Ponies ready to play ball

For the first time in nearly two years, the Havre High softball team will get back to the diamond with a pair of games this weekend to start the season.

They first play on the road at Browning today before playing at Columbia Falls Saturday. As the Blue Ponies head into the weekend, HHS head coach Tony Vigliotti believes his team is finally ready to start playing.

"You hope you can see your girls be aggressive at the plate. Make the plays they need to make defensively," Vigliotti said. "We've been practicing for three weeks so it's time to get on the field and see where we need to go and where we need to improve."

Browning hails from the Northwest A and will be Havre's first opponent of the season. Like every other team, Browning has not played in two years, so Vigliotti is unsure of how good they will be in 2021

"We haven't seen a lot of these teams for a couple of years so we're really not going to concern ourselves with how we match up with them," Vigliotti said. "We're just going to go out and try and do what we do."

The Ponies will then head to another Northwest A school in Columbia Falls Saturday. Columbia Falls may be a more daunting opponent, as they have made the state tournament the past four seasons. However, their team is now young and much different than those years' squads, so Vigliotti is unsure if they will be as good as they have been.

"They're awful young too and they haven't been out on the field either for a couple of years so I'm sure everybody's just feeling their way and trying to get back in the groove," Vigliotti said.

The Blue Ponies come into the 2021 season young and dealing with some injuries. While Vigliotti has some seniors on his team, he will need to rely on underclassmen to perform this season.

"We've got a good group of young girls, some sophomores and juniors that are going to have to help us," Vigliotti said.

Vigliotti believes that if his team is going to start their season strong with a win or two, they will have to execute the basic fundamentals of the game.

"For us to be successful, we've got to pitch well and I have no doubt that we'll do that," Vigliotti said. "We've got to put the ball in play. We've got to be aggressive at the plate and we have to make the routine plays that we should make."

While the Ponies will focus on winning their first games of the season, Vigliotti also wants his players to use this weekend to learn and improve as they move forward into the season.

"I hope that they learn some things," Vigliotti said. "You can do so much in practice but until you get them out there on the field and see how they react. That's really the best place to learn."

HHS plays Browning today at 3 p.m. and will then play at Columbia Falls Saturday at 2 p.m.