by Jody Spear –
Mason City’s traveling softball team, Crossfire, will be heading for national tournaments in Minnesota Thursday.
Crossfire is a twelve-and-under girls softball team and is sponsored by North American Fast Pitch Association. There are other teams, typically of different age groups.
Skyler Johnson, age 11, was invited to play by Head Coach Keri Mentink. “I knew of her athletic abilities because she played Basketball, Volleyball and Soccer with my daughter, McKenna.”
“It’s all new to us. We’re excited for the opportunity and it’s going to be a lot of fun,” said Coach Mentink, about their trip to Nationals.
“I am a catcher, a pitcher and have played almost all other positions,” said Johnson. “But I’m nervous and excited.”
“The Mason City Tournament got us an invite to the Nationals. The North American Fast Pitch Association sponsors these regional tournaments. You have to win or place high enough in a qualifying tournament, that they held throughout the season, to be invited. It’s by invitation only, an Invitational Tournament. They placed second in the Mason City Tournament which qualified them to play in Minnesota.” said Sarah Tiedeman, Skyler’s mom.”
“If you have a chance to watch them play, you will be amazed at how good they are. They play together well and these girls play their best when they’re under pressure,” Skyler’s grandma, Deb Robertson, proudly said.
Skyler will be leaving for Eagan, Minnesota, Thursday morning. Eagan is a suburb, about five miles from Minneapolis. Crossfire’s first game will be played at 9:30 am. and their second one will be at 3:30 pm. Friday they will play at 11:00 am and after that they will be bracketed out. The team is guaranteed five games throughout the tournament, which lasts until Sunday.
“Thursday night there will an opening ceremony, that we will be participating in,” said Coach Mentink. “There will be individual and team competitions at 7:00.”
Watch video:
httpv://youtu.be/jHosF0zK-CM
7 thoughts on “Mason City’s Traveling Softball Team Headed to Nationals”
I am one of the Manly Heat softball players. We all love the fans that support us through all of our tourments. We made it to the World Serious in Des Moines, IA. We didnt place, but we had a great time. Lets just say, we had a rough season. We loved playing against the Mason City Crossfire. Thanks for all of the loving support you gays gave us.
Really tired of negitive comments.great job girls and manly heat.I believe the mason city wild cats qualified for world series as well- both 14 u and 10 u. Lot of great travel teams in north Iowa.these are memories they will always remember.
A few mistakes but not bad for a quick set up…Congrats to Manly Heat too! That’s awesome! And just an FYI to all the negative people commenting, this reporter sought us out with the intention of just a fun little story. There are a lot of great local teams out there so maybe a bigger story next time.
GREAT STORY!! Matt
Anytime Tim, thanks for the nice comment.
Maybe you could also do a story on the Manly Heat softball team. They are going to the world series and there is at least one Mason City girl on the team.
Maybe contact NIT like I’m sure this team did to have a story done?????