Blue Ponies split four games in Butte to end the regular season

In its final preparation for the Central A Divisional tournament, the Havre High softball team traveled to Butte this past weekend and had some mixed results against other Class A teams in non-conference competition.

Havre opened the Laverne-Combo Invitational in Butte, against the host team Butte Central Friday and won the game by the score of 9-3.

Yet, Havre lost that same day to Ronan 15-1, before splitting two games on Saturday against Florence and Hamilton. The Blue Ponies beat Florence 10-5 in the morning Saturday, before losing to Hamilton 6-3 to close the tournament with a record of 2-2.

"We played three really good games," HHS head coach Tony Vigliotti said. "I thought we played really well, the Ronan game, sometimes you just have games like that with a young team. We just didn't do anything right in that game. We talked about afterwards just throwing that one away and moving on and I was really proud of them. They came back Saturday and played a great game against Florence."

Against Butte Central, the game was tied 2-2 after the first inning, when Havre broke the game open with four runs in the top of the second inning. Mia Olson belted a home run for HHS, then Sydney Wilting, Sam Oliver and Kinzee Peterson all notched hits as Havre scored four runs to build a 6-2 lead. After surrendering two runs in the first Alex Barkus shutout the Maroons the rest of the way to earn the complete-game victory.

Oliver and Wilting each led the way with two hits, while Peterson, Olson, Boles and Brown all added one.

In the second game Friday against Ronan, Havre scored a run in the first inning, but saw Ronan score 15 to win the game in four innings. Havre managed only a couple hits in the game as opposed to Ronan, which scored four runs in the first, six in the third and five in the fifth. Lauren Kato was given the loss for HHS.

After losing to Ronan Friday night, the Ponies turned around Saturday and responded with a 10-5 win over Florence. Oliver was on the hill for the Ponies and she managed to earn the win after the offense scored four runs in the first and six more in the fourth. Kato got two hits and drove in two runs. Barkus also had a hit and two RBI in the win.

During the final game of the weekend, Barkus was back on the hill for the Ponies, but she allowed four runs in the first inning to Hamilton and the Ponies would never catch up again. Havre did manage three runs in the third inning to trim the lead down to one at 4-3, but the Broncs added insurance runs in the bottom of the third and fourth innings to ice the win.

Oliver and Huston each managed a hit for the Ponies, while Barkus was stuck with the loss on the mound. Havre finished the regular season with an 11-5 record. The Ponies, who were 3-3 in the Central A will take on Lewistown Saturday in the Central A Divisional at the Sixth Avenue Memorial Field.

"I thought that it was a good experience for us," Vigliotti said. "We got to play up against some good competition and that was good for us. Now we just have to go home and do the best we can to get ready for divisionals."

Havre 9, Butte Central 3

Havre 240 03 - 9

Butte Central - 201 00 - 3

WP - Barkus

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

Ronan 15, Havre 1

Havre 100 0 - 1

Ronan 406 5 - 15

LP - Lauren Kato

Havre batting - Janae Boles 0-2, Sydney Wilting 0-2, Sam Oliver 1-2, Kinzee Peterson 1-2, Camryn Huston 1-2, Tera Verploegen 1-2, Katelyn MaLoughney 0-2, Kylie Waker 0-1, Peyton Brown 0-1.

Havre 10, Florence 5

Florence 002 003 - 5

Havre 400 6x - 10

WP - Sam Oliver

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

Hamilton 6, Havre 3

Havre 000 30 - 3

Hamilton 401 1 - 6

LP - Barkus

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