The blueprints were being drawn up just a few months after the conclusion of the inaugural season, which saw the Honeybees finish at the bottom of the standings with a 10-31 record. They finished 20.5 games back of champion Mankato and 5.5 games back of third-place La Crosse in the then-four team league.

The strategy was simple enough on paper: go and recruit talented players and continue to develop the talent still on the roster. With a lot of dedication and a touch of good fortunate, the Honeybees strategy came to fruition and what ensued was an 11-win improvement and a spot in the inaugural Northwoods League Championship Series against the Madison Night Mares, which begins Aug. 4 at Corbett Field at 6:35 p.m. Game 2 and Game 3 (if necessary) of the best-of-three series will take place in Madison, Wisc., on Aug. 6 and Aug. 7.

“The only way to improve is to get your players to play better or get better players,” Minot coach Craig Montvidas said. “We’ve done both. We’ve gotten better players and our players are developing and getting better. We learned a lot from last year with the new league and trying to track down players, contact with coaches. We put together a plan in October, a monthly thing and tried to stay with that. We got a little lucky, too. We got some help this time. It’s something we can be proud of because we hear from a lot of players, ‘I don’t want to go to North Dakota. It’s too far away.’ And if you think about it, it’s two months and half the time you’re on the road and it’s great here in the summer time. If it’s the winter, minus-15, I could understand that, but that’s the challenge. But if you look at our players and where they come from: Florida, California, last year we had a player from Hawaii, we have a player from Italy, Australia. So we can be really proud of the way the team was put together.”

Minot’s roster features just four players who were with the Honeybees during their inaugural campaign: Jackie Albrecht, Trinity Gregg, Shayna Myshrall and Shannon Nelson. Despite the large turnover, team chemistry has not been an issue.

Mike Kraft/MDN The Minot Honeybees look to capture the franchise’s first Northwoods League title as it begins a best-of-three series with the Madison Nightmares on Aug. 4 at Corbett Field.

“The team gets along really well together,” Myshrall said. “We’ve been producing defensively, offensively, our pitching is great. It’s just a combination of all those different things. As a whole, we all just like to have a lot of fun, so I don’t think there’s a lot of pressure and we just all enjoy playing together. That’s just the way we roll.”

The Honeybees (21-21) advanced to the postseason by the slimmest of margins, grabbing the final spot by just a half-game over defending champion Mankato. (Mankato had a loss removed from its record following a pitching violation in a game against Minot earlier this season. Minot was assessed a loss in that game, but Mankato did not receive credit for a win.) Minot’s returners have helped play a major role in the turnaround season. Myshrall led the team in home runs with 10, which was second-most in the Northwoods League this season. She was also second in the league with 45 RBIs. Gregg batted a team-best .405 at the plate, good for fifth in the league. And Albrecht contributed six wins and four complete games in 70 innings pitched, including the first no-hitter in program history. Her 69 strikeouts ranks her second amongst pitchers in the league, behind teammate Julianna Verni’s 95.

The newcomers have played their part as well. Taylor Chillingworth and Bella Cimino contributed eight HRs each and Cimino was tied with Myshrall for the team-lead in RBIs. Carly Cummings sported a .372 batting average, putting her second on the team behind Gregg and eighth in the league. And Verni was the ace of the pitching staff, leading the league in strikeouts and finishing second in wins (9) and third in ERA (2.75).

The finish line to Minot’s journey is just two wins away, but they will be a difficult two wins to achieve. Madison’s nickname isn’t just a clever play on words, as the Night Mares have been a nightmare throughout the season for the Honeybees. Minot finished 1-9 against Madison this season, winning the opener, 17-7, on June 17 before losing nine straight, including all three at home to close out the regular season. In two seasons, Madison holds a 19-5 advantage in head-to-head meetings. The Honeybees are 1-11 lifetime against the Night Mares at Corbett Field.

“We’re really excited,” Madison coach Lexi Godwin said. “What we’ve built this summer, I know it’s small to some but it’s really big to us and knowing what we’ve generated this summer is really special and I’m really proud of them. They are really excited just to finish and get a championship.”

The Night Mares (35-7) ran away with the top seed to earn home field advantage in the championship series, finishing 14 games clear of Minot. The Night Mares averaged nine runs per game against the Honeybees this season, scoring 10+ runs five times.

Madison had the top two hitters in the league in terms of batting average in Ava Carroll (.459) and Emma Kavanagh (.429), with Hilary Blomberg also eclipsing the .400 threshold at .402. Blomberg also leads the league with 11 home runs and 47 RBIs. Ella Stephenson, Danielle Lucey and Kavanagh all finished with eight home runs.

The Night Mares led the Northwoods League in most statistical categories on offense, including batting average (.358), runs scored (337), hits (437), home runs (55), RBIs (300) and fewest strikeouts (108). For comparison, the Honeybees batted .313 with 287 runs scored, 351 hits, 40 home runs, 254 RBIs and struck out 138 times.

