HHS fastpitch team heading to Belgrade

The 2015 season is well underway for the Havre High softball team. And even though the Blue Ponies have not taken part in as many games as they have wanted to at this point due to weather, they are set to hit the road again this weekend as they get into the meat of their schedule.

The Ponies still have some critical conference matches to play against Lewistown, Belgrade, Browning and Livingston, but this weekend at the Belgrade Invitational, a two-day tournament hosted by Belgrade, the Ponies will get a chance to see some great competition face-to-face.

The Ponies, who are 1-1 overall are coming off an impressive win over Browning in their last outing April 2. Yet, HHS was supposed to play a game Monday in Lewistown but it was postponed until April 30 due to bad weather, which means Havre will have been off for more than a week when it takes the field in Belgrade Friday.

As usual with the Ponies, a big key to the team's success is going to depend on the effectiveness of starting pitchers Dani Wagner and Paige Henderson, who starts and fills in for Wagner on occasion.

With the loss of ace pitcher Rachel Majeres, Wagner has been the top-starting pitcher for the Ponies and even though she has gotten off to a solid start, there is little depth behind her, which is a concern for head coach Bob Evans Sr.

Yet, Wagner, who is also an outstanding center fielder, will take the ball as much as possible throughout the season and should have a heavy workload this weekend in Belgrade. But even with Wagner on the mound, the Ponies still have a solid defense thanks to the work of Henderson at short, Morgan Mazurkiewicz at second, Payton Howard at third, Harlee Boucher at first, Shania Carlson at catcher, Scout Boucher in right field, Jacey McDonald in center and Jordyn Warren in left field.

Maddison Tommerup, Tara McCormick, Lucy Tarlton, Clarie Worm and Samy Huston will also contribute for the Ponies this weekend coming off the bench.

In addition to being stellar on defense at short, Henderson is also the leading hitter for HHS as she is batting .667 so far this season and has two home runs already, including a three-run shot in the win over Browning last week.

McDonald has also gotten off to a strong start in the batter's box by posting a .500 average to go along with four runs batted in. Mazurkiewicz also has four RBI's after blasting an inside the park home run against Browning last week. And in addition to those three, Wagner, Scout Boucher, Harlee Boucher and Carlson are all dangerous at the dish and capable of putting the ball into trouble spots for the defense.

The Ponies will get the tournament underway Friday morning and the action will continue through Saturday. All games will be played in Belgrade.