News you can use
News you can use
The Havre High girls fastpitch softball team has gotten in plenty of practice at the Sixth Avenue Memorial Field, but the Blue Ponies have only played road games so far this season. On Saturday, that was supposed to change with a Northeast A doubleheader against the Miles City Cowgirls. However, late Thursday night, it was announced that the games had been postponed and will be made up May 4 in Havre.
After nearly two years, girls fastpitch softball was set to finally return to Havre when the Havre High softball team had a pair of games against Miles City this Saturday.
Unfortunately for the Blue Ponies, they will have to wait a little longer as both their games this Saturday were canceled.
The Ponies' home opener will now take place April 23 when they host Hardin.
Havre came into the season with a young team that had not played in nearly two years. After five non-conference games to start the season, HHS head coach Tony Vigliotti believes his team is ready to play more meaningful games.
"We're ready. We got five games under our belt," Vigliotti said. "Our pitching's been solid all year, we keep improving every day in practice so we're ready to go."
The Ponies have a record of 2-2-1 this season. They started the season 2-0 with a dominant win over Browning and an extra-inning victory over Columbia Falls. They failed to pick up a win this past weekend in the Lewistown tournament as they lost to Billings Central Catholic, 13-5, and Laurel, 13-3, and they tied with Livingston, 8-8. As they look to rebound, Vigliotti wants his team to know they are playing well.
"You sit back and you look at last weekend, we had one bad inning against Billings Central, played well against Park and then ran into a pretty good Laurel team," Vigliotti said. "The girls know that we've got to cut down on some mental mistakes and if we just go out and play hard and do our thing, we'll be just fine."
Lexi Haney has started four games this season at pitcher for the Ponies. In her four starts, Haney has struck out 32 batters this season and led the Ponies to a 2-1-1 record. She also has made an impact batting as she is second on the team with four RBIs this season.
The Ponies can also send Avery Carlson to the mound as she has pitched in two games this season, including one start. She has struck out 12 batters this season and is 0-1 as a starter.
On offense, Quinn McDonald leads the way for the Ponies with five RBIs. Other batters who can make an impact include Lizzi Haney, Dani Wirtzberger and Jocelyn Staples, who have driven in three runs each this season. While the Ponies' offense is improving, Vigliotti believes they need to focus on their defensive efforts.
"We've cut down on our strikeouts but the last few games, we've had one or two bad innings and that just kills you," Vigliotti said.
Even though the Ponies will have to wait another week to play their first home game in nearly two years, that shouldn't dim their excitement when they finally return to the diamond.
"We're so excited about playing at home," HHS head coach Tony Vigliotti said. "We get such great support from our fans and we always seem to play pretty well at home."
HHS and Hardin will play at Sixth Avenue Memorial Softball Field April 23 at 5 p.m. The Ponies also host Glendive that weekend.
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