Important Dates:

Important Info:

Welcome to the 2025 Vipers softball season!

Registration is open New Ulm Girls Fastpitch. Please read each section carefully as you will be asked to sign off on your players’ commitment, fees, and reimbursement deadlines.

We are excited to share with you a few changes for 2025. The board worked closely with the coaches to make some thoughtful changes to the season.

Age Groups

In 2023, the Minnesota softball league changed the age cutoff for the players to August 31 instead of January 1. This change can and will put us at a disadvantage by having our teams split by grades and not by age. Many of our players experienced this last year as our signups were before the change were known to our association. We heard feedback from families and players, so we made the decision to move forward with age groups. We recognize that this will affect some players playing in the same age bracket again this year for potentially the third time.

Tournament Team

We have added the option for the high school and 14u players to try out for a tournament team. This team will play in two tournaments at the high school level that will not conflict with the league teams and their tournaments. If numbers support having two tournament teams there will be an A and B. Please note: Competitive pitching and catching are also factors in being able to have a tournament team. There will be an additional fee of $200 per player to cover the cost of the coach, tournaments, and extra jersey. The fee does not include the cost of travel and lodging. In order to try out this team the player must play on a league team. It is not an option to just try out and play on the tournament team. Making the competitive tournament team does not mean the player is guaranteed equal playing time. The playing time is at the coach's discretion. *If the tournament team chooses to play in an additional tournament the coaches time and tournament fee will be covered by the team itself. 

Team Splits

All league teams at all age levels will be evenly split. Team splits have a number of factors associated with it but basically it comes down to the number of players and the number of pitchers and catchers. We will work with the coaches at each level to determine the best split. The high school level can be the most challenging to split as the number of players returning at this level is unpredictable.

The high school and 14u teams will play league one night a week (coach chooses the night) and will attend three tournaments: Windmill, qualifier, and state.

The 12u and 10u will play league one night a week (coach chooses the night) and will have the option to sign up for up to five tournaments.

The 8u team will play league one night a week and have the option to play in a couple of tournaments, one being the Jamboree.

The 6u players will have the choice to join the 8u team or attend a couple of practices.

Tryouts

Players can try out the age group above them for a potential option to play up. The player may only play up if there are not enough players to make a team at the next age group. The younger player cannot bump an older player to take their spot. If there are enough players at the age level above, they will play at the assigned age level associated with their birth date.

Tryouts for the league and tournament teams will take place in the spring. The coaches will be preselected so they can enter tournaments and choose the night of the week they would like to play on.

Shed Code

Once you have registered to play for the association will send you the new code to the shed. 

Mandatory Volunteer Checks, Jersey Fitting, Fish Fry Pay/Pick Up, Open House and Optional Parent Player Meeting

We will be hosting an open house at the Shed on February 2 from 4-6pm. This will be your time to pick up fish fry tickets, to have the girls try on jerseys, collect volunteer checks, and to have a chance to look around the Shed. We will also host a parent and player meeting at 6pm for 15 minutes to review this email and answer any questions

If you have any questions, please reach out to Andy Pearson or any other board member. We are happy to help you navigate.

Sincerely,

Andy Pearson

"Good players inspire themselves.

Great players inspire others!"