Submitted Photo The 14U A Minot Storm fast pitch softball team poses for a photo after winning the Junior Olympics State Championship for their division July 15 in Fargo.

After a short summer season, the Minot Storm fastpitch program made their way to the Junior Olympics North Dakota State Fastpitch Tournament in Fargo from July 13-15. 76 teams from around the state travelled to participate in the tournament.

The Storm program took eight teams with two teams at 10 and under, two teams at 12 and under, two teams at 14 and under, one team at 16 and under, and one team at 18 and under.

Both the 14U A and B teams walked away with the championship in their divisions and went undefeated to do so. The championship games were played right next to each other so Minot fans were able to bounce back and forth between the games to easily see the girls win.

The 10U A team took second and the 10U B team finished third. Every other team that went to the state tournament had a couple wins under their belt before coming home.

Thor Nelson, program director and coach of the 14U A team, said their 14 and under teams won three different tournaments they participated in over this summer.

“They both won the Bismarck Early Bird Tournament, the Minot Tournament and a state championship,” Nelson said. They also participated in the Rushmore Classic in South Dakota, but the event was rained out after the first couple of games.

This summer, the Minot Storm played many different Canadian teams and different teams from South Dakota, Nebraska and Minnesota to give the girls varying levels of competition.

“We have eight teams now, which is the biggest travel program in the state,” Nelson said. “The girls, they put in a lot of hours… We have a lot of girls that are very good athletes that just needed an opportunity to play.”

In the club softball season, it’s up to the girls what kind of work they want to put in. The Minot area has seen success in softball from the college level down and it’s something Nelson thinks helps grow the summer fastpitch program.

“People want to be part of programs that win and we try to keep it fun,” he said. “Kids don’t want to do stuff if it’s not fun for them.”

He also loves to see girls that competed against each other in the high school season come together over the summer to play.

“Go play against each other in high school and play hard and then, when summer comes, we’re going to redistribute everybody and put girls with like abilities on teams together,” Nelson said.

It also helps the girls learn and adapt to different styles of play while exposing them to different in-game situations to be more prepared in the future.

“My job is to make it pretty hard for these high school coaches around here when they have to pick their varsity (squads),” Nelson said. “I hope they have difficult decisions to make because I hope we have a lot of good ball players coming out and filling up those rosters.”