Blue Ponies gain experience at tough Belgrade Jamboree

After another tournament weekend, the Havre High softball team continues to take steps in the direction of what could be a successful season.

It was another jamboree weekend for the Central A Blue Ponies, keeping their overall and conference records at 0-0. And while the record doesn’t show it, the Ponies did earn another victory on Saturday, this time at the Belgrade Jamboree Class A competition in Belgrade.

Havre played four games on Saturday, and returned home with one win and three losses. The Ponies win came over Hardin in dominating fashion, defeating the Bulldogs 11-4. Frenchtown defeated the Ponies 5-0, as did Polson 5-1. The conference rival Lewistown Golden Eagles defeated HHS 3-1 to end the weekend.

In the win over the Bulldogs, the Ponies overcame a tough start to get one of their more complete outings of the young season.

“That win shows what we are capable of if we have the right approach at the plate,” Havre High head coach Danny Wirtzberger said. “Defensively, we had one bad inning and we have to work really hard to get rid of that. We have to find a way to not compact errors on top of each other, somebody has to step up and make a play so errors don’t hurt us. After that first inning we did play better, but I don’t know if it was as consistent as we would like just yet.”

Rallying for 11 runs in just three innings of work, the Pony bats racked up 14 total hits. The hits came in bunches as the Ponies scored three runs in the first inning, four in the second, and four more in the third. And in the winning effort, Paige Henderson, Rachel Majeres, Scout Boucher, and Sydne Huston all scored two runs. Dani Wagner scored one run and also went 3-for-3 at the plate and had four RBIs. Majeres also had four RBIs on her 2-for-3 outing, while Henderson also went 2-for-3. Both Huston and China Bohn went 2-for-2, while Harlee Boucher, Huston and Shaniah Carlson had one hit each. Carlson and Bohn each had one RBIl.

Wagner also had two doubles, as she continues to see the ball very well. Majeres and Boucher had one double each.

But as the Ponies had an outstanding day on the offensive end, Majeres also had a great outing from the pitching circle.

Majeres pitched all three innings for the Ponies and allowed just two hits. And only one of the four runs scored by the Bulldogs was an earned run, as the Ponies” struggle with errors was still present. The Ponies committed four errors in the win. However, Majeres did show consistency with just one base on balls and four strikeouts, as 33 of her 49 total pitches were strikes.

But the Ponies couldn’t settle into that consistent groove all day. And in the three losses, there were too many errors by the defense and not enough hits or runs resulting from the HHS at bats.

In the loss to Polson, the Ponies committed five errors and got just two hits as they gave up all five runs in the first inning. The defense shut out Polson in the second, third, and fourth innings. In the loss to Lewistown, it was a similar story. HHS committed five errors, but this time came up with six hits. The hits didn’t come in ideal situations, resulting in just one run. The loss to Frenchtown didn’t go any better. Scoring zero runs, the Ponies also committed eight errors and did not get a hit. Havre also gave up five runs, all in the third inning, while shutting out the opposition in the first, second and fourth innings.

Losing by four, two, and five runs, the Ponies were competitive. And despite the losses to Polson and Frenchtown, coach Wirtzberger said his Ponies played some of their best softball, even with the errors. If the Ponies can continue to grow and limit their mistakes, not only could the Ponies have won three more games, they should win a lot more games moving forward.

“Errors are something we are concerned about,” Wirtzberger said. “And we are going to make those adjustments this week. But a lot of that has to do with us still not knowing what players are going to be in what position, we are still trying to find where we can make them successful. But in the Lewistown game it was a battle in the elements, for both games, but we just have to be mentally tough and ready to go, and we will address that.”

The Ponies are still at 0-0 this season, playing two jamboree weekends, but moving forward the games will begin to count toward the Ponies’ record. And conference play begins this week. Thursday the Ponies will face the Belgrade Panthers in Belgrade, and Saturday the Ponies will host the Browning Indians at the Sixth Avenue Memorial field in Havre.

Frenchtown 5, Havre 0

Havre 000 0x – 0 0 8

Frenchtown 005 0x – 5 4 0

WP – not available; LP – Rachel Majeres

Havre – Paige Henderson 0-2, Rachel Majeres 0-2, Scout Boucher 0-1, Dani Wagner 0-2, Morgan Mazurkiewicz 0-1, Shaniah Carlson 0-1, Harlee Boucher 0-1, Tori Mazurkiewicz 0-1, Jordyn Wrren 0-1.

Frenchtown - no individual statistics available

Polson 5, Havre 1

Polson 500 00 – 5 2 0

Havre 100 00 – 1 2 5

WP - not available; LP – Tori Mazurkiewicz

Polson – no individual statistics available

Havre – Paige Henderson 1-2 RBI, Rachel Majeres 0-2, Jordyn Warren 0-1, Dani Wagner 0-2, Morgan Mazurkiewicz 0-2, Harlee Boucher 0-2, Tori Mazurkiewicz 1-2, Sydne Huston 0-2, China Bohn 0-2.

Havre 11, Hardin 4

Hardin 400 xx – 4 2 1

Havre 344 – 11 14 4

WP – Rachel Majeres; LP – not available

Hardin – no individual statistics available

Havre – Paige Henderson 2-3, Rachel Majeres 2-3 4RBIs, Scout Boucher 1-2, Dani Wagner 3-3 4RBIs, Shaniah Carlson 1-2 RBI, Harlee Boucher 1-2, Jordyn Warren 0-2, Sydne Huston 2-2, China Bohn 2-2 RBI.

Lewistown 3, Havre 1

Havre 100 0x – 1 6 5

Lewistown 201 xx – 3 0 0

WP – not available; LP – Dani Wagner

Havre – Paige Henderson 2-3, Rachel Majeres 2-2, Scout Boucher 0-2, Dani Wagner 0-2, Shaniah Carlson 1-1, Harlee Boucher 0-1, Jordyn Warren 0-2, Sydne Huston 0-2, China Bohn 1-2.

Lewistown - no individual statistics available