The Minot Honeybees will have a complete roster of full-summer athletes this season for the first time in franchise history. The Honeybees return three players from last year’s team that advanced to the championship series. Mike Kraft/MDN

Two wins were all that separated the Minot Honeybees from their first Northwoods League title in just their second year as a franchise last season.

Unfortunately for the Honeybees during their championship series with the Madison Night Mares, a combination of injuries and player commitments elsewhere at the end of the summer derailed Minot’s chances of toppling a team that cruised through the regular season with a bevy of Division I talent.

While the Honeybees can’t account for potential injuries, they do know they won’t have to deal with a revolving door of roster moves this season, as for the first time in program history, their entire roster is committed for the full 42-game regular season and any postseason contests Minot finds itself in at the end of the year.

”This year we are really lucky,” Honeybees coach Kendall Winn said. “We have an entire full roster of full-summer players. Each team is a little different. Some girls come in for half the season, some come in for two weeks and some come in for the full season, but our team specifically, what makes us different is we are the only team in the league that is having an entire roster come for the entire summer. Our girls will be with each other for all 42 games this summer, which I’m excited about. Last year, heading into the championship series, we lost our No. 1 pitcher and that definitely makes it tough. This year I’m really happy that we have a group of girls who are really bought in and here for the whole summer.”

Winn begins her first season as head coach of the Honeybees after serving as an assistant coach last year. Winn was named coach in January, taking over for Craig Montvidas, who is currently overseas in Europe working with the Italian Women’s National Softball Team. Winn said she learned a lot from the year she worked alongside Montvidas.

“He was so great to me,” Winn said. “He taught me so much about a lot of the behind the scenes stuff. He taught me things about how to keep a team motivated for 42 games and then a lot of on-field leadership. He gave me the opportunity to coach third base every now and then and he put me in a really good position to come back this year as head coach.”

Winn brings with her plenty of softball experience. She was an all-greater Western Ohio Conference first-teamer during her time at Fairborn High School, where she was named Fairborn High School MVP in 2018. She played college softball at Adelphi University in Garden City, N.Y. Winn batted .509 as a senior and appeared in all 55 games as a junior, sporting a .442 average with three home runs and 26 RBIs. She was named to the Northeast 10 all-conference second team that season.

Winn is a familiar face for Honeybees fans and so are three others that will be on the diamond at Corbett Field for a second straight summer. Pitcher Ashleigh Heiderscheit, catcher Olivia Hernandez and first baseman Reagan Winn – the younger sister of Kendall Winn.

Heiderscheit appeared in 22 games in the circle last season with 11 starts. She sported a 6-5 record and a 6.62 ERA. In her freshman campaign at West Liberty, Heiderscheit pitched 23 2/3 innings in 10 appearances, recording a 5.32 ERA.

Hernandez batted .295 with 18 total hits, including two home runs. She tallied 11 RBIs and nine runs scored. Reagan Winn appeared in seven games, recording five hits – two doubles and a triple – two RBIs and seven runs scored.

Minot was also expected to have Taylor Chillingworth back for her second season, but a lingering injury will keep her out of a Honeybees uniform this season. Chillingworth was a key piece of the offense last season, batting .280 with seven doubles, eight home runs, 25 RBIs and 23 runs scored. She went 3-for-6 with a home run in the championship series and was named a Northwoods League all star.

Despite losing Chillingworth before the season even started, Winn still likes the makeup of her team.

“I think this team is just as talented if not more than last year,” Kendall Winn said. “I’m expecting a very successful season out of them. Above all else, the way they’ve bought into each other is going to help them on the field more than anything. They are very talented and we have all the pieces.”

Minot State softball fans will also recognize a familiar face, as Sarah Misner joins the Honeybees this season as a third baseman. Misner batted .336 during her sophomore season with the Beavers, hitting six home runs and driving in 28 runs. She also pitched 44 1/3 innings and had a 3.32 ERA.

Misner won’t be called on to pitch for the Honeybees because of the depth at the position this season. Along with Heiderscheit, Minot brought in three pitchers currently at the Division I level with UNC-Greensboro’s Nadia Andarowski, Lafayette College’s Parker Rowden and University of Washington’s Madi Balk. Balk won’t be on the roster for the first week of the season, but is expected to join the team next week.

Last year’s pitching staff threw 271 innings, allowing 254 runs on 309 hits, striking out 192 batters and sporting a 5.35 ERA. Giving up free bases to opposing batters was an issue that plagued the Honeybees at times last year. Minot issued 225 walks. Winn believes this year’s pitching staff addresses that issue.

“We are so lucky with our pitching staff this year,” Kendall Winn said. “We have three Division I girls as well as our returner Ashleigh. Those girls, they are going to hammer the strike zone. They are going to move the ball up and down. They are pretty speedy, too, so I think our pitching will be a huge strength this year.”

The Honeybees won 11 more games than they did in their inaugural season, finishing .500 in the regular season at 21-21 and clinching one of two spots in the championship series. Minot found a great deal of success against both Wausau and La Crosse last season, going 15-6 against the two teams. The Honeybees were 5-6 against Mankato and 1-11 against defending champion Madison.

For the second straight year, the Northwoods League expanded by one. This year, the Grand Forks Spitfires became the league’s sixth team, giving North Dakota its second franchise. Grand Forks’ roster includes former Honeybee Makenna Alexander, who appeared in 32 games last season, collecting 16 hits and driving in 12 runs. Alexander is from West Fargo and plays at the University of North Dakota.

“It’ll be nice having a little bit of an in-state rivalry,” Kendall Winn said. “I’m excited to see them and they have some good girls, but I feel like we should be a good match for Grand Forks. It’s awesome for the league. It’s so important to have a standalone softball team. It’s going to make history.”

Minot opens its season at Grand Forks for a two-game series, which began on Tuesday, June 9. The Honeybees play a season-high 12 games against the Spitfires this year. Minot’s 42-game regular season schedule includes eight games against La Crosse, Mankato and Wausau, and six games against Madison.

The Honeybees will play 21 games in front of their home fans at Corbett Field this season – six against Grand Forks, four against La Crosse, Mankato and Wausau, and three against Madison, While wins are the top priority at gametime, providing a memorable experience for the fans is just as important to Winn and the Honeybees.

‘The expectation is to be here for the fans,” Kendall Winn said. “It’s such an important piece of this league to make sure they are prioritizing fan experience. I’m telling them that it’s important to be locked into the game, but once the game ends our first priority is making sure we’re getting those autographs signed and making sure we’re going out of our way to make sure the little girls feel special because that’s really important to me and to Minot.”

The Honeybees play their home opener on Friday, June 12, at 6:35 p.m. at Corbett Field against Madison.