Pony softball goes 2-1

Before the weekend arrived, the Havre High softball program received the news that they would not make the state tournament next weekend, instead having to realize that the Laurel Invite would wrap up the Blue Pony season.

Friday and Saturday the Central A Ponies competed in Laurel at the annual tournament. The Ponies were scheduled to play four games over the weekend, but ended up playing just three after Friday's game against Billings Central was rained out.

But the Ponies did go 1-2 on the weekend, ending the year with an overall record of 8-11 and a conference record of 3-5. Miles City defeated the Ponies 7-6 on Friday, but the Ponies did grab a win on Saturday morning, defeating Hardin 5-3. Also on Saturday, Sidney defeated the Ponies 5-2.

"These were three good opponents for us," Havre High head coach Mike Thill said. "And we had three freshman step up for us and bring their averages for the year up. Paige Henderson, Harlee Boucher and Morgan Mazurkiewicz all finished with a batting average over .300 on the year, and Boucher led us for the year with a .339, while Mazurkiewicz hit .320 and Henderson hit .316. That looks real bright for our future."

And Mazurekiewicz had a career weekend to say the least. She has had hot bat all year long, but ended the season with a weekend where she went 6-for-8 at the plate in three games, and batted .750. Three of Mazurkiewicz's hits came in the win against Hardin.

Also in the win over Hardin, Davee McLeod earned the win from the pitching circle, as the pitching staff and defense allowed just five hits and committed just one error.

HHS jumped out to a 2-0 first inning lead, but added two more runs in the third. The Ponies were up 4-3 through six innings, but added one last run in the seventh as they grabbed their only win of the weekend. Henderson and Lyons also had three hits each to lead the Ponies, while McLeod and Boucher had two hits each. Lyons also had three RBIs.

In the loss to Miles City, the Ponies and Cowgirls were tied 4-4 through three, but the Cowgirls managed to outscore the Ponies 3-2 in the fourth inning. And in the loss to Sidney, fell behind 2-0 early, before scoring one run in the third and one in the fourth. Sidney added one in the third and two in the fourth before the game was ended on a time limit.

But despite the losses, the Ponies played well in all three games against extremely tough opponents. Sidney won the Eastern A. McLeod grabbed the only win from the mound, McLeod and Rachel Majeres pitched well all season long. And while some of the bats remained hot, so did the defense. HHS made several big time plays on weekend, including Henderson at stop snatching a handful of line drives, Michaela Boles throwing a runner out at second from center field, and Lexi Olson connecting a strong relay throw to throw another base runner out at third.

"We had some of our better defensive plays of the year," Thill said. "Our infield played well and our outfielders threw out a few base runners. Defensively, we really made some big plays that we haven't made all year and played really well. For as many underclassman that we have started all season, like I said, the future looks bright for Havre softball."

The season came to an unfortunate end for the Blue Ponies, but with all the talented freshman, coaches and players are already looking forward to the start of next season.

FRIDAY

Miles City 7, Havre 6

Miles City 220 3xx x – 7 4 x

Havre 022 2xx x – 6 6 x

Havre – Mary Lyons 1-3, Morgan Mazurkiewicz 1-3, Clarissa martin 1-2, Harlee Boucher 1-3, Paige Henderson 1-2, Lexi Olson 1-2

SATURDAY

Havre 5, Hardin 3

Hardin 003 000 0 – 3 5 2

Havre 202 000 1 – 5 13 1

WP – Davee McLeod; LP – M. Blankenship

Havre - Michaela Boles 0-4, Paige Henderson 3-4 RBI, Davee Mcleod 2-5, Harlee Boucher 2-4 RBI, Mary Lyons 3-4 3RBI, Clarissa Martin 1-4, Morgan Mazurkiewicz 3-4, Masha Barnekoff 0-1, Lexi Olson 0-4, Sydne Huston 0-0. 3B:

Sidney 5, Havre 2

Havre 201 2xx x – 5 9 x

Sidney 001 1xx x – 2 6 x

Havre – Morgan Mazurkiewicz 2-2, Michaela Boles 1-4, Davee McLeod 1-2, Mary Lyons 1-2, Lauren Britt 1-1.