PORTLAND, Maine — If you walk inside The Edge Academy in Portland, you'll notice the baseball and softball facility has no shortage of trophies lying around. After this week, another one is set to be displayed there.
The Maine Thunder 14U softball team won the 2021 Youth Softball National Championship in Myrtle Beach on Wednesday. The squad outlasted more than 30 teams in its division and was the only team from New England in the field.
“Regardless of geographical location, if you put the work into it and put the time into it, you can have a lot of success," team manager Jason McLeod said Saturday.
The team put in plenty of work this summer and in the off-season, McLeod added. He said the girls were inside the batting and pitching cages for up to six days a week in the winter.
All that hard work paid off, as McLeod said during crucial moments during the tournament, he didn't have to step in and coach.
“There were many different scenarios where the girls got together in the course of a game and worked out between themselves and figured out what they wanted to accomplish," he added.
Players Kyeria Morse of Norway, Stella Jarvis of Windham, and Oakley McLeod of Windham all spoke about their dedication to getting better in the fall and winter to be prepared for the summer tournament schedule.
“It feels awesome just to do it, to put all that work in and to win it," Morse said.
She had the best view on the field when the Thunder captured the national championship. The pitcher even predicted she was going to strike out the last batter of the game to her teammates.
“I said, I’m going to strike this girl out right here," Morse said.
“[Morse] called it beforehand, she was like watch me strike this person out and I was like you do that," Jarvis added.
While it was a great win for the Thunder, the victory tasted a little sweeter after other teams didn't give the team from Maine any thought.
“We were just there to win, we wanted to win so badly, and we were there together, and I think we just, it put Maine on the map," Jarvis said.
“We got a lot of glares for people that were like ‘oh yeah that’s a Maine team’ and all of this," Morse added.
Oakley McLeod said the chemistry of this team was a big difference at the national tournament.
“We’re not just teammates were good friends, so it helped," she said.
Besides the moment of winning the title, these girls said their favorite moment of nationals was just being together.
“The best part about it was we were always together," Jaris said.
After a two-week break, the champs are right back to work as they are scheduled to play in another softball tournament in two weeks.