HHS softball team back on the road

For the second straight weekend, the Havre High softball team has a critical conference doubleheader on tap. Only this time, it’s on the road against the Livingston Rangers.

The Blue Ponies come into the weekend with a 5-6 record overall and a 2-2 mark in Central A conference play. But after dropping two games against Belgrade last weekend in Havre, the Ponies will be playing another one of the conference’s top teams in Livingston and getting at least a split would be very important when it comes to the regular season standings and seeding for the divisional tournament. The first pitch of the opening game will be at 3 p.m. The second game of the doubleheader will follow at 5 p.m.

“All of our conference games are important for seeding,” HHS head coach Bob Evans Sr. said. “Last year we had to open up the tournament playing Browning, so we would like to avoid having to do that again this year.”

The Ponies, who are attempting to make a return trip to the Class A state tournament have had some ups and downs over the course of the season and have been hurt by the absence of top starting pitcher Rachel Majeres. Yet, Dani Wagner and Paige Henderson have filled in admirably and are doing a great job of putting Havre in a position to win. The offense just needs to come through with runs more consistently.

But, after scoring seven and nine runs respectively in the two games against Belgrade, Evans feels his team may have turned a corner as they get ready for the stretch run of their season.

“If we hit the ball as well against Livingston as we did against Belgrade I think we will be in good shape,” Evans said. “Dani and Paige have both done a good job pitching for us but we aren’t going to win games 1-0. We need to be able to score some runs. But we finally were patient with our pitches against Belgrade and when we got good pitches we were aggressive.”

While Henderson has been solid on the mound and stellar at short stop, which is where she plays on defense when Wagner is pitching, she has been dynamite at the plate. She blasted a home run last Thursday in a win over Glasgow and hit another one in the loss to Belgrade. For the season she has a batting average of over .500 with a total of four homers and 13 runs batted in.

Wagner has also been effective at the plate with a batting average just under .400 to go along with two home runs and 12 RBIs. Right fielder Jacey McDonald has also turned into a weapon in the Havre lineup. She is batting just under .500 and is third on the team with nine RBIs.

“I think we did a good job hitting against some pretty tough pitching against Belgrade,” Evans said. “And I think that was as good a pitching as we will see from our conference. So we just need to be aggressive and be selective and wait for good pitches.”

Like Havre did against Belgrade, Wagner will be called on to start game one of the two-game set, with Henderson to follow her and start game two. Others who will contribute for Havre include Harlee Boucher at first base, Scout Boucher at second base and center field, Jordyn Warren in left field, Shania Carlson at catcher, Morgan Mazurkiewicz at second base and short stop along with Payton Howard at third base.

After the Ponies take on Livingston Saturday, they will return home next Saturday for another important conference game against Lewistown.