Baton Rouge, LA- The USSSA Pride traveled to LSU to play another on the road “home” series against the Carolina Diamonds. Tiger Stadium was just as packed as it usually is on season game nights, as many of the locals came not only to see the NPF teams square off or the many Olympians, but rather to see Brittany Mack return to LSU as a National Pro Fastpitch player. The NPF Commissioner Cheri Kempf was also on hand for the first game of the series. The Pride sent Cat Osterman to the mound to duel Carolina’s Katie Burkhart in front of a crowd of 1,037.
Cat Osterman (3-2) hung on in a close game to earn the victory, surrendering only 5 hits, no runs, while striking out 8. Katie Burkhart (4-5) also pitched a near flawless game herself but couldn’t come through to get the victory. Burkhart finished the game striking out 5, walking 3, and scattering 5 hits.
The first game of this 4 game set stayed close all the way to the bottom of the 6th inning. Jessica Mendoza started the Pride off with a single to start the inning. Andrea Duran would come up and sacrafice Mendoza over to 2nd for the first out of the inning. Kelly Kretschman came up for the Pride and hit a groundball to Bianca Mejia, pushing Mendoza over to third but grounding into the second out of the inning. The rookie Kristyn Sandberg would come in to pinch hit for Charlotte Morgan who had been 0-2 with 2 strikeouts in the game. Sandberg took a full count rise ball and laced it down the third base line for a two out RBI double and it would prove to be the ga
me winning run for the USSSA Pride to give them their 9th win of the season.
The Pride didnt have to wait long to celebrate again however. After the game, a very moving ceremony took place celebrating the career of Brittany Mack here at LSU and was also topped off with a proposal by Brittaany Macks now fiance Josh in front of her home crowd.
The next Pride game will take place tomorrow in a double header at 1:05 ET and 3:30ET.Go to dev.usssapride.com to watch live!
The USSSA Florida Pride is a professional franchise in the National Pro Fastpitch League that is owned and operated by USSSA. The amateur organization of USSSA has multi-sport coverage and encompasses teams and players from the United States and abroad.
About NPF:
National Pro Fastpitch is headquartered in Nashville, TN. The league, created to give elite female fastpitch players the opportunity to pursue a professional career in their chosen sport, has operated since 1997 under the names of Women’s Pro Fastpitch (WPF) and Women’s Pro Softball League (WPSL). NPF is the Official Development Partner of Major League Baseball in the category of women’s fastpitch softball since 2002.
About USSSA:
The United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA), headquartered in Osceola County, Florida, USSSA is the World’s Largest Multi-sport Athletic Organization. Founded in 1968, USSSA has grown to over 3.7 million participants, competing in 13 nationally sanctioned sports including Baseball, Fastpitch, Slow Pitch, Karate, Basketball, Soccer and more! For more information on USSSA and to register your team visit USSSA.com. Also be sure to visit USSSAToday.com for the latest USSSA News!