Blue Ponies pick up two wins in Butte

The goal for

the Havre High softball team is to end this season fighting. The Blue Ponies

have just a few games remaining on their schedule, but they are still hungry

for wins and want to go out on top.

This weekend in Butte, the Central A

Ponies made big strides. They played four games at the Butte Central Invite and

returned home with a 2-2 split.

Friday the Ponies got things rolling with

a 14-5 win over the Whitefish Bulldogs. But the celebration didn't last too

long, as they followed the win with an 8-5 loss to the conference rival Butte

Central Maroons. On Saturday the Ponies returned to the diamond for two more

games, where they lost 7-1 to the Anaconda Copperheads and defeated the Hardin

Bulldogs 5-4.

With the 2-2 split, including the one

conference loss, the Ponies record now sits at 3-7 in the Central A and 6-11

overall.

"The girls did an excellent job this

weekend," Havre High head coach Mike Thill said. "I think we have to attribute

a lot of that success to having four good days of practice heading in, and we

haven't had that all year with the weather. Having those four good days of

practice really made a big difference."

Taking on Whitefish, the Ponies came out

swinging the bats, and swinging them well.

HHS jumped all over the Bulldogs 10-0 in

the first inning and never looked back. The Bulldogs would score five runs in

the second frame, but the Ponies' one run in the second and three in the fourth

sealed the deal as the Ponies earned the big win off of nine hits and zero

errors.

Dylann Williams helped lead the Ponies

going 2-for-4 and grabbing an RBI, while Alex Herrig went 2-for-2 with an RBI.

Davee McLeod and Chelsea Nottingham also had one hit each as well as grabbed an

RBI each. Mary Lyons went 1-for-4, Michaela Boles 1-for-3 and Clarissa Martin

went 1-for-2 with a double.

"That win basically gave us back-to-back

wins counting Cut Bank," Thill said. "We were going into the tournament with a

win for a change and we just hit the ball really well."

In Havre's second game on Friday, the

small winning streak came to an end. The Maroons built up an 8-0 lead through

three innings of play and looked to be in complete control. But HHS battled

back with two runs in the fourth and three in the sixth to make it just a

three-run ballgame. But even with McLeod shutting out the Maroons from the

mound after the third inning, the Ponies couldn't scrounge up any more runs in

the conference matchup.

"We gave them about five runs that were

unearned," Thill said. "But Butte Central knew they were in a ballgame and that

was our goal. We wanted to make them play seven innings, make them throw their

best pitcher and play their best players. They had to do everything right to

beat us.

"That shows that we have improved leaps

and bounds since the beginning of the season," Thill added. "We got beat 15-3

the first time around."

In the game the Ponies scored their five

runs on seven hits against Quinn Peoples on the mound, but also had four errors

that proved to be crucial mistakes. McLeod gave up 12 hits in the game, but

buckled down after allowing the eight runs in the first three innings.

McLeod, Williams and Nottingham all went

1-for-3 at the plate and all earned an RBI to lead the Ponies offense.

On Saturday the Blue Ponies once again

split their two games. They started the day out with the 7-1 loss to the

Copperheads, but finished off the tournament with a tight, 5-4 win over Hardin.

"I really thought going into Saturday we

had a better shot of beating Anaconda than Hardin because the pitcher for

Hardin (Jessica Campbell), has already signed to play with MSU-Billings."

But the Copperheads surprised the Ponies

after HHS went up 1-0 through two innings of play. The Copperheads put together

seven hits to score seven runs to defeat the Ponies. The Copperheads also

capitalized on four Blue Pony errors as they scored two runs in the third, one

in the fourth and four in the fifth. The four fifth inning runs came on a grand

slam by Abby Stanberry.

Boles led the Ponies with a 3-for-3

outing, while Nottingham was 2-for-3. Martin was 1-for-2 with an RBI and Nault,

Williams and Herrig were all 1-for-3. Nottingham and Herrig both had doubles.

With back-to-back wins followed by

back-to-back losses, the Ponies were happy to get back in the win column in

their last game of the weekend. Hardin is a tough ball club, and it took a

solid Blue Pony effort to grab the one-run win.

