HHS softball team loses two close ones at home

The Havre High softball team was looking to close out its season at home with a bang. Unfortunately, Lewistown and Conrad-Choteau had other ideas as the Blue Ponies dropped a pair of hard-fought games to close out their home schedule.

The Ponies played two home games Saturday at the Sixth Avenue Memorial Field as part of the Havre Invitational. In the first game against Central A conference rival Lewistown, the Ponies lost a three-run lead to drop the game 8-7. Then, in the second game against Conrad-Choteau, Havre came up short by the score of 3-2 in a pitcher’s duel.

“We easily could have won both of those ballgames,” HHS head coach Bob Evans Sr. said. “We just need to play seven innings. We had a few mistakes and errors on defense that really hurt us, so we need to cut down on those.”

In the opening game of the day against Lewistown, the Ponies grabbed an early advantage when Morgan Mazurkiewicz hit a two-run single in the bottom of the second inning, putting HHS ahead 2-0. Yet, the lead didn’t last for long as the Eagles batted home two in the top of third to tie the score at 2-2.

But, in the bottom half of the inning, Havre grabbed the lead right back, thanks to a towering home run by Dani Wagner, which put the Ponies back in front 3-2. Later in the inning, Shania Carlson scored on a passed ball and then Mazurkiewicz came through in the clutch again with an RBI single to put the Ponies up 5-2.

But the Ponies were unable to slow down the Lewistown offense in the top of the fourth as Lewistown scored a total of five runs, three of them by way of a three-run double by Abby Gremaux, which gave Lewistown a 7-5 edge.

After Lewistown extended its lead to 8-5 in the top of the sixth, the Ponies clawed back into it, getting within two at 8-6 after an RBI double by Dani Wagner and within one in the bottom of the seventh after Payton Howard knocked in a run. Yet, with two outs and a runner on third in the seventh Havre failed to score and the game was over.

Carley Carpenter notched the win for Lewistown, while Henderson got the loss for Havre. Mazurkiewicz led the Ponies at the plate with three hits and three runs batted in, while Wagner was 2-for-4 with two RBIs of her own.

“That was a game we really should have won,” Evans said. “We had that one bad inning and that cost us. We just need to play good defense and can’t make mistakes like we made. We know with our pitching that we aren’t going to strike out a lot of people we so need to play good defense.”

In the second game, the Ponies were faced with the task of going up against Tristin Achenbach, one of the premier pitchers in Montana high school softball. And thanks to a stellar effort on the mound from Wagner, the Ponies nearly handed her a rare loss.

Conrad-Choteau jumped in front in the top of the first with a two-run single from Hanna Bowers but HHS wouldn’t trail for long and evened things up in the bottom of the second, when Jacey McDonald and Henderson scored on a passed ball and a stolen base.

From there, it was a duel between Wagner and Achenbach. Wagner got in trouble a couple of times but managed to get out of the jams until the top of the sixth inning, when Achenbach doubled to open the inning and later scored to put the Cowgirls up 3-2.

The Ponies had chances to tie in the sixth and seventh innings but couldn’t even manage a baserunner as Achenbach shut the door on a comeback attempt and sealed the 3-2 win.

Achenbach struck out 13 batters to earn the win as she held Havre to just one hit. Wagner was given the loss but pitched outstanding and allowed just five hits and three runs in seven innings of work.

“I thought Dani pitched a great game,” Evans said. “That was definitely the best that she’s pitched all year. This was another game we should have won. We made some mistakes in the first inning that led to a couple runs, so really we should have held them to just that one run.”

The Ponies will head to Butte next weekend for the Butte Central invitational, which will take place this Friday and Saturday.

Lewistown 8, Havre 7

Lewistown 002 510 0 - 8

Havre 023 001 1 - 7

Lewistown - Mikayla Comes 2-4, Elizabeth Craven 1-1, Jessica Gapay 0-4, Jessica Kindzerski 1-3, Nora Welchel 1-5, Karlie Southworth 1-4, Paige Towne 1-4, Dani Gapay 1-2, Abby Gremaux 1-1, Hanna Hayes 1-2, Haydn Potter 0-0, Gracia Butcher 0-3.

Havre - Harlee Boucher 0-3, Paige Henderson 2-3, Jordyn Warren 0-3, Scout Boucher 1-3, Shainia Carlson 1-4, Morgan Mazurkiewicz 2-4, Dani Wagner 2-4, Jacey McDonald 0-4, Payton Howard 1-4.

Lewistown 14, Cut Bank 5 (5)

Cut Bank 140 00 - 5

Lewistown 025 7X - 14

Cut Bank batting - Vandumbs 1-2, Racki 1-1, Pyette 0-2, Thompson 0-1, Santia 0-2, Dezort 1-3, Coen 1-3, Taylor 0-3, Frahcom 1-2.

Lewistown batting - J. Gapay 2-4, Welchel 1-4, Southworth 3-3, Towne 3-4, Comes 2-3, Kindzedrski 1-3, Carpenter 2-3, Weeden 0-3, D. Gapay 1-3.

Conrad 3, Havre 2

Conrad 200 001 0 – 3

Havre 020 000 0 – 2

Conrad – Deboo 2-4, Drishinski 0-3, Achenbach 1-2, Harwood 0-1, Bowers 1-3, Erickson 0-3, Breeding 0-3, Moritz 0-2, Johnson 0-1, Gouchenour 0-3.

Havre – Morgan Mazurkiewicz 0-3, Scout Boucher 0-3, Dani Wagner 0-3, Jacey McDonald 0-2, Paige Henderson 1-3, Shania Carlson 0-3, Payton Howard 0-2, Harlee Boucher 0-2, Jordyn Warren 0-2.

Glasgow 13, Cut Bank 3

Glasgow 316 102 – 13

Cut Bank 001 020 – 3

Glasgow – Tiana Johnson 0-3, Kolstad 2-3, Tyra Johnson 2-4, Sukut 3-4, Nixdorf 0-2, Hopkins 2-4, Barstad 1-4, Chamberlin 2-3, Fossu, 1-2, Boese 0-1.

Cut Bank – Vanderbos 0-2, Racki 0-4, Pyette 0-4, Thompson 0-2, Suta 1-4, Dezort 0-4, Coen 2-2, McLean 0-0, Wood 0-1, Fancom 2-2.