Big weekend for Havre High softball

It wont be long before the Havre High softball team is marching into the postseason, but that hasn't kept the Blue Ponies from continuing to pack in as many games as possible before then.

The Central A Ponies have three games slated for this weekend, including one game tonight.

Havre's Rachel Majeres fires a pitch during the 2012 Havre Invitational. The Blue Ponies are set to host the 2013 Havre Invite all day Saturday at both the Sixth Avenue Memorial Field and the Hospital Field.

Tonight, the Ponies will face the Class B Conrad Cowgirls in Conrad, a makeup game rescheduled from last month. And on Saturday, the Ponies will host the annual Havre Invite at the Sixth Avenue Memorial Field in Havre, where the Ponies, Cowgirls, Glasgow Scotties, Shelby Coyotes, and Lewistown Golden Eagles will all compete.

HHS and the Eagles will start the invite with a Central A conference game at 9:30 a.m. The Cowgirls and Scotties will also play at 11 a.m., while the Eagles and Coyotes will play at 12:30 p.m., the Ponies and Cowgirls will play again at 2 p.m., and the Coyotes and Scotties will play at 4 p.m. There will also be three junior varsity games at the Hospital Field in Havre. The Ponies and Eagles will play at 11:15 a.m., followed by the Ponies and Scotties at 12:45 p.m., and the Eagles and Coyotes at 2;15 p.m.

"We get to show off our facilities here in Havre this weekend," Havre High head coach Danny Wirtzberger said. "The community has done a great job of keeping up our softball facilities, so I am extremely proud to call myself from Havre, because these other teams can't believe what kind of facilities we have. The other thing, we get to show off our community and our great fans, and I know other teams enjoy coming here to play.

"I am also glad to host Lewistown in our last conference game of the season," Wirtzberger added. "And I am glad to host divisionals later on. We seem to play better at home than on the road, and teams this age typically do that."

Even with playing Conrad tonight and again on Saturday, the Ponies are focused on the importance of the conference game between them and the Eagles.

In mid April, the Eagles defeated the Ponies 14-4 in Lewistown. It wasn't a game the Ponies were necessarily proud of, but the Ponies do know they have the opportunity to things differently the second time around, especially playing at home, where the Ponies already recorded a historic 3-1 win over conference Belgrade.

And a win would be huge, but sitting at 3-4 in conference play, just playing the Eagles, the No. 1 team in the conference, close, would be a big stepping-stone for the Ponies.

"To be able to play them and to play them close," Wirtzberger said. "Would be a huge confidence booster for us going into the divisional tournament just about two and a half weeks away. We just need to stay out of our heads and realize that we can play with these teams if we get rid of our one bad inning. If we don't have that one bad inning, we are going to be right in the thick of things, and with the determination our girls have we are going to come through in the end if we keep it close."

Davee McLeod and Rachel Majeres make up the majority of the Ponies' pitching staff this season, and will have their hands full with the Lewistown batters.

But if they can lock down the Eagles from the circle, the HHS defense and offense will also have to play well in a supporting role. The Eagles can put up hits and runs if teams allow them to, and with players like Robertson, Birdwell, Comes, and Kindzerski, the Eagles can do so very quickly. Comes and Miller are also both excellent pitchers for the Eagles, and will look to limit what the HHS batters accomplish at home.

McLeod and Roxanna Jensen have had the hot bat as of late, but players like Morgan Mazurkiewicz, Paige Henderson, Harlee Boucher and Liz Facio aren't far behind. It is going to take a great game all around for the Ponies to get past the Eagles, and coach Wirtzberger has made that very clear.

"Lewistown just does everything fundamentally right," Wirtzberger said. "And they are a fun team to watch because of that. We have to take advantage of every single thing they give us because we have to play our best game of the year to beat them."

But the Blue Ponies know they have to play well to beat Conrad as well, a very worthy Class B opponent.

In their first meeting, the Ponies narrowly escaped the Cowgirls in a 13-12, extra innings home win. The Cowgirls do a lot of things well, including pitch and bat, utilizing the bats of players like Morgan Fowler, Michaela DeBoo, Taylor Judisch and Kaylee Taule. Fowler will also give the Ponies a tough time as a very good starting pitcher at any level.

"They always give us a good game," Wirtzberger said. "And they are great Class B competition. They have some great hitters in the middle of the lineup, and they also have a great pitcher. It is always good to get these nonconference games, we are looking forward to playing them, and we know we should play well and compete."

Tonight the Ponies will face the Cowgirls in Conrad before returning home on Saturday for the Havre Invite. On Saturday, the Ponies will face Lewistown at 9:30 a.m. and Conrad again at 2 p.m.

2013 Havre Softball Invite

Sixth Avenue Memorial Field

9:30 HAVRE vs LEWISTOWN

11:00 CONRAD vs GLASGOW

12:30 LEWISTOWN vs SHELBY

2:00 HAVRE vs CONRAD

4:00 SHELBY vs GLASGOW

Hospital Field

11:15 HAVRE JV vs LEWISTOWN JV

12:45 HAVRE JV vs GLASGOW JV

2:15 LEWISTOWN JV vs SHELBY JV