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HHS gains experience in Great Falls

The Havre High softball team opened its season Saturday at the Great Falls Jamboree and despite going winless against some difficult competition, the Blue Ponies are pleased with the results.

“We had to play a really tough schedule,” HHS head coach Whitney McNally said. “And the schedule changed and we didn’t even know it. We were supposed to play Laurel, and then we ended up playing four Class AA schools, but it was a good for us either way.”

While Havre had to play up in classification throughout the jamboree, which features non-regulation games that are timed for only an hour, the Blue Ponies ended up going 0-4 in Great Falls after losing to CMR 11-2, Skyview 13-3, Bozeman 5-2 and Billings West 10-1.

“I thought that the girls did really well,” McNally said. “It’s still early and I thought that the girls competed really hard throughout all four games and even though we didn’t win, I thought we played well.”

One thing that McNally was looking forward to with the jamboree was giving her players an opportunity to try a few different spots, so the Ponies can lock down both their offensive and defensive lineups as much as possible.

“I don’t think that we ended up moving people around as much as we thought,” McNally said, “but had some new people in, and we moved some others around and they all did a good job. So we are a little more set where everyone is going to play and we did get more of our lineup set for what it’s going to be like for the season.”

During the four games the Ponies played throughout the day Saturday, Jacey McDonald was the most effective Havre player at the plate, registering five hits and five RBIs. Two of her five hits went for extra bases, as she notched a double and a triple to lead the team in hits. Nicole Parsons also had a stellar day for the Ponies both offensively and defensively.

Parsons, who catches for the Ponies made seven outs individually, four by catching foul balls. She also scored four of Havre’s eight runs during the day. HHS did give up just under 10 runs a game, but against Class AA competition, McNally was happy with how starting pitchers J.J. Hassa and Alex Barkus performed.

“Nicole did a tremendous job behind the plate,” McNally said. “She did a great job. Both pitchers, Alex (Barkus) and (J.J.) Hassa did incredible. They threw the ball where they needed to throw it. Against one team, they didn’t know what do, but there isn’t much you can do when you are throwing to a team that knows how to really hit the ball well.”

“As a team, everyone played really well,” She added. “We had a couple tough innings in a couple of games, but the girls stayed positive and shook it off and they were able to have fun and that’s huge for them to have fun as a team.”

Havre softball will be back in action this coming Saturday when they travel to Lewistown for their first Central A conference game of the year. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.

 

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