Titans win 3rd-straight district title, cruise into state tournament with momentum

BEMIDJI – A heavy downpour might have ended the Bemidji American Legion softball team’s doubleheader against New York Mills a few innings early. But there was no rain on the Titans’ parade, thanks to a pair of 13-1 and 8-2 wins to earn the program’s third-straight district championship.

And Bemidji will be riding that high right into next week’s third annual Legion softball state tournament.

“It’s three times in a row now, these girls earned it,” head coach Sylvia Grimm said. “We said the state tournament starts today and they put their foot on the gas and didn’t look back.”

This iteration of the tournament is going to be a bit more special, too. Bemidji plays host to the third-annual event this season, which means the Titans will be tasked with defending their home turf against the best Legion softball teams the state has to offer.

“We’ve gotten to state all three times now, but it just feels different, more special and more meaningful, because it’s here,” Aleah Shogren said. “I think we’ll just do everything we can to win and just play our hardest, have the most fun.”

A home-field advantage in the state tournament to cap off a strong season is a rare opportunity and the Titans aren’t taking it for granted.

“It’s definitely a little more exciting,” Samantha Nistler said. “This is our field, they’re coming to us. We’ve got to show, we’ve got to take charge for sure.”

Bemidji’s status as host wasn’t certain a year ago. Grimm offered to host the tournament at the end of last season, but Rochester already laid claim to that privilege in 2024, putting Bemidji next up in line.

However, when the event organizers didn’t hear back from Rochester, Bemidji was pushed to the front of the queue.

“I think the community is really going to show up,” Grimm said. “It’s really cool, and I don’t know when it’s going to happen again. It’s going to be memories for me, it’s going to be memories for them.”

The Titans look impressive entering the state tournament with a 19-4 record. Pitching has been especially great of late with the duo of Shogren and Anna Swedberg leading the charge.

“They both work really hard (in the) offseason, in-season, and it shows out there,” Grimm said. “Their confidence is untouchable right now. We’re really lucky. Can’t have a good team without good pitching. We’re really lucky to have two who are dominant right now. We’re going to ride them all the way.”

Shogren flexed that dominance against New York Mills in game one, tallying eight strikeouts and a walk while giving up just one hit.

She didn’t just impress in the circle, either. Shogren went 3 for 4 in the batter’s box in game one, earning a team-high four RBIs.

“Aleah is a ballplayer,” Grimm said. “She works hard in the offseason, she’s in the gym, she’s the one throwing, she’s the one hitting the ball all the time. She comes and gets extra reps and it shows, and she’s a great teammate. I love having her as a player. I’m going to miss her when she’s gone.”

Swedberg put up a good pitching performance in game two, collecting four strikeouts and a pair of walks while giving up four hits and two earned runs.

With that sort of favorable pitching on a consistent basis, Bemidji’s batters can enter each game without worrying quite as much about what will happen on that side of the ball.

“Our pitchers just do such a great job and I just want to make sure we can do as much as we can for them,” Nistler said. “I always have confidence in my pitchers.”

Friday night’s district championship wasn’t just a pitching show, though. The batters showed up, collecting 19 hits and 21 runs through two games to give plenty of security to their pitchers.

Nistler had one of the stronger performances of the night, with four hits through both games as the Titans’ leadoff hitter.

“We just know that we have good hitters that are going to get some runs up for us,” Shogren said. “It just kind of lets us do what we need to do and have fun and play hard. It takes the pressure off us too when we have a lot of hitting behind us. It just makes things really easy.”

Friday night showed the Titans at their best. Grimm hopes that it’ll carry right over into next weekend.

“We need our bats to get a little hot, which they did tonight,” Grimm said. “We need our pitchers to throw strikes and they’re doing their job perfectly this summer.”

The state tournament will be played July 26-28 at the Bemidji city fields. Updates on the Titans’ seeding and schedule will be published online at bemidjipioneer.com/sports when they become available.

Bemidji 13, New York Mills 1 (F/5)

NYM 000 10 – 1-1-2

BEM 453 1x – 13-10-1

WP: Shogren (5.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 SO)

Bemidji 8, NYM 2 (F/5)

NYM 002 0x – 2-4-3

BEM 601 01 – 8-9-1

WP: Swedberg (4.0, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO)