Red-Hot Blue Ponies thump Scotties

The Havre High softball team continued its winning ways Monday night, winning their fourth game in a row thanks to a 15-5 win over the Glasgow Scotties.

The two teams met in Havre at the Sixth Avenue Memorial Field in a makeup of a game that was postponed due to weather earlier in the season. It was the second win in five days for Havre over Glasgow, as the Blue Ponies also beat the Scotties 11-3 on the road last Thursday. Havre is now 7-3 overall, as well as 3-3 in the Central A conference. The Ponies have won seven of their last nine games and are 4-0 at home.

"We are playing really well," HHS head coach Tony Vigliotti said. "It's really nice to be 7-3. I think that they have some confidence right now. So I am really happy and really proud of them."

Just like Havre did in its two wins over Livingston Saturday, the Ponies spotted Glasgow a run in the top of the first inning. And in the bottom half of the inning, despite getting two hits, Havre left two runners stranded, keeping the score 1-0 in favor of the Scotties.

Yet, in the bottom of the second inning, Havre finally started to cash in on some of its opportunities. With the score tied 1-1, freshman Sydney Wilting came to the plate with two runners on and after a single, both scored, giving the Ponies a 3-1 advantage.

While Kato threw four solid innings of work to get the win, the Scotties did get two more runs off her in the third, tying the score at 3-3, before Kinzee Peterson hit a home run in the bottom half of the inning to give Havre a 4-3 lead. Another RBI by Alex Barkus made it 5-3 after three innings.

In the fourth inning, after Glasgow failed to generate any offense, Havre broke the game wide open. Jera Verploegen doubled in two runs and after scoring a total of four, the Ponies led 9-3. Havre added five more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and tacked on another in the bottom of the sixth to end the game via the 10-run rule in the sixth, with the score 15-5.

Kato worked the first four innings of the game for the Ponies and got the win. She limited Glasgow to three runs and also posted four strikeouts, including three in the second inning. Sam Oliver, a sophomore, worked the final three innings of the game. She allowed a two-run homer in the top of the fifth, but didn't surrender anything else as she helped her team close out its seventh win of the season.

"It was a good win," Vigliotti said. "We wanted to get Lauren and Sam some confidence on the mound. And they both threw great and that should give them some confidence going forward, knowing they can do it for us as well. No one really hurt us, except their No. 2 hitter, she got us for a couple of doubles and a homer."

The offense was also a big key in the win for the Ponies. After not scoring in the first inning, Havre scored in each of the next five. Peterson and Peyton Brown each led Havre with two hits, while Janae Boles, Wilting, Oliver, Camryn Huston, Kylie Walker and Verploegen each had one. The Ponies finished with 10 hits total.

"We got our pitchers some work and we got everybody in the ballgame and we got a win too, so it was great," Vigliotti said. "I thought we just played good softball. We put the ball in play. There was a couple of times where we had a runner at second and we hit a ball to the right side and get the runner to third, then hit a ball back up the middle to the shortstop who is playing deep and we score a run. That's kind of what we have been preaching and it was good softball tonight."

Havre will be back in action Saturday when the Ponies will host the Havre Invitational at the Sixth Avenue Memorial Field. The action will get underway at 10 a.m.

Havre 15, Glasgow 5

Glasgow 102 020 - 5

Havre 032 451 - 15

WP - Lauren Kato

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