Ponies face tough AA foes on the diamond

Early season competition doesn't always mean easy things are easy.

The Havre High softball team know this first hand, as they will face some of the state's top Class AA squads in their first weekend of games.

Today, the Ponies are competing in Great Falls at the annual Great Falls Jamboree. They took on Great Falls High this morning at 11:30 and th

Havre High's Paige Henderson fields a grounder during last year's Havre Invitational softball tournament in Havre. The Blue Ponies make their season debut today with four games in Great Falls.

e CMR Rustlers this afternoon at 1. And if those games weren't tough enough, the Ponies will also take on Billings Skyview today at 2:30 p.m. as well as Bozeman at 4 p.m.

"We are really excited for this good weather and that we actually get to play some games," Havre High head coach Danny Wirtzberger said. "We want to get out there, we want to play games, and we want to get out on the field. We are excited.

"But all four of those teams are top competitors in Class AA," Wirtzberger added. "We are not only going to look at improving, we are going to look at our competitors and look at their strengths, and their weaknesses and say 'this is what this girl did wrong, and this is what this girl did right, you see that?' It is not our goal to go down there and just win four games, our goal is to be a better team at the end of day."

The varsity roster is set up for the weekend, but the lineup is not.

Today will be the perfect opportunity to get all of the girls field time, as well as rotate several girls through several different positions. The Ponies have a good variety of young and experienced athletes, but first year head coach Wirtzberger, is still shuffling players and finding the best possible starting lineup.

Harlee Boucher, Liz Facio, Sydne Huston, Roxanna Jensen, Morgan Mazurkiewicz, Davee McLeod, Reggie Bernard, China Bohn, Shania Carslon, Jacinta Finneman, Brittney Garden, Paige Henderson, Kylee Kaul, Rachel Majeres, Tori Mazurkiewicz and Dani Wagner make up the varsity roster as of now. Bernard and Wagner are two freshmen who should have an impact early, while players like Boucher, Facio, Huston, Morgan Mazurkiewicz, McLeod, Henderson, Tori Mazurkiewicz and Majeres will hopefully pick up right where they left off.

"I plan on playing all of the girls that we take on the trip. We want to try different girls out in different positions because for the first couple of weeks, we have to find out what our best teams is. There is now way we could have found that out in two weeks and just four practices on the field. This is going to be a huge practice session, as well as game situations for this team," Wirtzberger said.

McLeod and Majeres should carry the pitching load this weekend, but Tori Mazurkiewiz, Garden, Wagner and Henderson should see some time in the circle this season.

"We have been getting back to the basics with our batting fundamentals, and that is our main focus this year," Wirtzberger said.

"And with the competition we are facing this weekend," Wirtzberger added. "We have to get better." Wirtzberger said. "We need to keep the team moral and excitement up. We need to play like it is a 0-0 game, even if we are down 10-0, or up 10-0. That is the main emphasis we are pushing for, I am looking for field excitement, bench excitement, and communication."

It will be a tough season opener, but the Ponies are excited and ready to get back on the field. They took on Great Falls High at 11:30 a.m. and CMR at 1 p.m., but the Ponies will also take on Billings Skyview at 2:30 p.m. and Bozeman at 4 p.m. today in Great Falls.

NOTE: The Havre junior varsity team opened its season with three games Thursday afternoon. The Ponies beat the Libby varsity team 4-3 with Paige Henderson getting the pitching win. HHS also beat the Shelby varsity 4-3 with Tori Mazurkiewicz getting the win, while they lost to Conrad varsity 3-1 with Rachel Majeres taking the loss.