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Blue Pony softball heads to Belgrade

The Havre High girls softball team is heading into another jamboree weekend where the games may not count towards the program’s overall record, but four more games against talented Class A foes means another weekend to continue to get better.

Saturday the Central A Blue Ponies will play four games at the Belgrade Invitational in Belgrade.

Havre will open with Frenchtown at 12:30 p.m., followed by Polson at 2:15, Hardin at 4:15, and finally the conference rival Lewistown Golden Eagles at 5:30.

It is only the second weekend of the regular season, and the Ponies still have some work to do. Wins and losses are not priority number one just yet, especially with there being several positions still up for grabs. Rachel Majeres is the for-sure ace in the pitching circle, while Dani Wagner will hold down center field. Paige Henderson will also catch, while Harlee Boucher will lock up first base.

“This weekend is our final dress rehearsal,” Havre High head coach Danny Wirtzberger said. “It gives our girls another chance to prove themselves in the positions they want to play and a chance to really see where each girl fits in our lineup. I have it pretty well narrowed down, where each girl will play, but some girls will still be competing for those spots, and it will be fun to see how these girls play.

“This weekend isn’t really about winning games,” he added. “Although some wins would be nice. We are playing in our classification, and we want teams to know how good we are, and it would be nice if teams were scared after seeing our scores from this weekend. That is a distant hope, but our main goal is to get better, bet more at bats, and find who fits the best and where.”

And on a day where each girl needs to perform well to earn a spot, they will have to do so against some standout teams.

Frenchtown and Polson are state contenders nearly every season out of the northwest. Last season Frenchtown defeated Polson 2-1 in the Class A title game, meaning the Ponies have two very tough games to start the weekend. Hardin is also a talented program that will force the Pony defenders, no matter their possession, to limit their errors if they hope to win.

“They will be just as good as the Class AA teams we faced last week,” Wirtzberger said. “The only difference is they are Class A. I expect these teams to be very, very strong, and this will show us how we stack up against the best of the best in our own Class.”

Majeres will have her hands full with the majority of the pitching duties, but Tori Mazurkiewicz and Wagner should get some work as well. And with the bats, Majeres, Wagner, Henderson, Boucher and Shania Carlson all had solid weekends a week ago, and should lead the team again on Saturday.

But facing Lewistown in the weekend finale, the Ponies may or may not do some things even more different than the three previous games. Coach Wirtzberger will decide closer to game time, but facing the Eagles for the first of their three regular season games, the Ponies don’t want to give away any secrets. The two rivals may also cross paths in the divisional tournament at the end of the season, making round one less about winning, and more about not showing their cards.

“It is a chess match when we play each other,” Wirtzberger said. “We see each other so much during the season, it is hard to decide if we should show everything we have to win a game, or hold our cards and wait for the divisional tournament. We haven’t decided exactly what we want to do in that game yet, but we hope to compete well no matter what we do.”

Saturday the Ponies will open the Belgrade Jamboree with Frenchtown at 12:30 p.m., followed by Polson at 2:15, Hardin at 4:15, and Lewistown at 5:30.

 

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