Havre High softball heads to state

The great thing about state tournaments, is that it doesn’t matter what you do before them, only what you do in them. The Havre High softball team didn’t have the greatest regular season, but this week at the Class A state tournament, it won’t matter, because in the postseason, every team gets a fresh start.

And the Blue Ponies, who enter the tournament at 7-11 are going to need one to get past their first-round opponent, the Glendive Red Devils, who defeated them 12-2 just two weeks ago in a tournament in Butte. However, things have changed and after putting together one of their best stretches of the season at the Central A Divisional tournament last weekend, HHS is confident it can hang with anyone, including Glendive, which it faces today at 2 p.m.

“I think that we have found a good combination of players,” HHS head coach Whitney McNally said. “I think everyone has found their spot and things seemed to really come together at divisionals. We played good and did a good job hitting, but what really was good was our defense. And if we can keep playing like that and keep playing together as a team, we can play with anybody.”

The Ponies, who are making their third consecutive trip to the state tournament, will be looking to end a three-game losing skid at state against Glendive, after losing to Miles City 8-7 and Billings Central 6-2 last season.

Havre’s last win at the state tournament came in 2014, when Dani Wagner belted a walk-off home run to give the Ponies a dramatic win over Miles City. This year, if HHS wants a repeat of 2014, Wagner again will have to play a key role.

As the team’s best pitcher, Wagner is likely to pitch most, if not all, of the tournament for Havre and will get the ball against the Red Devils. Wagner has been on the mound for many wins this season, but she has done even more damage to opponents with her bat. For the year, the senior has a team-high eight home runs, including a critically important one last Saturday against Livingston, that helped propel Havre to victory and to state in a must-win game.

“I think it was great for us to get back to the state tournament,” Wagner said. “We were kind of up and down this year and at times, we didn’t play our best. So I wasn’t always sure if we were going to make it, so I’m glad that we did and I think right now we have all started playing some of our best softball.”

While the Ponies are counting on a big tournament from Wagner, they will also be expecting key performances from their other seniors Scout Boucher and Payton Howard.

Outside of Wagner, Boucher might be the best power hitter on the team and has multiple homers this season. She is also an essential part of the defense and has manned shortstop with All-Conference skill through 18 games. Howard is another very solid defender and even though she doesn’t have huge power numbers, she is a reliable hitter in the middle of the batting order.

Yet, the power hitters don’t end there as Jacey McDonald and Claire Worm have been consistent contributors for Havre throughout much of the season. Sophomore Camryn Huston has also brought some pop to the lineup, while freshman Janae Boles has brought some excitement with her speed on the base paths.

Catcher Nicole Parson has been a steady presence behind the plate for Havre and she’s never an easy out at the plate. Others contributors for Havre include Madison Tommerup and J.J. Hassa.

“I really like the way that we are playing right now,” McNally said. “The girls really seemed to come together last weekend and we won the games we needed to win, and I think that gave them a lot of confidence going into state.”

If the Ponies are able to pull off the upset of Glendive, the second seed from the Eastern A, they would advance to take on Butte Central, the top team from the Southwestern A, Thursday at 6 p.m. However, if Havre loses, it will move to the consolation bracket, where it would meet either Laurel, Hamilton or Polson Friday at 10 a.m.

The other first-round matchups feature Lewistown against Miles City, Hamilton taking on Polson and Columbia Falls versus Corvallis. Butte Central, Belgrade, Laurel and defending state champion Frenchtown all received byes during the first round after each winning their respective divisionals tournaments.