Ponies fall to Lewistown in divisional championship game

Havre High softball rode an eight-game winning streak into the Northeast A divisional championship game against Lewistown at Sixth Avenue Memorial Field Wednesday. The teams came evenly matched into the contest with both teams finishing the regular season with a 7-1 conference record and they split the season series. However, Lewistown came to play and defeated Havre, 11-1, to win the divisional title.

"Some days are just not your days. Lewistown played awful well today," said HHS head coach Tony Vigliotti. "That's the hardest we've hit the ball against them all three times we played them and they just made some plays today."

Despite the loss, Havre clinched a spot in the state tournament next week with a second-place finish in the divisional tournament. Divisional champion Lewistown and divisional consolation-game winner Glendive will also play in next week's state tournament.

The loss dropped the Blue Ponies to 14-4-1 on the season and 8-2 in conference play with both conference losses coming to Lewistown. The loss also snapped Havre's eight-game winning streak and ended their undefeated record at home this season.

Eliazar Southard set the tone early in the top of the first inning when she hit a three-run home run off HHS pitcher Lexi Haney to give Lewistown a 3-0 lead. In the top of the third, Hailey Welsh hit a ball that straddled the foul line in left field for a two-run home run to extend Lewistown's lead to 5-0.

"They're a good-hitting team. I don't know if Lexi had her best stuff today, but they hit some balls hard today to put the ball in play," Vigliotti said.

In the top of the fifth, Karolyne Southworth hit a double to left field that drove in two more runs for the Golden Eagles. On the same play, a Pony error allowed Southworth to score and make the score 8-0.

Havre finally got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth when Avery Carlson hit an RBI double to left field that cut Lewistown's lead to 8-1. However, Lewistown did not lose momentum at the plate in the top of the sixth as Jessica Morgan hit a two-run home run to center field. A sacrifice fly from Welsh got another run home to make Lewistown's lead 11-1. The Eagles then got three outs in the bottom of the sixth to end the game early and clinch the divisional championship.

Starting pitcher Haney came into the game with a 1.845 earned run average. However, she gave up 17 hits and 11 earned runs in her last home start. While she did not walk any batters, she only recorded two strikeouts on the day. The loss dropped her season record to 10-3-1.

Haney did not get much help from her offense as the Ponies finished the game with only five hits. Sam Lovenguth led the team with two hits and Carlson had the only RBI for Havre. Vigliotti believes his team put the ball in play throughout the day but Lewistown's defense held steady.

"We had our opportunities," Vigliotti said. "We hit the ball hard probably seven or eight times and they made six or seven great plays and sometimes that's just the way the ball bounces in this game."

The Ponies still have a chance to compete for a state championship next week when they head to Butte. With nearly a week off, the Ponies will work on getting their offense going as well as cleaning up mental errors.

"We'll just go back to work and keep working on putting the ball in play and doing what we do," Vigliotti said. "We just need to calm down and relax every once in a while, so we'll talk about the mental side of the game a little bit too next week and get ready to go."

HHS softball will begin the state tournament May 27 at 1 p.m. in Butte.

Lewistown 11, Havre 1

Lewistown 3 0 2 0 3 3 X - 11 17 2

Havre 0 0 0 0 1 0 X - 1 5 1

WP - Jessica Morgan

LP - Lexi Haney

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