Ponies open Central A play in Browning

Since the beginning of the season, the Havre High softball program has been doing as much improving as possible before reaching the conference portion of the schedule. Now, with the first conference opponent lined up for the Blue Ponies, they will see if all the work paid off.

Saturday, the Central A Ponies will travel to Browning to face the conference rival Indians. The varsity game will be at 1 p.m. and the junior varsity game will be at 3 p.m.

Including the games played at two jamborees this season, the Pony record sits at 3-5. But in non-jamboree games, the Ponies are 2-0, earning wins over Glasgow and Conrad this season. But HHS should have had nine games behind them before meeting up with the Indians, as Monday's game with Conrad was canceled due to cold and snowy weather in Conrad.

But even with one cancelation, the Ponies should be ready to capture their first conference win of the season.

"We are excited for the opportunity to play a conference game," Havre High head coach Danny Wirtzberger said. "We have improved by leaps and bounds over the last three weeks and I watched Browning play at the Cut Bank Jamboree and they look like they do have some hitters. But it still looks like they may be the weakest team in the Central A this year, so we just need to play our style of softball.

"It will be good to really play for a win," Wirtzberger added. "That is the main goal, to get the conference win, so it will be interesting to see how the girls react to the new goal, a need to win situation."

Through the start of the season the Ponies haven't been focused on wins, instead they have been focused on getting better with each outing. The Ponies have a solid non- conference schedule with tough Class B teams like Glasgow and Conrad, so HHS should be prepared to make a run at an elongated post season. The previous motto for coach Wirtzberger was to be better at the end of games than they were at the beginning of games, that is still the goal this weekend, but with the emphasis on earning the win as well.

To beat the Indians, the Ponies know they have to play well all around. But getting production up and down the lineup, getting solid pitching, solid defense, the Ponies want to take advantage of their speed. The Blue Ponies don't have much for typical power hitters, but they do have a one through nine that can hit the ball and fly around the bases. Dani Wagner, Davee McLeod, Paige Henderson and Roxanna Jensen are just a small sample of the Ponies' speed, and there is much as far as a drop off.

"That is a great skill to have," Wirtzberger said. "And it is great we have that speed. It is like they say in every sport, 'speed kills'. It seems like every runner we get on first base can get into scoring position in the blink of an eye. We have some burners on our team and we are going to use that, we are going to steal bases until we can't, and we haven't faced a team that can throw us out yet.

"We need to run the bases aggressively like we have been," Wirtzberger added. "But we also need to hit the ball. It's Plain and simple. We have two great pitchers in Davee McLeod and Rachel Majeres, but they are not going to blow anybody away, so we need good defense behind them, and we need to hit the ball hard and score a lot of runs."

Havre's Sydne Huston, left, tags a Conrad runner during a recent Blue Pony fastpitch sofball game in Havre. The Ponies begin conference play Saturday in Browning.

Majeres will get the start on Saturday, but McLeod will be ready for relief duties if needed.

With Majeres on the mound, the Ponies starting roster behind her whould include Liz Facio (outfield), Wagner (center field), Morgan Mazurkiewicz (third), Jensen (shortstop), Sydne Huston (second), Harlee Boucher (first), McLeod (infield), and Henderson (catcher).

Havre should be able to return home with the conference win (0-0), but know they have to play well against the Indians. And if the Ponies do play well, they hope the momentum carries them into the heart of the Central A portion of their schedule.

"We can't be over confident." Wirtzberger said. "But these last few games against Browning and Conrad (Monday) really give us a chance to iron out the fine details before we go face Lewistown and Belgrade next week."

The Ponies face the Indians in Browning on Saturday at 1 p.m.