Blue Ponies go 2-2 at Laverne Tournament

The regular season has now come to an end for the Havre High softball team as it competed in the Laverne Tournament in Butte this past weekend. Across four games, the Blue Ponies went 2-2 against some strong competition. The Ponies fell behind early in some games, so HHS head coach Tony Vigliotti hopes they can learn from that as they now head into the postseason.

"As we progress in these divisionals and hopefully the state tournament, we can't put ourselves in those holes. We got to have a little better start," Vigliotti said.

The Ponies started the tournament with a 5-3 loss to Frenchtown Friday. After a few scoreless innings to start the game, Havre took a 1-0 lead when Avery Carlson scored on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third. However, Frenchtown responded with a run in the top of the fourth to make it a 1-1 game.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Ponies got rolling. After a single from Jersi Morse to start the inning, Elle Verploegen drove her in for a run with a bunt. Later in the inning, Kamree Oliver scored on a sacrifice bunt to give Havre a 3-1 lead.

But Frenchtown took control in the top of the fifth. After getting two runners on base, Carah Evans hit a home run to left field to give Frenchtown a 4-3 lead. Then in the top of the sixth, Frenchtown scored on an error to push the lead to 5-3. Frenchtown then held Havre scoreless the rest of the way to secure the win.

Verploegen picked up the loss at pitching as she allowed eight hits, four earned runs and four walks in the game. Carlson and Morse both went 2-3 at the plate while the Ponies only recorded six hits as a team.

"Credit to their pitcher," Vigliotti said about the low scoring against Frenchtown. "We hung in there. They made some defensive plays and we were great defensively all day, but it was just a quality softball team in Frenchtown."

The Ponies bounced back later on Friday with an 8-2 win over Ronan. In the bottom of the first, the Ponies got rolling to take control. After getting on base with a walk, Lizzi Haney scored on an error to give Havre the lead. Molly Huse then drove in a run with a triple to center field. Morse then drove in Huse with a double to make it a 3-0 game.

Ronan responded in the top of the third to cut Havre's lead to 3-2. However, the Ponies continued to rack up the runs. In the bottom of the third, Haney scored on a groundout to push the lead to 4-2. Then in the bottom of the fourth, RBI singles from Danni Wirtzberger and Haney pushed the lead to 6-2.

In the bottom of the fifth, Huse scored on an error to add onto the lead. Morse then scored on a passed ball to make it an 8-2 game. The Ponies then recorded three outs in the top of the sixth to end the game early.

At the plate, Morse went 3-3 with an RBI. Haney, Huse, Wirtzberger and Camille Keeley all recorded an RBI in the contest. On the mound, Verploegen allowed six hits and two earned runs and recorded three strikeouts.

Saturday, Havre defeated Libby 13-5. The game did not start out on the right foot for the Ponies as Libby got the bats rolling to take a 4-0 lead in the top of the first. But the Ponies wasted no time in responding.

After Carlson opened the bottom of the first with a single, Haney drove her in for the run with a double to left field. Keeley then hit a home run to left field to make it a 4-3 game. Later in the inning, Verploegen drove in a run with a single to tie the game.

Libby responded with a run in the top of the second to take a 5-4 lead. Havre quickly responded with a home run from Carlson to start the bottom of the second. Then in the bottom of the third, Hannah Gingery scored on a passed ball to give Havre a 6-5 lead.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Ponies got on a roll to end the game early. Following a single from Keeley, Huse hit a single to drive in a run. Morse then hit a double to right to drive in another run. Gingery followed that up with an RBI single to make it a 9-5 game.

"It was just staying after it and everybody staying consistent in what they do. We had some big hits in that game," Vigliotti said about the offensive explosion against Libby. "Softball's a funny game. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't."

Later in the inning, Wirtzberger hit a triple to center to drive in another run for the Ponies. Carlson followed that up with an RBI single. Haney drove in another run with a triple and Keeley capped off the inning with an RBI single to make it a 13-5 game to end it early.

Many Ponies got rolling at the plate against Libby. Keeley went 3-4 with three RBIs while Carlson went 3-3 with two RBIs. Verploegen won the game at pitcher as she allowed eight hits, five earned runs and she recorded three strikeouts.

The Ponies ended the tournament with a 12-9 loss to Polson later Saturday. In the top of the first, Polson started the game by loading the bases, Avery Starr then hit a grand slam to center field to give her team a 4-0 lead.

Carlson responded by starting the bottom of the first with a single to left. Keeley then hit a home run to center. Later in the inning, Verploegen hit an RBI single to center to cut the deficit to 4-3.

But in the top of the second, Polson responded with an RBI single from Samantha Rensvold to make it a 5-3 game. Then in the top of the third, Nevaeh Perez hit a two-run home run to left to push Polson's lead to 7-3. Then later in the inning, back-to-back singles drove in a trio of runs to make it 10-3.

Polson continued to roll with another pair of runs in the top of the fourth to make it a 12-3 game. But the Ponies did not give up. After a double from Verploegen to start the bottom of the fourth, Rachel Jette drove her in for a run with a single to right. After another runner got on, Carlson hit a home run to center to cut the deficit to 12-7.

Later in the fourth, Haney scored on a passed ball for the Ponies. Kelley then scored on a groundout to cut the deficit to 12-9. However, Polson recorded the third out in that inning to win as the game ended in four innings.

At the plate, Carlson went 2-2 with three RBIs and Keeley went 2-2 with two RBIs. On the mound, Verploegen earned the loss as she allowed 12 hits, nine earned runs and recorded four strikeouts in four innings.

The Ponies finish the regular season with a record of 16-4. The Ponies excelled in the Northeast A where they went 8-0 to win the conference. With the divisional tournament and the postseason finally arriving, Vigliotti believes the Ponies are well prepared for the challenge ahead.

"I like where we're at. We're playing good softball at the end of the year when we need to be playing good softball," Vigliotti said. "We accomplished our first goal which is to win the Northeast A and we did that so now we'll put all that behind us and look forward to the divisional tournament and see if we can't accomplish our second goal, which is to win the Eastern A."

The HHS softball team will begin the divisional tournament in Billings starting this Wednesday.

Frenchtown 5, Havre 3

FRE 0 0 0 1 3 1 X - 5 8 1

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

WP - Olivia Campbell

LP - Elle Verploegen

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

Havre 8, Ronan 2

RON 0 0 2 0 0 0 X - 2 6 4

HAV 3 0 1 2 2 X X - 8 7 1

WP - Elle Verploegen

LP - K. Santos

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

Havre 13, Libby 5

LIB 4 1 0 0 X X X - 5 8 4

HAV 4 1 1 7 X X X - 13 16 2

WP - Elle Verploegen

LP - MacDonald

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

Polson 12, Havre 9

POL 4 1 5 2 X X X - 12 12 4

HAV 3 0 0 6 X X X - 9 9 3

WP - Avery Starr

LP - Elle Verploegen

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