"That was really a high note to finish

on," Thill said. "I told the girls before the weekend that we were down to an

eight-game season and we needed to try and finish above .500, and start like

it's a fresh season.

To start the game, the Ponies grabbed a

2-0 lead in the first and held a 4-3 lead through three innings. The tide

looked to have changed when Hardin scored one run to tie the game in the top of

fifth, but the Ponies remained calm and scored the go-ahead run in the bottom

of the fifth to ensure their second win of the weekend.

McLeod was the hero of the game as she

pitched a five-hit game as well as got on board four times and scored three

runs. McLeod had a double, two singles and reached on an error, and even scored

the game-winning run on an error off the bat of Nottingham.

Nault was also 3-for-3 with a triple and

three RBIs, while Willams and Herrig were 1-for-2. Herrig had a double and an

RBI.

As the Ponies strive to finish the last

stretch of their season over .500, they have just four more games to do so.

Friday and Saturday the Ponies will be in Laurel for the Laurel Invite.

Friday

Havre

14, Whitefish 5

Whitefish

050 00 – 5 6 4

Havre 1013 1x – 14 9 0

WP

– Davee McLeod; LP Baylee Tveidt

Whitefish — Cross 1-3 2RBIs, Hanna Lewis

1-3 2RBIs, B. Tveidt 2-3, Madison Tveidt 1-3, Emily Stiver 0-3, Kaia Morrison 1-3

RBI, Emma Baldonado 0-2, Andera Lamoureaux 0-2, Jessica Vail 1-1.

Havre — Davee McLeod 1-2 RBI, Chelsea

Nottingham 1-2 RBI, Mary Lyons 1-4, Dylann Williams 2-4 RBI, Andrea Nault 0-1,

Michaela Boles 1-3, Clarissa Martin 1-2, Katie Beck 0-1, Alex Herrig 2-2 RBI,

Sydne Huston 0-0, McKenna Barkus 0-2.

Butte

Central 8, Havre 5

Havre 000 203 0 – 5 7 4

Butte

Central 143 000 x – 8 12 3

WP – Quinn Peoples; LP – Davee McLeod

Havre — Davee McLeod 1-3 RBI, Chelsea

Nottingham 1-3 RBI, Mary Lyons 0-4, Dylann Williams 1-3 RBI, Michaela Boles

1-2, Alex Herrig 0-1, Clarissa Martin 0-2, McKenna Barkus 0-1, Masha Barnekoff

0-3.

Butte

Central —

Hogart 2-3, Danika Neumann 2-4 2RBIs, Angela Piazzola 1-4 2RBIs, McKenzie

Doherty 0-2, Quinn Peoples 2-4, Taylor Marthaller 0-0, Breanne Krzan 2-4,

Shannon McLaughlin 2-4, Shely Paffhausen 0-0, Taylure Svejkovsky 0-2 RBI,

Carlee Norbeck 1-3.

Saturday

Anaconda

7, Havre 1

Havre 010 000 — 1 9 4

Anaconda

002 14x — 7 7 1

WP – Karli King; LP – Davee McLeod

Havre – Davee McLeod 0-3, Chelsea

Nottingham 2-3, Andrea Nault 1-3, Dylann Williams 1-3, Mary Lyons 0-3, Alex

Herrig 1-3, Michaela Boles 3-3, Clarissa Martin 1-2, Masha Barnekoff 0-1.

Anaconda

– Karli King 0-3, Brooke Chapman 1-4

RBI, Lauren Bolton 2-3 RBI, Vanessa Jense 1-2, Ali Forkan 0-2, Sara Schaefer

0-1, Jeanna Brunell 0-3, Abby Stanberry 1-3 4RBIs, Hannah Anderson 1-2, D.

Chapman 1-2.

Havre

5, Hardin 4

Havre 202 01 – 5 7 x

Hardin

003 01 – 4 5 x

Havre

– Davee MacLeod 2-3, Andrea Nault 3-3

3RBIs, Dylann Williams 1-2, Alex Herrig 1-2 RBI

Hardin – No Stats Available