Legion summer fastpitch launched

After many years of sponsoring summer baseball, the Minnesota American Legion recently decided to offer fastpitch softball for girls beginning in 2022.
"I'm thrilled," said Minneota softball coach Heidi Boerboom. "I had heard rumors about that a couple of years ago. I think we have the interest now to create a summer team. Hopefully, other area towns will have teams so that we don't have to travel excessive distances to play."
North Carolina American Legion fielded a softball program starting in 2018. It had 11 teams its inaugural season and now fields over 50 teams. Many other states planned to launch American Legion softball programs last summer, but the pandemic stalled those efforts.
During its meeting in early August in Royalton, the Department of Minnesota Executive Committee approved launching a fastpitch softball committee. Mike Arvidson, a member of the American Legion in Parkers Prairie, was named the director of the committee.
Arvidson, who championed the softball effort, had been on the Minnesota American Legion Baseball Committee since 2016. He is taking one year away from it to focus on launching the softball program.
“It is my hope that Legion Softball in Minnesota becomes as big as Legion Baseball,” Arvidson said.
Minnesota American Legion Commander Tom Fernlund of St. Cloud played fastpitch with an Air Force touring team in the late 1980s in Europe and is excited to launch fastpitch softball teams throughout the state.
“Fastpitch softball is near and dear to my heart,” he said. “It will be an opportunity to provide an activity for young women in the summer, a time when many communities have baseball for the boys but nothing for the girls.”
Registration for Minnesota American Legion Fastpitch Softball will open after Jan. 1, 2022.