Fast pitch club team greeted with tough competition in Belgrade

The Havre fast pitch softball club team got its first real taste of established softball competition this past weekend. And it was pretty sour.

Havre finished the weekend with an 0-4 record and struggled at times against more experienced teams and players.

"It was definitely an eye-opening experience for our girls," said head coach Kim Staudinger. "They learned a lot about what it takes to be successful. To their credit, they improved with every game they played."

It wasn't difficult to improve on Havre's opening performance. The Laurel Locomotives spanked Havre 14-0 to open the tourney on Friday morning.

Laurel exploded for 11 runs in the first two innings to take an insurmountable lead. But Havre was its own worst enemy in the game, committing nine errors in the field while striking out 14 times at the plate.

"Laurel was impressive," Staudinger said. "They've been beating teams by 25 runs, so it wasn't completely bad. You never liked to get shut out and we did have a few chances to score some runs. We just couldn't get hits when we needed it."

Havre's best scoring opportunity came in the first inning, as Laura Zentmire tripled with two outs but was stranded to end the inning. Havre's only other hit came from Kim Collins.

"I think our girls were a little intimidated by them," Staudinger said. "Some of the girls saw them practicing on Thursday night and saw how good they are."

The strikeouts and errors continued to plague Havre on Friday afternoon in an 8-3 loss to Sidney.

Havre committed another nine errors and had another 14 players strike out.

"Twenty-eight strikeouts and 18 errors in 12 innings is not going to win many games," Staudinger said.

Havre grabbed a 1-0 lead, as Collins singled to get things going and Brittany Callahan scored her with a single of her own. Sidney retook the lead in the second inning and never looked back.

Havre added a run in the fourth, as singles from Tara Borst and Collins led to another run. Havre got another run in the seventh, as Zentmire singled and scored on another Callahan base hit.

Callahan finished with three hits and two RBIs, while Collins and Borst both added a pair of hits.

Havre's bats didn't fare much better on Saturday in a 10-3 loss to Shepherd. Havre managed just three hits and committed eight errors while striking out eight times.

Trailing by 1-0 in the third inning, Havre took the lead on a two-run home run by Zentmire. Havre added to the lead in the fifth, as Kaci Owens scored on a Collins' single. But the lead was short-lived, as Shepherd retook the lead in the bottom of the inning, scoring five runs on four hits and a pair of costly errors.

Things would take a turn for the worse later on Saturday in a 14-1 loss to host Belgrade. The Panthers grabbed a 5-0 lead and never looked back, cruising to the win.

"Belgrade is also a very good team," Staudinger said. "They really took advantage of our mistakes."

Even with all the mistakes and the losses, Staudinger found plenty of positives.

"Kristin Evanson was amazing," she said. "She pitched every game for us and really did well. And we really could have been 2-2 if we could have put some hits together and made some plays in the field."

Right now Havre's biggest problem is inconsistency, and it's a problem Staudinger and the girls want to solve.

"This weekend motivated them more than anything," she said. "They want to get back out on the field and prove that they are a better team than this."

Havre will be in action on Tuesday when it hosts Browning.

Laurel 14, Havre 0

Laurel 4 7 1 1 1 - 14 13 5

Havre 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 2 9

Kaity Strever (WP), Whitney Nauman (4) and Megan McCloud. Kristin Evanson (LP) and Kim Collins.

Laurel - Kiley Myers 3-3, Nauman 1-4, Strever 3-4, McCloud 2-3, Jesse Ceaser 0-3, Rachel Mayes 1-4, Brittany Ceaser 1-3, Caitlin Caron 0-1, Amanda Gallagher 1-3, Kirby Myers 1-1, Ashley Reisinger 0-1, Tiffany Thomas 0-1.

Havre - Sjanetee D'Hooge 0-2, Kim Collins 1-2, Laura Zentmire 1-3, Brittany Callahan 0-2, Kelsey Evans 0-2, Kristin Evanson 0-1, Katie McLeod 0-2, Whitney Schwan 0-1, Whitney Barnekoff 0-2, Kaci Owens 0-1, McKayla Patterson 0-1.

2B: Gallagher.

3B: Strever, Zentmire.

Sidney 8, Havre 3

Havre 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 - 3 9 9

Sidney 0 3 2 1 1 1 X - 8 5 3

Kristin Evanson (LP) and Kim Collins; McPherson (WP) and Sorenson.

HAVRE - Sjanetee D'Hooge 1-4, Kim Collins 2-4, Laura Zentmire 1-3, Brittany Callahan 3-4 (2 RBI), Kelsey Evans 0-4, Whitney Schwan 0-3, Katie McLeod 0-1, Tara Borst 2-3, Whitney Barnekoff 0-2, Kaci Owens 0-2.

Sidney - Nelson 0-4, Vallevis 0-2, Sively 1-4, Aink 1-4, Byer 0-3, Sivetra 1-1, McPherson 1-2, Sorenson 0-3, Buxbaum 1-3

2B - Buxbaum, Sivetra

Shepherd 10, Havre 3

Shepherd 0 1 0 0 5 4 - 1 0 12 1

Havre 0 0 2 0 1 0 - 3 3 8

Reba Stahl (WP), Kristin Evenson (WP)

Shepherd - Nikki Riley 2-4, Jaime Jones 2-3, Mandy Jacobs 3-4, Kelsey DeVries 2-4, Taryn Reitz 0-3, Justine Jones 1-4, Reba Stahl 0-4, Katie Mosher 0-3, Robyn Riley 2-3, Salicia Hammond 0-0.

Havre - Kim Collins 1-3, Tara Borst 0-2, Laura Zentmire 1-2 (2 RBI), Brittany Callahan 0-1, Kelsey Evans 0-2, Sjanetee D'Hooge 0-2, Whitney Barnekoff 0-2, Katie McLeod 1-3, Casey Benner 0-1, Whitney Schwan 1-1, McKayla Patterson 0-2, Kristin Evanson 0-0.

2B: Jones

HR: Zentmire.

Belgrade 14, Havre 1

Havre 0 0 1 0 0 - 1 2 0

Belgrade 5 2 1 6 x - 14 14 3

Kristin Evanson (LP) and Kim Collins. Heather White (WP) and Adrienne Dues, Kacee White (5).

HAVRE - Kim Collins 1-2, Sjanetee D'Hooge 0-3, Laura Zentmire 0-3, Brittany Callahan 0-2, Tara Borst 0-1, Kelsey Evans 1-1, Casey Benner 0-2, Whitney Schwan 0-2, Kaci Owens 0-0.

BELGRADE - Keri Hein 2-3, Collette Russell 2-4, Adrienne Dues 4-4, Jen Smith 2-4, Jess Kallestad 1-2, Lindsay Sullivan 2-4, Shilo Hegdal 0-0, Krista Howard 0-1, Kacee White 1-2.