A recent trend with prominent club softball organizations has been to “franchise” or expand into different areas, even across state lines.

The OC Batbusters and Firecrackers, to name two, have done it so it’s not surprising that a program like Lady Lightning Gold out of North Carolina—which has finished in the top 10 of the PGF 18U Premier Nationals the past two years and has players going to programs like Alabama, Mississippi State, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and many others—would roll into a new state.

Naturally your first guess would be to a bordering state, perhaps South Carolina or Tennessee to the west or West Virginia to the north… but you’d be off by about 10,000 lakes.

If you remember your state nicknames, you know that the Land of 10,00 Lakes belongs to Minnesota and that’s where the next stop will be for John Corn’s organization as it sets up shop in a state about 1,500 miles away.

As with most new business ventures, it came down to a need in the market and a relationship to make it happen.

“I am partnering up with Michelle Harrison, owner of Strike Zone Sports, to start an elite level program team in Minnesota,” Coach Corn revealed at PGF Nationals last week.

“Michelle and I have been friends for over a year and after much talk we decided that Minnesota needed something new and fresh.”

The relationship got off to an interesting start as Harrison was coaching the Minnesota Sting last year and like 11 other teams got steamrolled by the Lady Lightning which went on to win the Boulder 18U tournament-Louisville bracket.

“We were just another notch on his winning streak,” she laughs, “but I was really impressed with his team, which hit something like 42 home runs in 44 games last year.”

“We were competitive when we played them,” she remembers. “Twice we had the bases loaded with two outs, but we couldn’t score a run and Marisa Runyon (now at Alabama) hit a home run off of us.”

The friendship was almost over, however, before it began when the two met at home plate to discuss a call with the umpire and Harrison felt the opposing coach was ignoring her.

“He didn’t look at me and I thought, ‘OK, he doesn’t respect me,’” she says.

The Minnesota coach was surprised, then, when they met up again at the coaches’ draw for last summer’s PGF brackets and Corn was friendly and said how impressed he was with her team. The two began a conversation and realized that their strengths—pitching and hitting—could complement each other. They also quickly developed a strong professional and personal friendship.

“We re-connected at PGF last summer,” remembers Coach Corn, “ as I supported her team’s run to a top 9 finish in PGF Platinum and she supported my run for a top 9 finish in Premier. She was also a big supporter and inspiration for me in our big win against the Corona Angels.”

Harrison is from Southern California and played at the Univ. of Minnesota where she was a closer and says the highlight of her collegiate career was helping the Gophers beat Michigan twice in one day at the Big Ten conference tournament.

She stayed in Minnesota and eventually settled in Eagan just south of St. Paul where she built her own business giving lessons and pitching instruction.

In Corn she found someone she believed could help her team and business by using his hitting expertise; she subsequently asked him to come up to Minnesota to teach some clinics.

“My expertise is in pitching and I wanted to pull John in to help with Strike Zone Sports. He’s been up here a couple times to teach hitting instruction and I’ve been to North Carolina to help his organization with pitching.”

“While he was here John saw that the talent is very good and we began to realize that there could be a synergy here where he could begin a program in Minnesota to help players get the training and exposure they need.”

Corn agreed that the talent is there in the Midwest state, but what needs to be enhanced too is the exposure to college coaches.

“Michelle and I share the same belief,” he adds, “which is to help young fastpitch players reach their goal to play at the next level. We both feel like Minnesota has a lot of players that are overlooked and we want to be the program that opens the D1 doors to them. With the combination of Minnesota and North Carolina we feel that we can open doors to all of our players as we grow.”

One player that impressed Corn immediately and helped accelerate the plan was Maddie Damon, the 2015 pitcher who’s committed to Purdue.

“Maddie helped fueled this connection,” Corn explains. “After seeing her in Minnesota and watching her pitch, she came to South Carolina to play with Lady Lightning Gold Team Miken in a showcase event. Maddie opened lots of doors for herself and then proceeded to get the attention of Purdue. That also was a sign that we could do this.”

Corn felt like there was another indication this was the right move.

“With LLG based out of North Carolina and our 18 Gold group being sponsored by Miken sports, which is headquartered in Minnesota, this seemed like another sign that we should do this.”

The new team in Minnesota will be called “Lady Lightning Gold Midwest” and Harrison will be the head coach of a 16U team comprising 2016 to 2019 players.

“The purpose of this team is to bump it up in terms of national exposure,” says Harrison. “Unless they get on a national stage, they won’t be exposed to a high level of competition and be seen by college coaches like they should. We have the talent in Minnesota to get us there, now it’s about credibility to get into a top tournament and play on a national stage. I want to work with the younger players, too, who can be recruited and for now there will just be the one team.”

Another advantage to merging is top players from the Gopher State can play on Corn’s elite team as Maddie Damon and two others did last week at PGF: infielder Erika Rozell (2014, Minnesota) and outfielder Marie Deaton (2016, uncommitted).

Not only will this strengthen the premier Lady Lightning team, it will give the players a taste of higher competition—even practicing with other elite players in practice like pitcher Regan Green (2015, Mississippi State) and catcher Carrigan Fain (2014, Alabama) who also come in from out of state (Delaware and Alabama, respectively).

So while the North Carolina to Minnesota expansion may seem unusual at first, the reasons behind it make sense.

“All of us in the LLG program are excited about the addition of Michelle and the Minnesota team that is being built into our program,” concludes Corn. “We look for this team to make a nice run at PGF in the summer of 2015.”