FASPITCH FRENZY

Havre is a great sports town and accordingly, there are a lot of great sports traditions. When it comes to the summer, one of the best traditions is becoming the annual Shaina's Challenge Fastpitch softball tournament.

The tournament began seven years ago in honor of the late Shaina Evans and it will return this weekend to the Sixth Avenue Memorial Field, with a total of seven teams set to be in attendance according to the tournament organizer, Patch Wirtzberger.

Wirtzberger, who is the head coach of the Havre Northstars, will play for the team sponsored by Havre Ford.

"I'm very proud of what this has grown into," Wirtzberger said. "In seven years we have gone from a five-team tournament filled with all locals to a seven-team tournament with only three local teams. Most of all, I'm grateful to be able to spend the weekend with my family and remember and celebrate the life of my cousin. That's what this is all about, and I wouldn't have it any other way."

Havre Ford is one of the local teams Wirtzberger was referring to and joining him on the roster will be Jake Sedahl, Rob Watson, Coda Tchida, Kyle Sheppard, Nate Baltrusch, Dan Danielson, Will Devries, Bob Schafer and Jared Miller.

The Gallery Lounge will also have a team in the field once again and, of course, it will feature Gary Jo Evans, a local legend on the mound. The rest of the team will include Cal Wirtzberger, Rusty Evans, Tony Vigliotti, Bucky Lindstrand, Bo Evans, Doug Vandolah, Dave Hergeshimer, Bob Evans Jr., Lunar Evans, Mike Evans, Shawn Keeley, Ryan Divish, Billy Evans and Andy Smith.

There will be another team representing Master Sports and it will also have a strong local flavor with Sean Mariani, John Christian, Mark Larson, Ricky Brown, Ryne Antley, Kyle Miller, John Shennum, Daine Solomon, Mike Sangrey and Scott Leeds. The other teams in the competition will be Tire Rama of Missoula, The Oxford (Plentywood), Koefod and Valley Furniture, which is another team from Missoula.

In addition to the Fastpitch tournament, which starts tonight at 8, the annual alumni game for the Havre High girls Fastpitch team will also be held and with so many former Blue Ponies wanting to take part, there will be two games this year. According to Wirtzberger, the winner of the alumni game at 5 p.m. tonight will turn around and play current Havre High softball players at 6:30.

"Well I had been talking with (Tony Vigliotti, girls softball head coach) about getting involved in this thing and the girls were all for it," Wirtzberger said. "We are fortunate enough to have 27 alumni that want to play so we decided to do two games."

The former Havre High softball players set to be on the field tonight are Davee McLeod, Sydne Huston, Camryn Huston, Kelsey Ward, Karly Danielson, Katie Hofer, Paige Henderson, Rachel Majeres, Scout Boucher, Erika Briese, Kaci Hipple, Maddy Tommerup, Payton Howard, Morgan Mazurkiewicz, Jacey McDonald, Leanne Hanson, Jordy Warren, Paige Warren, Amanda Hamilton, Courtney Filler, Dani Wagner, Jera Verploegen, Lauren Kato and Kinzee Peterson. Kristin Donoven, Kim Prevost and Mary Lyons will each help coach.

Shaina's Challenge will run through Sunday with the championship game set for 1:30 p.m. All games will be played at the Sixth Avenue Memorial Field.