Havre softball plays well at Frenchtown tournament

The Havre High softball team has dominated conference play this season and it looked to carry that over into the Frenchtown Tournament this past weekend. Against some tough competition, the Blue Ponies continued to roll as they went 3-1 at the tournament.

“I thought we played really well. Elle Verploegen pitched extremely well all weekend and we showed a little determination,” HHS head coach Tony Vigliotti said. “Overall, really pleased with how we’re playing and where we’re at right now.”

The Ponies started the tournament Friday with a 14-4 win over Stevensville. After loading the bases to start the top of the first inning, another walk brought in Lizzi Haney for a run and the lead. Later in the inning, Molly Huse scored on a passed ball to make it a 2-0 game.

After Stevensville scored in the bottom of the first, the Ponies continued to roll in the top of the second. With the bases loaded, a Stevensville error allowed both Avery Carlson and Shelby Huston to score. Haney then scored on a passed ball to add onto the lead.

Later in the inning, Camille Keeley scored on an error to keep things rolling for the Ponies. Huse then scored on a groundout to push Havre’s lead to 7-1.

In the top of the third, the Ponies could not be slowed down. After a couple hits early in the inning, Haney drove in a run with a single. Carlson then scored on an error to push Havre’s lead to 9-1. The Ponies scored another run in the top of the fourth to push the lead to 10-1.

Stevensville scored in the bottom of the fourth, but they could not stop the Ponies. In the top of the fifth, Carlson drove in a run with a double to center field. Keeley followed that up with an RBI double to center field. Jersi Morse then hit an RBI single to keep it rolling for the Ponies.

The Ponies scored again in the top of the fifth to push their lead to 14-2. Stevensville scored a couple runs in the bottom of the fifth, but the Ponies held on to win in five innings. Verploegen picked up the win at pitcher as she allowed four earned runs, six hits and recorded six strikeouts.

Many Ponies had strong games at the plate to start the weekend. Morse had a strong game going 3-3 with two RBIs. Carlson and Haney both went 2-3 with an RBI in the contest. Huston went 2-4 with an RBI.

The Ponies capped off Friday with a comeback to win 11-8 against Florence. Florence started the game by taking a 2-0 game in the bottom of the first. After a few scoreless innings, the Ponies finally responded in the top of the fourth with a solo home run from Huse.

However, Florence got rolling in the bottom of the fifth to push its lead to 7-1. But the Ponies did not let the game get away from them. The Ponies started the top of the sixth with four straight singles, the last two driving in runs to cut the deficit to 7-4. Florence then responded in the bottom of the sixth to push the lead to 8-4.

With only three outs left for them, the Ponies made the most of them in the top of the seventh. After a hit batter to open the inning, Carlson drove in the run with a triple to center field. Keeley then brought her home with a single to left to make it an 8-6 game.

Later in the inning, Haney scored on an error. Keeley then scored on a groundout to tie the game 8-8. After loading the bases, Brenna Hanson hit a single to right field to drive in a pair of runs to give Havre a 10-8 lead. Danni Wirtzberger followed that up with a single to left to drive in another run to push the lead to 11-8. The Ponies then recorded three outs in the bottom of the seventh to complete the comeback.

“There was no quit in this group when they went down,” Vigliotti said about the comeback. “We just got the bats going and everybody fed off each other in the big rally there in the seventh inning and then to be able to close it out in the bottom of the seventh and win it, that was a big win for us.”

On the mound, Verploegen allowed eight earned runs and 12 hits and she recorded three strikeouts. Many Ponies excelled at the plate. Huse went 3-4 with two RBIs and Morse went 2-4 with two RBIs. Carlson and Keeley both recorded two hits and an RBI in the contest.

The Ponies continued the tournament Saturday morning with a 6-2 win over Polson. In the top of the first, Polson struck first with a pair of runs to take the lead. Havre responded in the bottom of the first with an RBI single from Keeley.

