Ponies make debut

The Havre High softball team got its season underway Saturday in Great Falls at the Great Falls Jamboree and even though Havre lost more games than it won, it was still a positive experience.

The games played in the Great Falls Jamboree are actually considered exhibition games because they are not full regulation games and they are only allowed to last a certain period of time. In all, the Ponies took part in four exhibition games, winning one and losing three. Havre knocked off fellow Class A opponent Laurel, 5-1 but also fell to Billings Senior 9-3, Billings West 15-0 and Bozeman 5-3. All the games took place at the Great Falls Multi-Sport Complex for Softball.

“It’s kind of a crazy tournament,” Havre head coach Whitney McNally said. “The games go by quickly and a lot of players are getting substituted and in and out, but I was really happy with how the girls played. We got a lot of girls in there and we were moving them around a lot and trying them at different positions. But I thought that everyone played well.”

In the opening game of the Jamboree, the Ponies took on Laurel and in a bout of Class A squads, Havre came out on top, thanks in part to a stellar day at the plate for Dani Wagner, who belted a home run to help lead HHS to victory. Alex Barkus was the starting pitcher and earned the win after limiting Laurel to just a handful of runs.

There was some doubt about whether Wagner would suit up this past weekend after suffering an injury in basketball, but she played centerfield in multiple games and pitched in the team’s loss to Billings West. J.J. Hossa and Nicole Parsons also pitched in the losses to Billings Senior and Bozeman respectively.

“I threw all of my pitchers and I thought they did a great job,” McNally said. “Alex Barkus pitched the winning game and she pitched great, but I thought all of them did well.”

Even though the Ponies were defeated in all three of their contests against Class AA schools, McNally was happy with how her team competed in each of the games and she said it was a positive start to the season overall.

“A lot of players played really well,” McNally said. “We moved them around a lot and we brought some extra girls with us to see how they would respond. So a lot of it was about finding out who are starters are and where we want to play everyone. We also hit the ball really well, so I was excited about that. Everyone hit the ball really and I was really happy with the way that everyone played. You always seem to have that one inning or so when everyone stops talking or isn’t communicating very well and that hurt us (Saturday). But overall, we were very happy with how the girls played.”

Since the games at the Jamboree do not officially count, Havre is still technically 0-0 as it gets ready to take on Browning Tuesday at the Sixth Avenue Memorial Field. The game is scheduled to start at 5 p.m.