The Minnesota ASA Elite League 16U State Tournament was held last weekend in Forest Lake with three Becker athletes on the squad.

 

Brianna Corey, Payton Williams and Hailey Fitzpatrick helped lead their team — the Minnesota Moose Nelson — to the championship over some very strong competition. They finished the tournament with a record of 6-1 and will now play at nationals.

 

The Moose started the tournament with a 7-5 win over Minnesota Chaos 98 Friday morning. They shutout the Minnesota Sting Elite, 7-0, that afternoon, then eked out a close, 3-2 win over Minnesota Combat Saturday morning.

 

At 2:40 p.m., Saturday, the Moose beat Xtreme 98 by 3-2 to advance to play Sunday morning. Their first opponent was the Minnesota Renegades 98, who the Moose dispatched by a score of 5-3. That sent both teams to the championship game but the Renegades had the task of trying to beat the Moose twice to bring home the championship. 

 

In the first game, it was a very close back-and-forth match with the Renegades pulling out the close win, 3-2, forcing a deciding game.

In what was another well fought softball game, the Moose came out on top 4-2 to claim the title. 

 

With the championship secured, the Minnesota Moose Nelson team — as well as Corey, Williams and Fitzpatrick — will head to the USSSA National Championship in Kansas City next week.