The Havre Northstars opened up the Harold Gjerde (jersey) Memorial Tournament down in Lewistown on Thursday morning. The results were an (8-4) victory over the Belgrade Bandits in the first game, followed up by a (10-7) win in the second contest against the Butte Miners.
Game one saw Havre score half of its runs in the first inning, putting up a four-spot. Shortstop Ezra Pyle singled home second baseman Tyson Brandon, while Jevin Jenkins hit a fly ball that wasn’t caught, allowing Pyle to score. Chason Mader brought Terek Shipp home on a sacrifice fly and then the very next batter, left fielder Connor Essert, singled in Jenkins.
Belgrade got a run in the bottom of the inning and wouldn’t score again until the fifth. The Northstars utilized another big inning in the fourth, scoring three times to widen the gap. Shipp spun the ball around on the mound, going 5.1 innings and allowing one earned run on five hits, while striking out nine Bandits.
Havre also enjoyed a quick start against the Miners. The Northstars had a stretch where they sent seven straight batters to the plate, resulting in two runs. Havre also got a run in the third inning and broke the game open in the fifth, scoring six times in the frame. Butte rallied to come back to make it a (9-5) ballgame after five, which wouldn’t be the last time Havre needed to fend off the opponent.
The Miners brought the tying run to the plate in the last half of the seventh, but were only able to push across one run. Mader picked up another three hits, which gave him six in the doubleheader. Shipp and Brandon had multi-hit games as well.
The Northstars (11-7) will now rematch with the Cody (WY) Cubs, which is a scheduled 2:30pm start on Friday afternoon.
