Ponies gain fastpitch experience in Belgrade

After seeing their regular-season opener rained out last Tuesday, the Havre Blue Ponies went on the road in search of some softball action, and they found it in Belgrade at the First Pitch Tournament.

Like the Great Falls Jamboree Havre competed in last weekend, the tournament offers a number of exhibition games that are timed. Games were on an hour time limit and the results will not count in the regular season standings. Yet, regardless of that fact, the tournament gave the Ponies a chance to earn some valuable experience, despite posting a 1-3 record.

Havre opened the tournament Friday and fell in consecutive outings to Laurel by the score of 3-1, then to Columbia Falls 6-4. HHS did rebound to post a 13-3 win over Shepherd Saturday, but finished the weekend 0-3 against Class A foes, following a 9-4 defeat at the hands of Polson.

“We had an injury and that forced us to have some moving pieces,” HHS head coach Whitney McNally said. “Overall, I thought the girls played well. They hit the ball well and we found some areas where we need to improve.”

Like many teams, the Ponies are still trying to fine tune some things, including their regular offensive lineup, their pitching staff and the regular defensive starters. Yet, even with so many moving parts, Havre held its own against Laurel, falling 3-1 to a team the Ponies defeated last weekend in Great Falls. Dani Wagner was the losing pitcher for Havre in that contest, even though she allowed just three runs.

HHS also lost a highly competitive game against Columbia Falls, a rival from the Northwest A by the score of 6-4. Alex Barkus was on the mound for Havre and despite throwing a solid game, she was also hit the the loss. The win over Shepherd Saturday was a good boost of confidence for the Ponies, as they steamrolled the Class B opponent by double-digits at 13-3. J.J. Hossa got the win after pitching the first couple of innings, but Wagner came on to finish it off.

Finally, Havre went head-to-head with Polson, another strong team from the Northwest and even though they allowed six runs to the Pirates in the top of the first inning, Havre managed to score a couple of runs early, one coming off an RBI double by Wagner, to get the game competitive, before it ended as a 9-2 victory for Polson.

Barkus was the losing pitcher on the mound for Havre. Yet, even in the loss, Havre managed to get some things going offensively and in addition to Wagner, a slew of other Ponies got hits, including Jacey McDonald, Madison Tommerup, Scout Boucher and Barkus, who like Wagner, belted a double in the loss.

“I thought it was a good experience for us,” McNally said. “We got to try out a few things and it gave us a chance to see some teams that we wouldn’t normally see. Columbia Falls and Polson are two good teams, but I think they are beatable if we do the things that we do everyday in practice.”

The Ponies, who are still officially 0-0 on the season, will look to play their first regulation game of the season this coming Thursday, when they will play Browning. The game will start at 5 p.m., at the Sixth Avenue Memorial Field and is a makeup for the one that was supposed to take place April 5, but was rained out. The Ponies are then scheduled to head to Browning Saturday for another Central A contest.