Chris Peterson Havre Daily News cpeterson@havredailynews.com
With the weather simply not cooperating, it has been a tough couple of weeks for the Havre High softball team. The Ponies need all the preparation they can get as they attempt to rebound from a demoralizing 18-5 defeat at the hands of the Glasgow Scotties Monday night in Glasgow when they welcome the Libby Loggers to the Sixth Avenue Memorial Field Friday night for a Western A Conference doubleheader. “It’s just been difficult because of the weather,” HHS head coach Bob Evans said. “We haven’t been able to practice outside for nearly two weeks. We have been able to work on a few things with our hitters, but we haven’t been able to hit at all or do much with infield or outfield.” HHS (1-2 overall, 1-0 conference) is going to have its hands full with the Loggers who are one of the top teams in Class A softball, and were the state runner- up a year ago. Last season, behind the stellar pitching of Shelly Hageness, the Loggers easily swept their two-game set with the Ponies, winning by scores of 19-5 and 11- 1. “It’s going to be a tough weekend for us,” Evans said. “Libby is a really tough team. Hageness is a really good pitcher, so it’s going to be tough for us to score runs. We aren’t going to be able to give up eight or nine runs in a game and expect to have a chance to win.” If the Ponies intend on knocking off the Loggers, they will need a spectacular effort from their pitching staff led by game-one starter Steph Stremcha. Stremcha is 1-2 on the season, with a victory over Browning. Both of her defeats came against the Glasgow Scotties. There is a possibility that Stremcha could also start the second game of the doubleheader, but if she doesn’t, either sophomore Karly Evans or freshman Holly Cartwright should get the nod. “I hope to see some improvement out of our pitching this weekend,” Evans said. “I think that we need to cut down on the walks. But our defense has to help our pitchers and make plays behind them, which is something we haven’t done lately. “I think that all of the girls have been hitting the ball pretty well,” he added. “We haven’t had a whole lot of strikeouts and we have been doing a good job of putting the ball into play. We just haven’t been able to come up with timely hits, so hopefully that is something we can also improve upon.” The Ponies will have their work cut out for them at the plate going up against Hageness and the rest of the Loggers’ pitching staff. So if they plan on generating any kind of offense, they will need shortstop Sam Mack, catcher Jessica Obrecht, outfielder Katie McLeod and second baseman Erika Briese to continue to do well at the plate. “I think that Sam and Erika have both hit the ball really well in the first three games,” Evans said. “In fact, I think that so far everyone has been hitting a little bit, so I have been pleased with the way we have hit the ball.” The Ponies doubleheader against Libby will take place on Friday at the Sixth Avenue Memorial Field. The first game will begin at 4 p.m. with the second game to follow at 6 p.m. “I am excited for us to play (Libby),” Evans explained. “I am anxious to see how we compete against them. “I think right now we just want to go out there and get a little bit better with each game we play,” he added. “And hopefully by the end of the spring we will be a lot more competitive.”
