Ponies face rival Lewistown on senior day

With just four games left before postseason play, the Havre High softball team looks to be playing at their best. The Blue Ponies seem to be doing that as they have won seven of their last eight games. However, their lone defeat came in a 3-1 loss to Lewistown on the road last week. The Blue Ponies will now have the chance for revenge as they host Lewistown at Sixth Avenue Memorial Field tonight.

HHS head coach Tony Vigliotti believes if his team is going to pull out the win this time, his offense will need to get it going early.

"We got to figure out a way to get on their pitcher a little bit earlier," Vigliotti said. "We've seen her once, now we just got to figure out how to put the ball in play."

Havre is 9-3-1 this season and 4-1 in conference play. Meanwhile, Lewistown is 12-4 and 5-0 in conference play, making this game a decisive matchup in determining the winner of the Northeast A. One factor that may go into deciding the game is that Havre will be playing at home, where they are undefeated this season.

"We haven't lost a game at home yet this year so we look forward to playing at home," Vigliotti said. "We look forward to our crowd, so home always helps us."

The Ponies' offense will need Quinn McDonald to continue her strong play this season. McDonald leads Havre with 25 RBIs and a .553 batting average. She will need runners to get in scoring position, though, something that Avery Carlson can do as she leads the team with a .614 on-base percentage. Vigliotti believes if Havre's offense is going to get going this time, they will need to get runners in scoring position consistently.

"One of our big strengths is running the bases so if we can do that, put the ball in play a little bit earlier, I think we'll be in good shape," Vigliotti said.

Havre will probably have Lexi Haney start at pitcher Friday. In her eight starts this season, she has picked up five wins. However, her most recent loss came against Lewistown where she gave up two earned runs and eight hits. In her senior season, Haney has a 2.211 earned run average and has struck out 55 batters, so Vigliotti believes she has earned the opportunity to pitch her senior night.

"She's worked her tail off for four years, so I think she's earned that senior night start against Lewistown," Vigliotti said.

In the week since their last matchup, Havre has won three games in a row over Sidney and Miles City twice. The Ponies have outscored their opponents 51-7 during that span, so Vigliotti believes his team has improved their play since their loss.

"This group just gets better and better each time out," Vigliotti said. "They know where to go, they know where to be. I just like the way we're playing, we're playing real well going into a big game for us on Friday night."

The Ponies will then have a quick turnaround as they will head on the road to face Sidney in another conference game Saturday. Havre already defeated Sidney, 20-7, last weekend, so Vigliotti believes as long as they maintain their level of play, they will be fine.

"If we just be us, we should be able to take care of business on Saturday," Vigliotti said.

Carlson should start at pitcher for Havre against Sidney. She pitched against them the last time they met, where she struck out seven batters while allowing one earned run, five hits and six walks. On the season, she has an ERA of 2.598 and has struck 49 batters.

She will need to keep Sidney's batters like Taylor Hanson at bay. Hanson leads Sidney with 12 RBIs and a .417 batting average this season. Carlson will also need to keep an eye on Amayia Kirn on the bases as she leads the team with 11 runs scored this season.

Havre's offense will look to exploit Sidney's pitching staff like they did in their first game. Lexi Metz, who has pitched the most innings this season, has an 8.549 ERA and has only struck out 29 batters. The Ponies may go against Hanson again, who only lasted two innings in their first meeting where she allowed 10 unearned runs.

After their games this weekend, the Ponies will only have two more games left before divisionals begin on May 21. With little playing time left in the season, Vigliotti hopes his players use these games to continue to improve so that they will be able to make a deep postseason run.

"You just want to get better each time out and offensively, defensively, running the bases and I think we're doing that," Vigliotti said. "We'll just continue to do that and hopefully we're playing our best here in about three weeks when we get into that divisional tournament."

Havre will play Lewistown at Sixth Avenue Memorial Field Friday at 3 p.m. Havre will honor the seniors as well. The Ponies will then head on the road to play Sidney on Saturday at 3 p.m.