ROSEMONT, Illinois—August 23, 2013—The Chicago Bandits defeated the USSSA Pride Friday night 3-2 in game one of the best-of-three Final Series for the 2013 National Pro Fastpitch Championship Series.
The Bandits had an early lead in the game after Eri Yamada hit a triple with one out to ignite the Bandits offense. Nerissa Myers followed with a ground ball to short that was thrown wildly by Natasha Watley, allowing Yamada to score for the Bandits and Myers to advance to third.
The Pride finally put a run on the board to tie the game in the top of the fifth inning, as Watley was driven in by a single to left field by Kelly Kretschman.
Kretschman would etch the scoreboard again for the Pride in the seventh inning to give the Pride a lead, as she singled in pinch runner Nikia Williams.
The Bandits went up to bat in the home half of the seventh inning down 2-1. Keilani Ricketts walked Tammy Williams to start off the frame. Ricketts came back from walking Williams to strike out pinch hitter Danielle Zymkowitz. Amber Patton followed with a groundball hit to third. Haruna Sakamoto had a throwing error to first, allowing Williams a chance to score. After Pride catcher Megan Willis lost track of the ball at homeplate, Patton made it all the way around the bases to score the game-winning run.
Monica Abbott pitched all seven innings for the Bandits and was consistently pitching at speeds in the 70’s, hitting a peak speed of 74mph.
The Bandits improved their record to 37-12 with this win over the Pride. The two teams will play again tomorrow at 5PM ET for the second game of the best-of-three series. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN2.
Boxscore: http://npf.bbstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=166494
About USSSA Florida Pride:
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!