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Countless athletes and coaches, along with a fleet of parents congregated at the Crown Point Sports Complex on Tuesday afternoon to take part in the 2024 National Softball Association (NSA) Fastpitch World Series Kick-Off Day.

Organized by the NSA in partnership with the South Shore Convention & Visitors Authority (CVA), the World Series sees nearly 200 teams from across the country come together and compete across 13 divisions, ranging from 8U to 23U/womens. Activities and games last until Sunday, and typically begin with the annual Skills Competition, where teams compete in a series of challenges that test their baserunning and fielding abilities. This year, however, the NSA added a special event to the calendar the Heavy Hitters Camp, where multi-time College World Series Champions Kierston Deal and Kinzie Hansen of the University of Oklahoma worked directly with the young athletes in attendance.

It was a great show, we had a lot of people sign up for it that arent even taking part in the tournament, Bill Horton, president of the NSA, said. It was good for the NSA, good for Crown Point, and the South Shore.

Among the attendees at both the Heavy Hitters Camp and Skills Competition was the Crown Point based Nightmares 13U team. Nightmares Coach Brandon Norris highlighted what a special opportunity it was for the girls to see stars such as Deal and Hansen in person.

I think something like this does a lot for the girls sport, we could go on and on about what someone like Caitlin Clark has done for womens basketball for example, Norris said. For the girls to see these athletes from Oklahoma here today gives them a sense of motivation, a drive to go on and continue playing.

South Shore CVA Chief Marketing Officer Heather Becerra noted that this years World Series marked the first in a new 5-year deal for the event to be held in the Region meaning the festivities will return annually until at least 2028.

Its become a tradition for a lot of area teams as well as teams from around the Midwest, Becerra said. Its cool to see the crowd each year. I have a daughter in the softball community too, and her team was in it last year. A lot of these girls have grown up playing, they started in the 8U division and now theyre in high school having been coming out to this throughout their career.

There are a number of traditions that are a core part of the NSA Fastpitch World Series culture, and the Skills Competition marks the opportunity for girls to take part in one of the biggest them trading team pins. Every team designs a unique pin featuring their logo, brings a mountain of them to the competition, and trades them with other teams aiming to collect them all.

Ive been running the girls program for over 30 years now, and these traditions have always been a part of it, Horton said. They all get into the camaraderie and spirit of it and have built their own traditions different from the boys.

Norris was excited to see his team embracing the tradition, and expressed gratitude for an event of this caliber being so close to home.

Its amazing to have this right in our backyard, weve traveled out to other events before, he said. Its exciting for the girls to be able to say that theyre playing on their home fields. Crown Point and the South Shore did the right thing by hosting this. Its just awesome.

To learn more about the South Shore CVA, visit southshorecva.com. For more on the National Softball Association, visit playnsa.com.

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NSA Fast Pitch World Series kicks off with Skills Competition & Heavy Hitters Camp, featuring College World Series Champions from the University...