Spring may be just a few weeks away and softball is fully underway in some (warm weather) states, but in Minnesota playing on real grass outside seems to still be a long ways away.

“With two feet of snow still covering our field, it may be mid-April before we even step outside, let alone play or practice on our field,” surmises Auburn-bound Justus Perry, a 2016 infielder from Prior Lake, Minn, who is so dedicated she travels regularly with her father the 1,000 miles to and from Birmingham, Ala., to practice on the weekends with the Birmingham Thunderbolts when it’s club season.

But high school ball is coming up quickly, cold and snow notwithstanding, for Perry, a 2^nd team “AAA” All-State selection as a freshman and a key force on the Prior Lake High team which made to the state championship game in 2013.

Justus had originally committed to Arizona State, but with the coaching change and Clint Myers now at Auburn, she’s headed to the SEC and will play in the same state where her club team practices.

This past summer at the PGF Nationals, we met the talented sophomore and learned about an unusual talent she has for being able to take any word and immediately repeat it backwards!  Check out this video to see Justus in action!

Also, be sure to follow Justus’ blogs and all those from our other great bloggers!

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Tomorrow high school ball begins here in Minnesota.

All this week, tryouts for high school softball will take place in a middle school gym. In Prior Lake, about 50 girls will be put through a training period to test their skills and vie for a spot on a team.

With two feet of snow still covering our field, it may be mid-April before we even step outside, let alone play or practice on our field.

Each one of our teams will take turns practicing in a hard wooden middle school gym floor for about two hours every day. We are fortunate to have this space, but often practices get crowded and ground balls are not very realistic.

Our first practice outside always seems like sort of a dream and a long ways away. The never knowing, with the arctic climate here, when we will ever get back outside!

One saving grace is all the domes we have here in Minnesota, which allows some game-like experiences and practices. Many teams like mine will scrimmage several games in domes over the course of the next month, instead of enduring the end of the painful winter outside.

My team placed second at state last year and my teammates will definitely have to show their skills if they want to play on Varsity.

At my high school we have four teams, a Freshman team, a Sophomore team, a Junior Varsity team, and Varsity. My goals for this year’s Varsity team is no different than the last three years I have been apart of the varsity team: win our section, and compete for the state championship!

The last couple weeks I have been traveling and watching some college softball games down in Orlando, Fla. and at Auburn, Ala.

I have also been able to keep in touch and get to watch my Thunderbolts teammates play in some of their high school games.

Now I’m back home, recharged and ready to go!

” eforeb ew nac klat tuoba a pihsnoipmahc, ew evah ot ecitcarp ekil a pihsnoipmahc maet. ” – Mike Singletary

War Eagle!

–Justus Perry (@Justus_Perry18)