HHS fastpitch finishes with a tough win in Glendive

With the divisional tournament beginning this week, the Havre High softball team looked to continue their strong play with a win on the road at Glendive Saturday to end the regular season.

The game concluded a three-game road trip for the Blue Ponies after they defeated Glasgow and Sidney earlier this week. While the Ponies came out slow due to their recent travels, they pulled out the 3-1 win over Glendive.

“We played well today,” said HHS head coach Tony Vigliotti. “Today we were a little tired coming out, but we battled through and finished up the year with a win.”

The Blue Ponies finish the season 13-3-1 and with a conference record of 7-1. With the win, Havre swept Glendive after they defeated them, 11-1, in April. Vigliotti believes the Red Devils put up a tougher fight against Havre this time because they have improved since then, and they took advantage of the Ponies being on a road trip.

“Glendive has improved a lot in my opinion since we played them the last time,” Vigliotti said. “After three road trips this week, we were a little bit tired.”

Defense came to play early on as neither team scored in the first two innings. The Ponies finally broke through on the scoreboard in the top of the third when Avery Carlson doubled to drive in Paige Parsons to take the lead. A sacrifice fly from Lizzi Haney then got Keylee Kline home to give Havre a 2-0 lead. Vigliotti said his team finally got on the scoreboard because of their base running.

“We put the ball in play a few times when we needed to and I think our base running helped us a ton today,” Vigliotti said. “We were able to take a couple of extra bases, get some runners in scoring position with less than two outs. Fundamentals for us today were huge running the bases.”

Unlike many of their conference games, the Ponies failed to get it going at the plate to build their lead. While he believes his players were tired from their travels, Vigliotti credited Glendive pitcher Molly Eaton for her strong performance that kept the score low.

“Their pitcher threw a pretty good game,” Vigliotti said. “We were a little bit tired but, credit to her, she pitched a good game today.”

While Havre’s offense did not have a strong showing, pitcher Lexi Haney made sure that Glendive did not take advantage of Havre’s off-night on offense as she struck out 10 batters while allowing five hits and no walks.

“Lexi again is what we’ve come to expect,” Vigliotti said. “She doesn’t walk a bunch of people, throws strikes, makes them put the ball in play. Gets a strikeout here and there when she needs to and she’s just been solid all year and she was again today.”

Havre finally scored again in the top of the sixth inning when Carlson scored on a groundout from Jocelyn Staples. Glendive finally got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth when Molly Eaton doubled to drive in a run to cut Havre’s lead to 3-1. In the bottom of the seventh, the Ponies recorded three straight outs to survive the game.

The Ponies only recorded four hits on the day. Carlson led the Ponies with two hits while driving in a run and scoring a run herself. Lizzi Haney and Staples also had an RBI each against the Devils.

The win over Glendive was the Ponies’ seventh in a row to end the season. With the postseason starting next week, Vigliotti believes his players are ready for the fight ahead.

“I like the direction we’re heading,” Vigliotti said. “We’re playing well, these guys continue to get better each day.”

In the divisional tournament, the Ponies will face conference foes such as Glendive, Miles City, Sidney and Lewistown. Outside of a season split with Lewistown, Havre swept all their other conference opponents during the season. If the Ponies are going to carry over their strong play into the postseason, Vigliotti believes they will just need to execute.

“We just got to keep doing what we try and do, which is play good defense, pitch well, put the ball in play, run the bases right,” Vigliotti said. “When it comes to postseason, if you can do the fundamentals right, do the little things right, you’ll be successful.”

The Divisional tournament will begin Friday at Sixth Avenue Memorial Field.

Havre 3, Glendive 1

Havre 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 - 3 4 3

Glendive 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 - 1 5 0

WP - Lexi Haney

LP - Molly Eaton

Havre Batting - Avery Carlson 2-3, Lizzi Haney 0-3, Jocelyn Staples 0-3, Sam Lovenguth 1-3, Quinn McDonald 0-3, Alyssa Oliver 0-2, Paige Parsons 0-1, Lexi Haney 1-3, Keylee Kline 0-2, Danni Wirtzberger 0-2.