Panthers heading to Havre's diamond

The high school softball season may be just a few weeks old, but the Havre Blue Ponies will already be halfway through their conference schedule by the end of the weekend.

That’s because the Ponies will host the Belgrade Panthers at the Sixth Avenue Memorial Field Saturday for a Central A conference doubleheader that could go a long way toward determining where Havre stands at the end of the season. The double dip is set to start at 1 p.m.

Havre comes into the game with a 1-1 record in conference play. HHS lost to Lewistown in the first conference game of the year, before beating Browning last week. The Ponies were supposed to play Lewistown last Monday, but the game was postponed due to bad weather.

If the weather holds and Havre gets to take on Belgrade Saturday, the Ponies will be challenged with facing one of the top teams in Class A softball. The Panthers finished third at state a season ago, and are 5-0 thus far in 2017, beating Helena High and Butte Central just recently.

“Belgrade is a tough team,” HHS head coach Whitney McNally said. “They have a lot of players back from last season and they are going to be tough to beat again.”

One thing that makes the Panthers so strong is a solid pitching staff that features Shania Neubauer and Erin Elgas, who combined to hold Helena to just two hits and zero runs Monday. Neubauer is also one of Belgrade’s top hitters.

Overall though, the Panthers have a slew of talented hitters and against Butte Central, in a 13-2 win, Belgrade belt four home runs. Khiala Rollins and Elgas both hit their first of the season in the game, while Kalista Pachl and Haylee Curry both homered in the game as well. They each have two homers to their credit this season.

Taming the Panthers fierce batting order won’t be easy and Havre will need a tremendous outing from its starting pitchers, which will likely be Alex Barkus and Jaycelyn Hassa.

Another key for Havre is finding a way to generate runs against a tough pitching team like the Panthers. HHS struggled in that area a season ago and it’s been a big focus for improvement so far this season.

“Last year, we didn’t do as well against tough pitching,” McNally said. “So that’s something that have really tried to get better at.”

The offense will be led by the top two hitters in the order Nicole Parsons and Jenae Boles, who have each done a stellar job of getting hits, getting on base and scoring runs so far this season. Parsons bats leadoff, followed by Boles and then Alex Barkus. Next up is Jacey McDonald, who is Havre’s top power hitter. She has three games this season with at least one extra base hit (two doubles, one triple).

The rest of the Havre lineup includes Hassa, Camryn Huston, Madison Tommerup, Madi Shennum, Tracyn LaBuda and Kate Compton. Mariah Matosich, Lauren Kato and Sam Oliver are others that could also see time on the field.

The first game between the two teams is set for Saturday at 1 p.m. That will be followed by the second game at 3 p.m.