'This time, it's for the girls'
Jul. 30—Taya Arvidson's dad was an American Legion Baseball coach four years ago. Like usual, Taya was helping him keep stats for the Parkers Prairie boys team.
"So after one of the games, she asks, 'Can I play Legion Softball someday?'"
Mike Arvidson's response to his then 10-year-old was candid.
"The answer was obvious," he said. "'No. It doesn't exist.'"
Even if Arvidson's answer was 100% accurate, it didn't seem right.
"The real question was 'Why not?'" Arvidson said Saturday, standing at Mankato's Jaycee Park just after the conclusion of the Color Guard ceremony and the national anthem and the introduction of the state tournament teams and the military flyover.
As a member of the governing board of American Legion Baseball in Minnesota, he knew he was in a position to try to do something to change the question. So at the organization's annual meeting, he brought up the idea of starting an American Legion Softball program and the response was pretty unanimous — the group was overwhelmed just trying to keep up with the baseball program, which regularly fields more teams than any other state in the nation.
The next year, Arvidson brought it up again. The response was a bit different: Sure, it's a good idea, but we just don't see how we can swing it.
"I kept bringing it up," he said.
And the next year, the response became: OK, but you're going to have to figure out how to make it happen.
Arvidson did.
So, that's the backstory for why Taya Arvidson was handed the microphone Saturday morning to launch the first-ever American Legion Fastpitch Softball Tournament.
"Ladies," Taya shouted. "Let's play ball!"
Standing nearby among the Wadena Wolverines, a big smile on her face as the opening game approached, was Jenna Dykhoff.
Dykhoff knew all about Legion Baseball because her brothers had been involved for years. When they came back to Wadena from the boys state tournament last year, they told their little sister there had been an announcement — that Legion Softball was going to become a reality in 2022.
"When my brothers told me that, I didn't believe them because they like to mess with me," she said.
This time they weren't, and she and her teammates were among those tapped to make some Minnesota softball history.
"It's great. A great opportunity," Dykhoff said. "... I just love the game and to get to play the game. It's awesome."
Sarah Bauer — clad in a T-shirt commemorating the inaugural season of the Parkers Prairie Legion Softball team — was feeling similar emotions on behalf of her daughter Abigail.
Bauer wasn't a ballplayer as a youngster, but her father played, her husband played, her father-in-law played and now her daughter does.
"It's just like everything. It takes time," she said. "And the more people that are out there advocating, the easier it is to get things for the girls."
One of the advocates was Luann McMahan, an Air Force veteran and member of the Legion post in Dodge Center, who serves as a member of the Minnesota American Legion Fastpitch Softball Committee. It was McMahan who noted the history behind the decision to choose Mankato as the host city for the first Legion Softball tournament.
The first Legion Baseball tournament was held here in 1926.
"We are going back to Mankato for another state tournament," McMahon said. "And this time, it's for the girls."
The same line was on posters at Jaycee Park and was recited by Peggy Moon of Walker, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch and who knows something about making Legion history. In 2014, she became the 98th commander of the Minnesota American Legion — and the first female to hold the post.
"I think this is wonderful," Moon said.
On Sunday, when the tournament ends and the first champion is crowned, Taya Arvidson will be celebrating her 14th birthday.
And her dad now has a different answer to the question of whether his daughter will play on the Parkers Prairie American Legion Softball team someday.
"Probably next year," he said.
