Blue Ponies ride by Whitefish

WHITEFISH - Baby steps.

The Whitefish softball team is taking small steps toward a brighter future.

The Bulldogs dropped a pair of conference games to visiting Havre (5-0) on Saturday at Smith Field, 11-5 and 13-3.

"I think we left our bats in Browning," said Whitefish head coach Alan Compton.

"I think Havre is tough. Best team we've seen so far - by far," he added.

"These girls, they have experience, all the way through their lineup. They have experience and they are going to be tough," he said of the Blue Ponies.

They were.

The Blue Ponies racked up 30 hits on the day - 18 in the first game and another 12 in the second.

The Bulldogs had 11 hits in the first game, but couldn't string enough of them together.

"That girl was so slow … as patient as we were (Friday), in front of the home crowd, I think they wanted it too much," Compton said of the first game.

"It's good they want it, but you've just got to learn to control that," he said.

The Bulldogs trailed 5-1 after three innings of that one, bounced back with three runs in the sixth inning, but then gave up four runs in the top of the seventh.

Leadoff hitter Adele FauntLeRoy was 2-for-4 in the opener and pitcher Carolyn Sharpe was 2-for-3.

Havre jumped out quick in the second game as well, scoring six runs in the second and third innings.

FauntLeRoy and Madison Tveidt were the hitting bright spots for Whitefish.

FauntLeRoy was 2-for-2 and Tveidt was 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI.

"As long as we take positives from every loss and we learn from every loss, the wins will come," he said.

The big thing Whitefish took from Saturday's games was first-hand knowledge of the effect of aggressive baserunning.

"That's something we want to do and they saw it first-hand today," he said.

"I'm happy. I'm disappointed we lost, but I think the girls learned a lot. As long as I see in their eyes they are still positive, we still have a chance of going forward," he said.

Havre 221 002 4 - 11 18 0

Whitefish 100 013 0 - 5 11 6

Karly Evans and Kelli Kelsey. Carolyn Sharp and Hailey Mortensen. W - Evans. L - Sharpe.

Havre - Holly Cartwright 1-3, Karly Evans 2-3, Samantha Mack 1-4, Kelli Kelsey 5-5, Natalie Kato 4-5, Tabby Myers 1-5, Amanda Hanson 0-4, Paighton Gilman 1-3, Cortney Bricker 3-3.

2B - Bricker.

Whitefish - Adele FauntLeRoy 2-4, Carolyn Sharp 2-3, Kaitlyn Wehrli 1-3, Hailey Mortensen 1-4, Callie Marsh 1-3, Shannon Holmes 1-4, Madison Tveidt 2-2, Nicole Schelling 1-3.

RBI - Wehrli, Schelling 2.

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Havre 142 023 1 - 13 12 2

Whitefish 020 100 0 - 3 4 3

Myers and Kelsey. Sharpe, Wehrli (5) and Mortensen. W - Myers. L - Sharpe.

Havre - Cartwright 1-3, Evans 1-3, Mack 2-4, Kelsey 1-4, Kato 1-3, Myers 3-5, Abi Ita 0-3, Gilman 0-2, Andrea Nault 0-0, Bricker 3-3.

2B -Bricker 2.

RBI - Bricker 6, Mack 2, Evans 2.

Whitefish - FauntLeRoy 2-2, Sharpe 0-3, Wehrli 0-2, Mortensen 0-3, Bailey 0-3, Whisler 0-3, Holmes 0-1, Tveidt 1-3, Callie Marsh 1-2, Schelling 0-1.

2B - Tveidt.

RBI - FauntLeRoy, Tveidt.