Blue Ponies win two in Conrad

Unfortunately, some poor spring weather made another appearance over the weekend and altered the Havre High softball schedule.

After defeating the conference rival Browning Indians Thursday, the Central A Blue Ponies were looking forward to getting in another four non-conference games Friday and Saturday. But as rain hit across most of the state, the Ponies were limited to just two games, one varsity and one junior varsity, at the Conrad Invitational in Conrad.

Saturday’s portion of the invite was canceled due to the rain, But the Ponies were able to return home after a dominating win over Shepard, throttling the opposition 22-0.

“When we played Friday it was sunny and perfect,” Havre High head coach Danny Wirtzberger said. “But it was an extremely pleasing day at the plate, and almost everybody ended up with two hits. And it wasn’t that they were making errors, we were just hitting the ball really hard. If you hit the ball hard good things happen, and that is what we did.”

In five innings of work, the Ponies were able to get the bats heated up to the tune of 22 runs off 13 hits. And while the Ponies continue to work toward avoiding that one catastrophic inning that puts them in the hole, HHS was able to turn the table on Shepard and jump out to a 10-0 first inning lead. The big opening frame was enough to ice Shepard, but the Ponies were also able to add six runs in the second, and a combined six more through the third and fourth innings. Dani Wagner crushed a triple in the game as she led the Ponies with a 3-for-3 outing with one RBI. Paige Henderson went 3-for-5 with two RBIs, while Harlee Boucher was 2-for-5 with one RBI herself. Rachel Majeres recorded one hit and one RBI, while Tori Mazurkiewicz drove in two RBIs with her one hit. Scout Boucher, Morgan Mazurkiewicz, and Jordyn Warren had one hit each, while Shaniah Carlson did not have hit, but did grab one RBI, and stole two bases.

“Rachel pitched a really good game and looked strong.” Wirtzberger said. “She looked strong and was hitting her spots. She looked good and got help from her offense. Dani Wagner hit the ball very well, better than she has all year, while Scout Boucher did what she does best and got on base. It was good to see all the girls step up.”

In a five-inning shutout, Majeres gave up just two hits and did not walk a single batter. Majeres also threw 49 strikes, 73 pitches overall and struck out nine total batters.

And while HHS was hoping for multiple games, the altered schedule didn’t hurt the Ponies too badly because they played so well when they had the chance.

“If we wouldn’t have played up to our potential, I would have wanted more,” Wirtzberger said. “But because we played so well in our one game, that helped us. We couldn’t have played any better in that game, so I wasn’t happy we had just one game, but I was happy with how we played in that one game as we move into divisional games on Saturday.”

Havre’s junior varsity squad also got some work Friday and recorded a 16-8 win over Glasgow.

Tori Mazurkiewicz got the win for the Ponies as she gave up two earned runs on seven hits. Mazurkiewicz also walked just two Scotties, and struck out another five as the defense committed five errors behind her.

The junior varsity lineup also jumped out to a huge first inning lead. After going down 4-0 in the top of the inning, the Ponies went up 13-4 and were able to hold on for the win. Tori Mazurkiewicz helped her own cause with one hit, but the Ponies were paced by Morgan Mazurkiewicz and Jacey McDonald. Morgan Mazurkiewicz was 2-for-4 with one RBI, while McDonald was 2-for-4 with four RBIs. Jaycelyn Hassa went 1-for-3 with one RBI, while Paige Warren recorded one RBI on no hits, Mady Corcoran went 1-for-4 with one RBI, Claire Worm went 1-for-2 with one RBI, and Tracyn LaBuda went 1-for-3 with two RBIs.

“Our junior varsity played a good Glasgow team,” Wirtzberger said. “It would have been easy for young freshman to quit after going down early, but they didn’t. It was awesome to see them come back and hit that well.”

Havre will stay home this weekend, hosting the Havre Invitational Saturday at the Sixth Avenue Memorial Field in Havre.

Havre 22, Shepard 0

Shepard 000 00 – 0 2 x

Havre (10)63 3x – 22 13 3

WP – Rachel Majeres; LP – B. Doughtery

Shepard – C. Moran 1-2, B. Doughtery 0-2, B. Farley 1-2, S. Olson 0-3, M. Anderson 0-2, B. Maichou 0-2, L. Cherioweth 0-2, A. Salazar 0-2, B. Brummley 0-2.

Havre – Dani Wagner 3-3 RBI, Harlee Boucher 2-5 RBI, Paige Henderson 3-5 2RBIs, Rachel Majeres 1-5 RBI, Scout Boucher 1-3, Shaniah Carlson 0-3 RBI, Tori Mazurkiewicz 1-4 2RBIs, Morgan Mazurkiewicz 1-2, China Bohn 0-2, Jordyn Warren 1-3.

Havre 16, Glasgow 8 (junior varsity)

Glasgow 411 20 – 8 7 6

Havre (13)20 1x – 16 9 5

WP – Tori Mazurkiewicz; LP – T. Fossum

Glasgow – T. Johnson 1-3, T. Fossum 0-2 RBI, M. Wesen 1-3, A. Hopkins 1-3 2RBIs, K. Barstad 1-2 RBI, L. Nixdorf 0-2, T. Palm 0-3, A. Hansen 1-3, R. Boese 1-3

Havre – Morgan Mazurkiewicz 2-4 RBI, Tori Mazurkiewicz 1-3, Jaycelyn Hassa 1-3, Jacey McDonald 2-4 4RBI, Paige Warren 0-2 RBI, Mady Corcoran 1-4 RBI, Claire Worm 1-2 RBI, Tracyn Labuda 1-3 2RBIs, Maddy Tommerup 0-2.