New leadership, same guidance for Ponies

When the Havre High softball team takes the field for the first time this season, there will have been a changing of the guard of sorts. And that’s because the Blue Ponies will have a new head coach, Whitney McNally.

McNally, who was an assistant for the Ponies last season and has been an assistant for the volleyball team for the past two years, has taken over the helm for long-time head coach Bob Evans Sr., who stepped in to be the head coach last season after the departure of former coach Danny Wirtzberger.

“I love the sport and I love the athletes,” McNally said. “I got to know the girls through volleyball and I really loved their attitudes. I really wanted to stay involved with them and we needed a head coach, so I applied.”

However, even though McNally is now at the helm for the Ponies, she will be getting some help from a familiar face in Evans, who is staying on as a volunteer assistant, something that both he and McNally are excited about.

“It’s really nice,” McNally said. “He has a lot of insight that he can give to me personally. There are certain things he can help me with that I might not know how to deal with because it’s my first year as a head coach.

“I am really excited about it,” Evans said. “I think that Whitney will do a great job. I thought she did a really good job as an assistant last year. I am just glad to be able to help both her and (Michelle Oliver) out this season and I am happy that I will get to stay around the program.”

Evans, who has served in the assistant role previously in the program when Wirtzberger was the head coach, said at this point in his life, he is happy to have a lesser role with the team but that he still enjoys being involved and coaching.

However, one of the biggest reasons that Evans decided to stay on and continue coaching during the transition was the players, many of whom, Evans had coached and worked with for years. And while he may not be the program’s leader anymore, he is still planning on being at practice every day and being at the majority of the games.

“I have worked with a lot of these girls for a long time,” Evans said. “So I am interested in seeing how they do and I want to help them as much as I can.”

Throughout his time with HHS softball, Evans has made many contributions. He was the original head coach for the Ponies and helped guide Havre from its infancy to a consistent state tournament team. He also made many other contributions and one thing that shows just how far the team has come, is that it now has its own batting cages inside Havre High.

“Those batting cages are so nice,” McNally said. “Our pitchers can use it, our batters can use it. We are really lucky to have it, it’s a huge positive for us.”

McNally, who graduated from Corvallis High School, where she played both softball and volleyball, has a strong background in the sport, as she also played a year collegiately at Dawson Community College.

McNally expressed her passion for the Havre program and that she and the players were working hard to maintain the level of success that the Ponies have achieved during recent seasons. And she believes teamwork is among the biggest keys to doing just that.

“My belief and what I think is key is that we always act as a team,” McNally said. “It’s important that we have everyone out there and playing at their best and we are going to do our best to make sure that everyone is in the position to do that.”

The Blue Ponies open their season next Saturday at the Great Falls Jamboree.