Havre loses to Lewistown, set to host invite

The Havre High softball team hosted the Lewistown Eagles Thursday at the Sixth Avenue Memorial Field, with the hopes of evening its conference record at 4-4.

However, after a 14-4 win by the Eagles on an 80-degree day, the Blue Ponies finished Central A conference play 3-5. HHS is now 4-5-1 overall on the season. The team will be back in action Saturday, when it hosts the Havre Invitational.

"They hit the ball better than we did," HHS head coach Whitney McNally said. "They came out hitting in the first inning and we didn't do that. We did start hitting, just a couple innings later in the game than they did and that was the biggest difference."

The Eagles built an early lead by scoring three runs in the top of the first inning, but Havre responded with two in the bottom of the second, one coming on a passed ball and another on an RBI by Lauren Kato, which made the score 3-2, heading into the third inning.

However, Lewistown got two runs on the board in the third inning, before adding three more in the top of the fourth on a three-run home run. The Eagles then added three more runs in the fifth and seventh innings, to eventually build a 14-2 lead. Havre did manage to plate a couple of runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, but it was too little too late.

Jaycelyn Hassa got the start for the Ponies and also got the loss after pitching four innings in the defeat. Carley Carpenter beat Havre for the second time this season, doing it this time with a complete-game victory, in which she allowed four runs on seven hits.

Janae Boles and Jacey McDonald both had strong days at the plate for Havre. Boles had three hits and a double, while McDonald had a double of her own and two hits. Both scored a run and Boles also added an RBI. Kato was also 1-for-3 with an RBI. Sam Oliver also notched a hit in her only plate appearance.

"We stranded some base runners today, too," McNally said. "But that's going to happen. We just need to start hitting earlier."

While the game with Lewistown concluded the Ponies conference schedule, the Ponies still have two weekends of non-conference tournaments before the Central A divisional tournament May 19-20 in Livingston.

The first tournament will be the Havre Invitational, which is being held Saturday at the Sixth Avenue Memorial Field, with four teams slated to be in attendance, joining Havre, which will celebrate senior night Saturday before its game at 4:30 p.m. against Conrad.

The others teams in the tournament are Shelby, Conrad and Glasgow. Havre will play Shelby in the first game in the morning at 9, followed by consecutive games with Conrad, one at 12:30 p.m. and then again in the nightcap at 4:30 p.m.

"We will be playing our seniors because it's senior day," McNally said. "But we will also play the girls that we are thinking about taking to divisionals, so we can mix things up a little bit and see who we are going to take."

The trio of Class B schools should provide some good competition for the Ponies, especially Conrad, which has had a strong softball tradition in recent years. But in addition to allowing the team more time to grow, the Havre Invitational will also let the four HHS seniors, Hassa, Madison Tommerup, McDonald and Nicole Parsons, play three last home games in front of their hometown fans.

"We will be honoring the seniors before the last game," McNally said. "I think they have been really strong for us the past couple of years. I wasn't here for their freshman years, I came when they were sophomores. Since then, we have had them and they are a strong group. They all bring their own unique thing to the team and most of them play different positions so they have brought a lot of versatility."

The Ponies will play Shelby at 9 Saturday morning in the opening game of the Havre Invitational. The Havre JV will play the Glasgow JV at 10:45 a.m., with the other game set for 2:15 p.m., between Shelby and Glasgow. Havre and Conrad will also play each other at 12:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. All games will be played the Sixth Avenue Memorial Field.

Lewistown 14, Havre 4

Lewistown 311 321 3 - 14 23 2

Havre 020 000 2 - 4 7 2

WP: C. Carpenter. LP: J. Hassa.

Lewistown: G. Butcher 4-6, E. Craven 1-4, M. Comes 1-4, D. Gapay 3-4, V. Kolstad 2-4, K. Irvin 3-4, M. Mangold 1-1, A. Lensing 2-4, K. Gobble 1-1, H. Potter 0-1, A. Gremaux 2-4, H. Hayes 3-5

Havre: Nicole Parsons 0-4, Janae Boles 3-4, Alex Barkus 0-4, Jacey McDonald 2-4, Madison Tommerup 0-3, Mariah Malosich 0-2, Lauren Kato 1-3, Camryn Huston 0-3, Jayceyln Hassa 0-2, Sam Oliver 1-1.