July 17th, 2022
The Mankato Area Girls Fastpitch Association (MAGFA), celebrating it’s 40th year of girls softball in Greater Mankato, is pleased to announce a collaboration with 24/7 Ball Sports to create a new 18 and under softball team and a 16u team as well. The new team: Peppers National, will be a “pathway” for softball players considering playing college softball.
The MAGFA Board voted unanimously to support 24/7 Ball Sports in utilizing the Peppers name and brand for the 2023 summer season. To facilitate communication and connect the existing Peppers programs and teams to the Peppers National team that will be run by 24/7 Ball Sports, the MAGFA Board is pleased to announce Megan Fitzloff will serve as a liaison.
24/7 Ball Sports will offer roster opportunities through competitive tryouts to softball players from not just the Greater Mankato area, but southern Minnesota. The Peppers National team will be based in Mankato and offer a training facility, training analytics, and top tier coaches with college and professional experience.
“This is something that we have talked about for awhile, and we decided to go ahead with it this year, as 24/7 Ball Sports has a plan, tools, and the facilities to help regional girls who are looking at being recruited,” shared Pam Kind, MAGFA President.
Peppers National: Team Approach
Southern Minnesota contains many smaller towns and many multi-sport athletes. For this reason, the new national team will focus on the summer season, offering a single fall showcase for play and no winter tournaments or travel. Instead, we encourage high school athletes to play fall & winter high school sports & focus on spring softball with their local high school. However, the national team does include off-season instruction for the team members a minimum of once a month with highly skilled instructors/coaches & also includes an All-Star membership to 24/7 Ball Sports indoor training facility. Team members & their household will have access to 24/7 Ball Sports indoor cages, Hittrax simulator, Rapsodo pitching technology, radar guns, BP3 pitching machines, fitness & strength equipment, training tools, Sports Recruits software, college camp calendar, and more.
Team instructors for monthly training are Megan Christopher who specializes in hitting & catching, and pitching with Coley Ries.
More on Megan Christopher:
- University of Missouri
- Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year
- 2x All Conference
- 3x World Series Appearances
- 15 years of lessons, camps and clinics
More on Coley Ries
Ries led the Mavericks to the 2017 NCAA Division II national championship where she posted a 41-3 overall record with a 1.05 ERA while striking out 476 batters in 294.2 innings.
- Most Outstanding Player honors
- 2017 NFCA Division II Player of the Year
- D2CCA Pitcher of the Year.
- CoSIDA Academic All-America honors
- two-time All-American
- two-time Central Region Pitcher of the Year
- three-time NSIC Pitcher of the Year.
- professional softball for the Texas Charge, Chicago Bandits, and the Aussie Spirit.
For more information on tryouts on August 1st, 2022 or to learn more about the Peppers National team, contact Matt Mangulis memberservice@247ballsports.com or 507-339-5040.
https://www.mankatopeppers.com/
https://www.247ballsports.com/