four runners home. From there, the Cardinals scored one run in the fourth inning and two runs in the sixth inning, while the Tri-County defense kept the Northstars from scoring, handing Havre the loss.

Ethan Carlson had one hit at two at-bats against the Cardinals, while Theron Peterson and Julian Benson had one hit at three at-bats.

But the day would get better, as the game against Great Falls was a bright spot for the Northstars Wednesday and Wirtzberger was proud of his team for fighting all the way to the last pitch.

“It was kind of a weird game,” Wirtzberger said. “They came out and jumped on us. They got the lead and we were down 3-1 for most of the game. Then, the seventh inning comes around and we finally get a rally started. It just seemed like big hit after big hit. Carson Lunak came through at the end with the walk-off hit that scored the winning run, so there was a lot of emotions.”

With the Lightning grabbing an early lead in the first and second innings, with two runs scored in the first and one more in the second, things seemed to be heading south again for Havre. But the Northstars put up a run in the third inning to keep them in the race for the lead, only down 3-1 after the third inning.

The game saw multiple innings with no runs scored, as the Havre and Great Falls defenses battled back and forth to keep the other team from home plate. Then, the magical bottom of the seventh inning came, where the Northstars rallied, with two runners making it to home plate to tie up the score. That is when Lunak hit a ball that went just right for Havre, sending one final runner to home plate, earning the walk-off win at Centene Stadium.

Eli Cloninger had three hits at four at-bats against Great Falls Wednesday evening, while Quinn Reno put up two hits at three at-bats to follow. Defensively, Tyrel Kjersem was hailed as the winning pitcher for the game.

And at the end of the night, Wirtzberger could see that his team was in great spirits after the win over the Lightning.

“They were super excited,” Wirtzberger said. “They were obviously happy with Carson and happy to get to keep playing as a team. It was definitely the most emotional I’ve seen them all year.”

Havre took on Tri-County in a winner-take-all game for a berth in the championship later today.

“They’re obviously both really good hitting teams,” Wirtzberger said. “but, I think if we just go out and put our best game out there, I think we got a really good chance to win. All we have to do is control what we can control and I think things will really work out for us.”

Tri-County 8, Havre 5

Tri-County 1 4 0 1 0 2 X – 8 10 1

Havre 5 0000000 – 5 5 4

WP – Kolby Kovatch

LP – Trenton Maloughney

Havre batting – Quinn Reno 0-2, Eli Cloninger 1-4, Tyrel Kjersem 0-3, Caden Jenkins 1-4, Ethan Carlson 1-2, Julian Benson 1-3, Carson Lunak 0-3, Tavish Mclean 0-3, Theron Peterson 1-3.

Havre 4, Lightning 3

Great Falls 2 1 00000 – 3 3 1

Havre 00 1 000 3 – 4 10 1

WP – Tyrel Kjersem

LP – Hale Chargois

Havre batting – Quinn Reno 2-3, Eli Cloninger 3-4, Tyrel Kjersem 1-3, Caden Jenkins 1-3, Ethan Carlson 0-2, Carson Lunak 1-2, Trenton Maloughney 1-3, Julian Benson 0-3, Tavish Mclean 1-3, Drake Berreth 0-3.