The Minot Storm fastpitch softball program won titles at the 18U, 14U and 12U divisions during their annual invitational tournament over the weekend at SCHEELS South Hill Sports Complex. Photo provided by Minot Girls Fastpitch, Inc.

The Minot Girls Fastpitch organization hosted its annual Minot Storm Invitational over the weekend, welcoming 44 programs across the state as well as across the border to take part in the three-day tournament at SCHEELS South Hill Sports Complex.

Eight trophies were up for grabs across four age divisions, with the host Storm taking home three. The Minot Storm 18U Blue, 14U Blue and 12U White programs all won their respective championship games to capture hardware on their home turf.

The Minot Storm 18U Blue squad went undefeated in Pool A play, outscoring their opponents 45-19. They opened with a 16-9 victory over River City Renegades before handing the Dickinson Diamonds its lone loss of pool play with a 10-6 decision. They completed the undefeated run with a 19-4 win against the Regina Royals. The Storm took down the top team from Pool B in the title game, knocking off the Williston Boom, 14-6, for the championship.

The Minot Storm 14U Blue team didn’t finish unblemished like the 18U program, but the end result was the same. The Storm 14U went 2-1 in Pool A play, winning their first two games against Moose Jaw, 23-0, and the Estevan Bulldogs, 6-1, before losing a close 7-6 contest against Regina from Pool B. The Storm won Pool A, with both Moose Jaw and Estevan finishing a game back at 1-2, sending them to the title game against Dickinson. Minot recovered from the loss to post a 6-2 victory in the championship game.

The final title for Minot came from its 12U White team. The Storm 12U team put up 36 runs in three games in pool play, capped off with a 19-run performance against the Bottineau Crush. They also toppled the Bismarck Sparks Blue, 6-3, and the Bismarck Sparks White, 11-8. Minot and the Bismarck Sparks White met again in the title game with the Storm eking out a 9-8 victory.

Minot came within a run of having a fourth program win a title with the Minot Storm 14U White team. They advanced to the championship game after a 2-1 showing in the four-team Pool A behind Bottineau. The Storm dropped their opener 9-2 to Bottineau before winning a pair of games against Regina and Heart River to secure a rematch with Bottineau in the title game. The Crush again got the better of the Storm, but it was much closer, with Bottineau coming away with a 9-8 victory. Prior to the title game, Bottineau had surrendered just four runs all tournament.

The Minot Storm 16U White team went 3-1 in pool play to take second behind Carrington 18U, which went undefeated. Carrington defeated Minot, 13-8, in what would be the deciding game, as there was no post-pool-play tournament and the winner was determined by pool play record. The same was true in the 12U division, as Minot Storm Blue took second behind undefeated Bismarck Sparks Gold. The Storm went 3-1 and outscored opponents 64-15. The Sparks went undefeated with a 55-5 margin of victory in four games. Minot and Bismarck matched up in the first game of pool play, with Bismarck winning 5-2. Bismarck scored 13+ runs against its other three opponents. The Storm totaled 23, 22 and 17 runs in their three victories.

Dickinson dominated the 10U division, winning both the A/B pool and the C pool. Dickinson Diamonds Black went 4-0 in the A/B Pool and Dickinson Diamonds Orange outscored its four opponents 50-3 to also go unblemished en route to titles.

The Minot Storm organization had seven total teams take part in the competition. They combined to win 20 of their 28 games, outscoring opponents 304-173.

Along with Minot, other teams representing North Dakota were programs from Williston, Dickinson, Mandan, Bismarck, Carrington, Bottineau, White Butte and Heart River. Canada was represented by teams from Winnipeg (Manitoba), Assiniboia (Sask.), White City (Sask.), Moose Jaw (Sask.), Regina (Sask.) and Estevan (Sask.).