After a first-ever Class A state softball tournament appearance a year ago, HHS embarks on a new journey starting today at home against Scotties
Chris Peterson Havre Daily News cpeterson@havredailynews.com
In just it’s second season of existence the Havre High softball team made big strides towards building a successful program. Now in year three, the Ponies will look to make even more progress. And that next step the progression beings today for HHS when the Ponies take on Class B foe Glasgow at the Sixth Avenue Softball Field in Havre. The 2006 season was magical for the Ponies as they won seven games, six more than in 2005. The Ponies also went 6- 6 in the Western A Conference, which earned them a third-place finish and their first ever bid to the Class A state tournament. A large part of Havre High’s success was due to the stellar play of Kelsey Evans. Evans was the ace of the Ponies’ pitching staff as well as the team’s best hitter. Unfortunately, Havre lost Evans to graduation, leaving a huge hole in both the pitching staff and the batting order. “Of course it hurt us to lose Kelsey because she was probably our best allaround player,” HHS head coach Bob Evans said. “I don’t know if you can replace a player like that, but every year you are going to lose players that’s part of the game. We are just going to count on some of younger players to step up and try to fill that void.” The Ponies also lost designated hitter Mikayla Patterson and outfielder Sjantee D’Hooge to graduation. “We were a pretty young team last season so we have a lot of the same players back,” Evans said. “We are young again this year, we only have three seniors. So we are going to rely on a lot of juniors and sophomores, even some freshmen.” It’s possible that the most important player returning for the Ponies this season will be junior pitcher Steph Stremcha. Stremcha will take over for Evans as the No. 1 starter on the HHS pitching staff. She should also be a key contributor in the batting order and defensively as an infielder when she is not pitching. “Steph is one of the players that is going to have to step up for us this year,” Evans said. “She pitched pretty well last season and she has been working really hard to get better everyday in practice.” Sophomore Karly Evans will be the second member of the pitching staff for the Ponies. Freshman Holly Cartwright and Abi Ita may also see time on the varsity pitching staff by the end of the season. “I think we have some good young pitchers out this year,” Bob Evans explained. “And if they can come along over the season they have a good chance to get up to the varsity.” One positive HHS has going for it is the fact that the batting order and defensive lineup remains largely intact from last season. The senior leadership will come from returning starters Erika Briese, Teryl Shrauger and Katie McLeod. Briese will man her traditional post at second base, McLeod will start in right field, while Shrauger will get time at first base. Junior Jessica Obrecht will be behind the plate again this season for HHS to help develop the young pitching staff. Kaylee Benner will hold down third base for the Ponies and talented sophomore Sam Mack will start at shortstop. Rounding out the defense for the Ponies will be junior Stacey Sheppard in center field and Tiffany Ranes in left field. Karly Evans should also see time in the outfield. “I really feel good about the progress our team has made over the last couple of seasons,” Bob Evans said. “I think that our lineup and our defense is going to be solid, and I think the overall talent of our team is getting better every year. “We are getting good young players to come out and I think our level of play is up from what it was a year ago at this time,” he added. Another change for HHS entering the new season will be the ballpark where they play their games. The Sixth Avenue Softball Field has put up a new regulation fence in the outfield, which will make the distance to the wall from home plate about 200 feet, down from the 300-plus feet it was last season. “We are really enjoying the new fence,” Bob Evans said. “I think having a regulation fence is really going to help our outfield. They are not going to have to run the distances they had to last season to get the ball and I think it will just allow them to relax a lot more.” Havre will kickoff the 2007 season tonight at the Sixth Avenue Ball Field against Glasgow at 4 in nonconference action. “I think Glasgow should give us a good challenge,” Bob Evans said. “They have a really good pitcher, which is the most important part of softball. I don’t know about the overall balance of the rest of the team, but they have a good pitcher which could make them tough to beat.”