“As the league grows, every team has gotten better and having coaches that put in the time and put in the effort to make us better and go find girls that get along and play hard has really helped us,” Blomberg said. “Anyone at any time could be the one that wins the game. Our strength is that there isn’t anyone we don’t trust. Everyone trusts each other and loves to be around each other.”

Despite being the underdog on paper, Montvidas and the Honeybees still like their chances with the randomness that can come with a short series as opposed to a longer one.

“There’s no team in the league with a winning record except Madison,” Montvidas said. “That’s pretty unique. That’s how dominant they are. I think with our players, they’re not going into it thinking ‘Oh, they’re so good.’ I don’t think we have that attitude. We know that they’re good. We respect that they’re good. They take advantage of mistakes. That’s what good teams do. But it’s a crazy game. Best-of-three is not best-of-five or best-of-seven. If it’s best-of-seven, then it’s really difficult to beat them four times, but best-of-three is doable.”

A key for the Honeybees to pull the upset is getting off to a strong start. The first inning has been a bit of a struggle for Minot throughout the season, as the Honeybees have found themselves behind after the opening frame many times. Montvidas said a big part of that is due to handing out free bases, whether it’s via walks or hit batsmen. But the Honeybees have fared better against Madison compared to the other teams in the league when it comes to allowing first-inning runs. In 10 games against the Night Mares, they have yielded 11 runs in the opening stanza, but they have surrendered at least a run in six of those contests. Walks have been the Achillies heel, however, issuing 60 over the course of their 10 meetings, including a pair of games where they handed out 13 and 11 free bases, respectively. The Honeybees gave up 19 combined runs in those two games.

“Usually in the first inning there’s a walk or a hit-by-pitch and it’s just a pattern,” Montvidas said. “I don’t have the exact figures, but if I were to look it up, I would guarantee that the opposing team has scored at least 25 times or 30 times in the first inning and that’s not a good thing. Most runs are scored in the first inning. That has to do with a team could be nervous, a pitcher is struggling to find the strike zone, not being ready to play mentally. I don’t think that’s the case, if it is then we have a big problem. It’s just something that happens.”

Minot is far from the only team that has struggled against the Night Mares this season. Madison’s roster features a wealth of talent playing at some of the biggest schools in the country. Earlier this year, Isabela Emerling was playing in the College World Series for the Oklahoma Sooners. Madison’s roster features 12 players playing for Power 4 colleges, including the University of Wisconsin, University of Washington, NC State and LSU. Despite the success throughout the season, the Night Mares aren’t taking anything for granted.

“I tell the girls to have a chip on their shoulder,” Godwin said. “We’re the team with the target on their back. We’ve been doing really well and have a lot of big-time players, like girls from Oklahoma on our team and telling them to go out there and play with that chip on their shoulder and just play simple softball.”

Both teams can put up runs, so pitching will be the X-factor for both teams. The Honeybees currently have a question mark in that area as it relates to Verni’s availability. According to the Honeybees, she is not expected to be with the team for Game 1 in Minot, but the hope is that they may have her back when the series shifts to Madison for Game 2. She is currently away from the team. If she is not available, the Honeybees will turn to Albrecht, Ashleigh Heiderscheit and Cienna Clemons, who are the next three leaders on the team in innings pitched. The three are a combined 12-14 this season. As a pitching staff, the Honeybees sport a 5.35 ERA.

The Night Mares have four big arms on the roster, led by Karlie McKenzie, who is 10-0 this season, striking out 49 batters and holds a league-best 1.86 ERA in 71 1/3 innings of work. Andrea Jaskowiak, Kendall Welk and Patyn Monticelli are a combined 19-4 with 12 complete games. The Night Mares have a team ERA of 4.16.

“Our good pitching is what separates us,” Blomberg said. “All the other teams have really good hitting, but our pitching staff is what kind of separates us because we’re able to limit the runs while our offense does their thing.”

As of the time of deadline, the probable starter for either team had been disclosed for Game 1.

Montvidas hopes that his team’s strongest asset can overcome Madison’s pitching.

“We can hit,” Montvidas said. “That’s our biggest strength. When you can hit, you always feel like you’re in the game. You can put rallies together. I think we do that well. We’re pretty good with discipline in the strike zone. That’s something we talked about at the beginning of the season is to get pitches that we can hit. It’s just cleaning up some of the ugly stuff.”

For Minot to lift the trophy, it’ll have to win in Madison. The Night Mares led the league in attendance with 1,093 fans per game. The two teams played in front of 1,936 fans on July 15, serving as the lead into the Northwoods League All-Star Game. For Madison, to win a title on the field they grew up watching baseball in the stands would be extra special.

“A bunch of us grew up watching the (Madison) Mallards (baseball team), so getting to play softball on that field and actually win the Northwoods League would be huge,” Blomberg said. “It wasn’t something I thought about when I was younger, so a lot of us are super excited to go for that win.”