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Havre Jamboree returns to the Hi-Line

After several weeks away from the diamond, the Havre Northstars American Legion baseball club will return in style with the Havre Jamboree this weekend. At Legion Field, the Northstars will play four games to begin the summer while plenty of other teams will play as well. As the Northstars compete in their first tournament of the season, Havre head coach Patch Wirtzberger looks forward to the competition.

"It'll be fun to get into tournament play for the first time. We'll get to see four good teams," Wirtzberger said. "We're just looking for the boys to improve as always and now that school's out, we're hoping that we can get a little bit more dialed in fundamentally and really start playing some good baseball."

The wooden-bat tournament will start Friday at 3 p.m. with a game between the Gallatin Valley Outlaws and the Glendive Blue Devils. The Northstars will then play the Butte Miners at 5:30 p.m. Friday. The Miners are the defending state champions, so they should provide a good challenge to start the weekend.

"That'll be a good game to start off with," Wirtzberger said. "They're a very well coached and a very talented team that we got to see a couple times at state last year."

The Northstars will then play the Medicine Hat Knights on Friday at 8 p.m. After playing the Miners right before, the Knights should provide another fight for the Northstars to start the tournament.

"They usually have a lot of young players but they're fundamentally sound and pretty talented so they're a good challenge there right off the bat," Wirtzberger said.

The tournament will continue Saturday at 11 a.m. with a game between the Medicine Hat Knights and the Glendive Blue Devils. Then at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, the Butte Miners will play the Gallatin Valley Outlaws. Later at 4 p.m., the Butte Miners will face the Glendive Blue Devils.

The Northstars will wrap up Saturday by playing the Gallatin Valley Outlaws at 6:30 p.m. While the Northstars will have had rest with most of the day off, Wirtzberger expects the Outlaws to give them a fight.

"Gallatin Valley is a team that's always in the state tournament and always one of the best Class A teams in the state so it's another really good challenge," Wirtzberger said.

On Sunday at 9 a.m., the Medicine Hat Knights and the Gallatin Valley Outlaws will play each other. Later at 11:30 a.m., the Medicine Hat Knights will then play the Butte Miners. The tournament will then wrap up at 2 p.m. when the Northstars play the Glendive Blue Devils.

The Northstars will look to improve on their 7-7 record this weekend. If the Northstars are going to do that, they will need their best players to perform well. On the mound, Kale Reno will look to pitch well as he has a 2-1 record, 20 strikeouts and a 3.962 ERA this season. Terek Shipp should also get some time on the mound this weekend as he has a 2-1 record, 19 strikeouts and a 1.750 ERA so far this season.

The Northstars will also need to get going at the plate. Shipp is having a strong season at the plate with a .486 batting average and ten RBIs this season. Jevin Jenkins will look to make an impact as he has nine RBIs and a home run this season. Ezra Pyle is also having a strong year at the plate with a .345 batting average and seven RBIs this season.

The last time the Northstars played was nearly a month ago on May 14. While some might be worried about the Northstars having to work their way back into game form after the long layoff, Wirtzberger believes the Northstars will be prepared with the Havre Jamboree making its return.

"There might be some rust to shake off but I think the boys are going to be really excited about getting back on the field," Wirtzberger said. "The Jamboree is always an exciting time for them to play in front of their home crowd and draw a little energy from that. Different challenges come too, trying to get mentally focused so I'm just excited to see how they respond."

The Havre Northstars will begin the Havre Jamboree with a game against the Butte Miners at Legion Field on Friday at 5:30 p.m.

 

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