The Ponies then got rolling in the bottom of the second. The Ponies started the inning with three straight singles to load the bases. Carlson then drove in a run with a single to left field. Kamree Oliver then scored on a fielder’s choice to give Havre the lead. Keeley drove in another run with a single to make it a 4-2 game.

Over the next few innings, both teams struggled to get much going on offense. The scoreless lull did not end until the bottom of the sixth when Carlson hit a two-run home run to left field to push the lead to 6-2.

The Ponies secured three outs in the top of the seventh to secure the victory. On the mound, Verploegen allowed two earned runs and nine hits and she recorded five strikeouts. At the plate, Carlson went 3-4 with three RBIs.

Unfortunately for the Ponies, their weekend came to an end with a 10-1 loss to Frenchtown. After a few scoreless innings to start the game, Frenchtown got going in the bottom of the third to take a 2-0 lead over the Ponies. Later in the bottom of the fifth, Frenchtown found its stride again to push its lead out to 8-0.

The Ponies finally responded in the top of the sixth with an RBI double from Huse. But Frenchtown scored another pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth to push the lead to 10-1. Frenchtown then recorded three outs in the top of the seventh to close out the game.

“No excuses, but I thought we were a little tired and ran out of gas a little bit,” Vigliotti said about the loss to end the weekend.

At the end of the weekend, the Ponies stand strong with an 11-2 record. With this tournament in the books, Vigliotti likes how the Ponies are continuing to play and he believes these games will be beneficial to them going forward.

“It was nice to get out and play four games with not much time in between. It simulates a divisional tournament or a state tournament, so I thought we handled ourselves really well,” Vigliotti said. “There’s a few things we need to work on defensively but I really like where we’re at. This team’s playing really well and we’ll just keep working and, like we always say, try to get better each time out.”

The HHS softball team will next play this Saturday at Sixth Avenue Memorial Field when it hosts a conference doubleheader against Sidney.

Havre 14, Stevensville 4

HAV 2 5 2 1 4 X X - 14 12 2

STE 1 0 0 1 2 X X - 4 6 3

WP - Elle Verploegen

LP - Jaden Fisher

Havre Batting - Avery Carlson 2-3, Lizzi Haney 2-3, Camille Keeley 1-3, Molly Huse 1-2, Jersi Morse 3-3, Hannah Gingery 1-4, Elle Verploegen 0-3, Shelby Huston 2-4, Danni Wirtzberger 0-2, Kamree Oliver 0-0.

Havre 11, Florence 8

HAV 0 0 0 1 0 3 7 - 11 14 2

FLO 2 0 0 0 5 1 0 - 8 12 3

WP - Elle Verploegen

LP - R. Yeoman

Havre Batting - Avery Carlson 2-5, Lizzi Haney 1-4, Camille Keeley 2-4, Molly Huse 3-4, Jersi Morse 2-4, Hannah Gingery 1-3, Kamree Oliver 0-0, Rachel Jette 1-4, Brenna Hanson 1-4, Danni Wirtzberger 1-3.

Havre 6, Polson 2

POL 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 2 9 1

HAV 1 3 0 0 0 2 X - 6 10 1

WP - Elle Verploegen

LP - Avery Starr

Havre Batting - Avery Carlson 3-4, Lizzi Haney 0-4, Camille Keeley 2-4, Molly Huse 0-3, Jersi Morse 1-4, Hannah Gingery 1-2, Brenna Hanson 0-1, Rachel Jette 0-2, Kamree Oliver 1-3, Danni Wirtzberger 2-3.

Frenchtown 10, Havre 1

HAV 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 - 1 5 3

FRE 0 0 2 0 6 2 X - 10 12 0

WP - Kendra Jacobs

LP - Elle Verploegen

Havre Batting - Avery Carlson 1-3, Lizzi Haney 0-3, Camille Keeley 1-3, Molly Huse 1-3, Jersi Morse 0-3, Hannah Gingery 1-3, Elle Verploegen 0-2, Rachel Jette 0-0, Shelby Huston 1-2, Brenna Hanson 0-1, Danni Wirtzberger 0-3.