Belgrade sweeps Blue Ponies

The Havre High softball team was in Belgrade for a doubleheader this past weekend, but unfortunately for the Blue Ponies, they were shutout of the win column.

Belgrade, which is a power in Class A softball, dominated battle of Central A teams, knocking off Havre 12-1 in five innings in the first game, then 12-8 in the second game to complete the two-game sweep. With the two losses, Havre is now 1-3 on the season and 1-2 in Central A conference.

Shania Neubauer was on the mound for the Panthers in the first game of the doubleheader and through the first three innings, she was perfect. In the meantime, Belgrade had built a 5-0 with a five-run second. In the top of the third, Nicole Parsons got HHS on the board with a solo home run, but seven runs in the fourth by the Panthers pushed the lead to 12-1 and Havre failed to score any runs in the top of the fifth to extend the game.

Neubauer got the win for Belgrade, holding Havre to just one run and one hit. Dani Wagner got the loss for HHS, allowing 14 hits and 12 runs. Parsons' homer was the only hit by a Havre player in the game. Of Belgrade's 14 hits, three of them came from Kalista Pachl, who went 3-for-3 with two doubles and a home run to pace the Panthers.

"The biggest difference was that they were able to get hits and we weren't," HHS head coach Whitney McNally said. "They just do a great job of hitting the ball. They only had one home run but they had a lot of singles. We only had one hit the entire game, so we need to work on being more consistent."

In the second game, Belgrade once again jumped out to a big lead, scoring three runs in the first, one in the second and seven in the third. Leading 11-2, the game appeared to be over, however, Havre put together a rally in the top of the fifth, totalling five runs thanks to a three-run homer by Camryn Huston, to get back into it.

At that point, the Ponies were within four and scored another run in the top of the sixth inning to trim the deficit down to three at 11-8. Yet, they would not get any closer, as the Panthers added an insurance run in the bottom half of the inning, then closed out HHS in the top of the seventh.

Judy Taylor earned the win for the Panthers; Alex Barkus was hit the loss for the Ponies. Wagner was 3-for-4 in the loss at the plate for Havre. Huston added two hits, including her home run.

Barkus contributed to the offensive effort with a double, while Scout Bocher also had a hit. The Panthers finished the game with 15 hits, including a 3-3 effort from Shania Krone. Ty Atwood was 1-for-2 with a homer for Belgrade, while Taylor added two hits and a double. Belgrade finished with 29 hits in the two games compared to just nine for HHS.

"We showed in that second game that we could get hits against good pitching," McNally said. "We just have to find a way to get more consistency and to cut down on some of our errors."

Havre will have a busy week ahead of it as the Ponies will travel to Lewistown for a Central A contest Friday at 5 p.m., before returning home to the Sixth Avenue Memorial Field Saturday to host Livingston. That is a doubleheader with the first game set for 2 p.m.

Belgrade 12, Havre 1

Havre 000 10 - 1 1 4

Belgrade 050 7x - 12 14 0

Wagner and Parsons. Sh. Neubauer and Bethke. W - Neubauer. L - Wagner.

HAVRE - Barkus 0-2, Parsons 1-2 (HR), Wagner 0-2 Boucher 0-2, Tommerup 0-2, McDonald 0-2, Huston 0-2, Worm 0-1, Howard 0-1.

BELGRADE - Sk. Neubauer 1-2, Taylor 2-3, Branch 0-3, Atwood 1-3, Bethke 2-3, Sh. Neubauer 2-3 (2B), Pachl 3-3 (2 2B, HR), Krone 2-3, Cox 1-2 (2B), Rollins 0-1.

Belgrade 12, Havre 8

Belgrade 317 001 0 - 12 15 0

Havre 002 051 0 - 8 8 4

Erin Elgas, Judy Taylor (5) and Katie Hoppe. Alex Barkus, Dani Wagner (3) and Nicole Parsons. W - Elgas (1-0). L - Barkus.

BELGRADE - Skyla Neubauer 2-3, Madison Kreiger 0-1, Taylor 2-3 (2B), Shelby Lee 0-2, Jordan Branch 2-4, Khiala Rollins 1-1, Ty Atwood 1-2 (HR), Anna Cox 0-2, Bethke 0-4, Katie Finck 0-1, Shania Neubauer 1-3, Kalista Pachl 1-3, Heather Gier 0-1, Shaina Krone 3-3 (2B), Elgas 1-1, Hoppe 1-3.

HAVRE - Barkus 1-4 (2B), Nicole Parsons 0-2, Wagner 3-4, Scout Boucher 1-3, Madison Tommerup 1-4, Jacey McDonald 0-3, Camryn Huston 2-4 (HR), Claire Worm 0-2, Payton Howard 0-4.