The Havre Northstars opened up play on Friday at the Glendive Tournament and started on a winning note, defeating the Blue Devils (12-10).
Glendive had a 5-2 lead after two innings, but Havre kept chipping away, scoring one run in the third and adding two in the fourth to tie the affair at 5. The Blue Devils responded by posting five runs in the fifth inning. The Northstars didn’t go away and eventually overtook their opponents by capping off a 7-run sixth inning.
Havre batted around the lineup in the frame. The Blue Devils allowed five walks in that time span and 10 bases on balls overall, which led to opportunities to score easily.
Lane Kinsella got the start for the Northstars, tossing 4 and two thirds innings and striking out eight Glendive players.
Colter Solomon came in and immediately gave up the go-ahead single, which factored into him being the winning pitcher with the run support he got in the late stages of the game. Quinn Elliott pitched a clean seventh inning to earn the save.
On to Day two of the Glendive Tournament and Saturday’s contests, where the Northstars featured in a doubleheader.
Game one was a much better defensive game for the Northstars, who won (3-2) against the Billings Upper Deck Expos.
Jevin Jenkins was on the hill for the Northstars, where he proceeded to pitch six innings, allowing two runs on five hits and striking out two batters. Solomon came in and pitched much better, earning the save in the seventh.
The Northstars and Expos traded runs in the bottom of the first and top of the second, respectfully before Billings took the lead in the third on an RBI single. The Expos would hold that lead for three innings until Havre was able to score on a bases-loaded walk to tie the game at two.
With the Northstars down to their final out in the top of the seventh inning, Chason Mader broke the deadlock with an RBI single that plated Kinsella, which resulted in the game-winning base knock.
In Game two, the Northstars won again, this time defeating the Glendive Blue Cheese by the final score of (8-5).
Havre struck with two runs in the first inning. After a Glendive run in the bottom of the inning, the Northstars broke the game open in the third on an Ezra Pyle 2-run triple and a Tanner Delarosa RBI single. Pyle, Delarosa, and Kinsella drove in six of the eight runs scored by the Northstars in the game.
The Blue Cheese answered back with three runs in bottom of the inning and the game was (5-4).
The Northstars cushioned their lead in the next inning, scoring four more runs to make it (8-4). Glendive tried to rally in the seventh but only came up with one run.
Drake Berreth secured the win for Havre, pitching three and two-thirds innings while striking out four and Mader went the rest of the way with two and a third innings on the mound, punching three Blue Cheese batters out.
Sunday sees the conclusion of play at the Glendive tournament, where Havre will play at 12:30pm. They will not know their opponent until the game beforehand, which begins at 10:30am, concludes. A story will be posted to HiLineToday.com on how the Northstars did on the final day of the tournament.
