Havre Force 10U have successful season away from home

Over the past month, the Havre community has had the chance to watch the Havre Girls Fastpitch Softball A-League and B-League compete in their championship tournaments. However, they did not get the chance to witness the successful season the Havre Force 10U team had as they played most of their games on the road this past season. Despite not getting to play in front of a home crowd for most of the season, the Havre Force finished the year with an 11-4 record.

"Our girls played very well," said assistant coach Kaitlin Anderson. "They have improved so much from last season and I couldn't be any happier with how they did."

The Havre Force 10U team consisted of Layla Culley, Alexis Doney, Olivia Allestad, Kenzi Harwood, Olivia Keller, Analiese Lewis, Brooklyn Morse, Riley Doney, Rayalyn Smith, Brooklyn Butler, Peyton Mader, Carina Purkett and Kendyll Jensen. Liz Leed served as the team's head coach with Anderson and Brynn Bohrer as her assistant coaches.

Outside of two games in Havre, the Force played most of their season on the road. With so much time on the road away from home, Anderson believes she and the rest of the coaching staff got their girls to play well just by motivating them.

"It was just a lot of motivation with those little girls," Anderson said. "It's hard to be stern with them but when you give them the motivation they need then they will give back some really good things when they're playing."

The Force started the season winning the tournament in Helena. The Force followed that up by finishing second at the Falls Fusion Classic where they suffered all four of their losses this season. The Force suffered several losses in that tournament's pool play because they were playing tough teams. When bracket play began, they faced teams on their level that they were able to defeat to reach the championship game.

Another highlight for the Force was when they went 6-0 in the MonDak League against Lewistown and Glasgow. Anderson believes the Force went undefeated in this league because they executed on both sides of the plate.

"Against them we were able to hit really well and our pitchers did an amazing job," Anderson said. "There were some errors but for the most part, our defense and offense were pretty solid during those games."

The Force began practicing for this season all the way back to September of last year. Over the past nine months, the Force had to overcome several obstacles on their way to an exceptional year. Inclement weather forced one of their tournaments to be cancelled and limited their practice time during the winter. They also had to deal with COVID-19 regulations when they practiced and played indoors.

With the season now over, the Force coaching staff and returning players now have next season to look ahead to. Even though they are coming off a strong season, they believe they can still improve and become a better team.

"What we can take away is we just need to continue to play hard and work hard when we have opportunities, especially in the winter so that we can keep improving from where we're at right now," Anderson said.