Ponies aim to continue softball success

The Havre High softball team has put together a good run the past few years, making three consecutive state tournaments. Now the goal for the Blue Ponies is to keep it going.

But after losing some key players from last year’s team, Havre will need to rely on a mixture of veteran experience and young talent to get back to state in the second year under head coach Whitney McNally.

“We don’t have a lot of seniors this year,” McNally said. “But we have some good leadership and the girls have worked really hard, so we are excited and looking forward to the season.”

With the graduation of Dani Wagner, Havre’s top pitcher from a season ago, as well as Scout Boucher and Payton Howard, the Ponies will be replacing key players on the mound, at the plate and on defense.

However, the Havre offense will have one of its top hitters back from a season ago, as Jacy McDonald returns and will be playing first base. McDonald has the ability to hit for average and power, as does Camryn Huston, who will look to build on a solid sophomore season. She will see time at both outfield and shortstop.

“I know the girls and most of them have played under me now, so they kind of know what to expect,” McNally said. “And I also know them and they have worked really hard throughout the winter. One thing we have really focused on is offense and being able to score more runs and be more consistent there. The girls have put a lot of time in there, so hopefully all that hard work pays off. We did a really good job on defense last year, but just want to be a little more consistent on offense.”

When it comes to the pitching staff, the Ponies will rely heavily on senior J.J. Hassa, who was one of the team’s top pitchers a season ago, as well as junior Alex Barkus. Nicole Parsons may also see some time on the mound, but she will do the majority of the catching.

“We don’t have a ton of depth when it comes to pitching,” McNally said. “We would like to have Nicole pitch some for us, but she is just so important behind the plate.”

The other seniors on the roster are Madison Tommerup, who will see time at both second and third base, as well as Traclyn LaBuda, who will be both an infielder and outfielder. Other players who will see time with the varsity team are sophomore Jenae Boles, who will be the everyday centerfielder and Lauren Kato, who will see time at third base and possibly on the mound. Freshman Sam Oliver is another pitcher and while she will start out throwing for the JV squad, she may see some time with the varsity team at some point.

“Right now we have about nine girls for sure that will be with the varsity,” McNally said. “We have some others that will play with both the varsity and the JV team. We still want to see how the girls do at different spots and how they play together, so we don’t have a lot that’s set in stone right now.”

In order to get back to state, Havre will need to make it out of the Central A again, which won’t be easy with teams like Lewistown and Belgrade to compete against. Livingston and Browning haven’t been quite as competitive as Havre in recent years, but with a lot of youth in the conference, it should be wide open.

“Belgrade and Lewistown, they both have a lot of girls back,” McNally said. “They had some young girls and we have some young girls, but they are going to be tough again this season.”

Havre opens the season this weekend at the Great Falls Jamboree, which gives the Ponies a chance to play a number of different games. Normally, two teams play for just an hour, which will give McNally a chance to mix up her roster and better evaluate it. Havre was the only Class A team in attendance last year, the rest of the teams were from Class AA.

“The benefit of the tournament is that’s a free substitution tournament,” McNally said. “So we can put everyone in three different places in every game if we wanted, just to see what is going to work best for our team and who is going to work best at each spot for the season. So that’s the best thing about this tournament, we may not get full games in, but it is nice to be able to see how everyone is going to work together.”

After playing in Great Falls this weekend, Havre will head to Lewistown for a Central A conference game April 8, followed by a home game against Browning April 13. HHS will also play host to Lewistown and Belgrade April 17 and April 22, before travelling to Browning April 25. The Ponies will pay a visit to Livingston April 29, before playing the Rangers in Havre May 6 as part of the Havre Invitational.

In addition to conference matchups, Havre will also play in the Lewistown Invitational April 14 and will travel to Cut Bank May 2 to take on the Wolves in non-conference action. Havre will close the regular season in Butte at the Laverne Combo Softball tournament May 12-13. The Central A divisional tournament will take place May 19-20 in Livingston, with the Class A State tournament to follow May 25-27 in Sidney.