Ponies power past Rangers, twice

For the second time this season, the Havre High softball team welcomed a Central A opponent into the Sixth Avenue Memorial Field and for the second time, the Blue Ponies came away victorious.

Only this past Saturday against Livingston, the Ponies not only beat the Rangers, they swept them in a doubleheader, winning by the scores of 7-2 and 16-9. Alex Barkus pitched both games for Havre and earned two complete-game victories as HHS improved its record to 6-3 on the season and 3-3 in the Central A.

"It was big," Havre head coach Tony Vigliotti said. "Our goal coming in was to get the sweep, to get to 3-3 in the conference. It's something that they said they haven't been in a while, so it was huge."

In the opening game against Livingston, Havre started slowly, surrendering two runs in the second inning after a slew of errors. However, in the bottom of the second inning, the Ponies got their bats going, as Sam Oliver hit a base-clearing double with the bases loaded, plating three runs and leading to a five-run inning, putting Havre in front 5-2. In the bottom of the third, Havre added two more runs, scoring on an error and an RBI single by freshman Sydney Wilting.

"We made a few errors there in the first couple of innings," Vigliotti said. "But we got on them a little bit and we played much better."

With a five-run cushion, Barkus went to work and shutdown the Rangers for the remainder of the game, working her way out of a jam in the fifth inning, before eventually closing the door and earning the win after five shutout innings to end the game.

"She has been working hard for four years," Vigliotti said of Barkus. "And we thought that if we are going to go down, we want to go down with our best and she is definitely our No. 1 pitcher and we wanted to ride her both games."

In the second game, the Rangers scored first again, getting a run in the bottom of the second to take a 1-0 lead. Yet, it wouldn't last long, as Wilting doubled in two runs in the top of the third. Kinzee Peterson also added an RBI single and following five runs, HHS led 5-1.

Livingston added three runs in the third inning to trim the lead to one and it stayed that way until the top of the fifth, when the fireworks started with a three-run home run by Peyton Brown, which pushed the Havre advantage to 9-4. The Rangers answered with two home runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth, getting back within two at 9-7, but a five-run sixth inning allowed Havre to hold on for the 16-9 win. Peterson, Oliver and Lauren Kato all had three hits in the win, while Camryn Huston and Wilting each had two.

"That second game was really just a slugfest," Vigliotti said. "But I was really proud of the way that we just took every shot and kept coming out and scoring runs. We put the ball in play. Sam Oliver had a great day, Peyton Brown had a great day. We put the ball in play and that was the key."

Prior to hosting Livingston Saturday, the Ponies traveled to Glasgow last Thursday and handed an 11-3 loss to the Scotties. Havre scored four runs in the first inning, three in the fifth and four more in the sixth inning to help Barkus earn another win on the mound.

The Ponies, who have won three straight games and six of their last eight since a season-opening loss against Lewistown, will look to add to their win streak tonight against Glasgow. Havre is hosting the Scotties at Sixth Avenue Memorial Field. The first pitch will be thrown out at 5 p.m.

Havre 7, Livingston 2

Livingston 020 000 0 - 2

Havre 052 000 x - 7

WP - Alex Barkus

Havre batting - Janae Boles 1-2, Sydney Wilting 1-3, Sam Oliver 1-4, Kinzee Peterson 0-3, Camryn Huston 1-3, Mia Olson 1-3, Lauren Kato 0-4, Jera Verploegen 0-3, Peyton Brown 1-3.

Havre 16, Livingston 9

Havre 005 405 2 - 16

Livingston 013 030 2 - 9

WP - Alex Barkus

Havre batting - Janae Boles - 1-5, Sydney Wilting 2-5, Sam Oliver 3-4, Kinzee Peterson 3-4, Camryn Huston 2-5, Katelyn Maloughney 0-2, Lauren Kato 3-3, Kaitlin Anderson 0-4, Kylie Walker 1-3, Peyton Brown 1-3.