By: Jami Lobpries
Kissimmee, FL-August 14, 2015- The USSSA Florida Pride will host the Pennsylvania Rebellion in a four game series Thursday through Saturday at Osceola County Stadium in Kissimmee, FL. This series marks the final four games of the 2014 National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) regular season. Currently, the Pride hold a game and half lead over the Chicago Bandits for first place.
First pitch for Thursday and Friday night’s games is set for 7:05 PM (ET). On Saturday, the Pride and Rebellion will play a doubleheader with the first game starting at 5:30 PM (ET). Following Thursday night’s game, the Pride and Jordan Taylor will host a charity event in honor of her charity FIGHT. Participants will pay $25 to get five pitches from either Taylor, Cat Osterman, or Keilani Ricketts. All proceeds go towards the Pediatric Cancer Center at CS Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Following their series in Kissimmee, the Pride will head to Hoover, Alabama to try and defend their NPF Championship. All information for the 2014 NPF Championship series can be found here.
Pride Players to Watch:
- Caitlin Lowe‘s hit streak is now up to 19 games. The former Arizona Wildcat is 24-54 during her hit streak. Lowe’s .377 average is third on the team and fourth in the NPF.
- Two-time Olympian Natasha Watley has taken the lead in the NPF batting title. The former UCLA Bruin has upped her average to a league-leading .403 after going 10-15 in the last series in Akron.
- LHP Cat Osterman continues her dominance in 2014 with her perfect 15-0 record. The two-time Olympian from Texas leads the NPF in wins (15), strikeouts (141), and ERA (0.62).
- Rookie Madison Shipman has to be a front runner for NPF Rookie of the Year. Amongst all rookies she ranks first in RBIs (28) and on-base percentage (.420), and second in batting average (.350), doubles (7), homeruns (5), walks (16), stolen bases (7) and slugging percentage (.533).
- Another Pride rookie, Breja’e Washington, leads the NPF with 15 stolen bases. Heading into the last four games of the season, Washington has four more stolen bases than Akron’s Taylor Scholpy, who is second with 11.
Rebellion Players to Watch
- Olympian Lauren Lappin leads the Rebellion offense with her .283 average. The former Stanford Cardinal is hitting .348 in the month of August.
- Rookie Taylor Edwards has had a solid first season for the Rebellion. The former Nebraska Cornhusker’s .271 average is second on the team and her 3 homeruns rank third.
- Veteran Sarah Pauly has been the Rebellion’s ace this season. The righty leads the Rebellion pitching staff in innings pitched (95), wins (4), ERA (2.726), and strikeouts (55).
Fun Facts
- Familiar faces. Veterans Lappin, Jenn Salling, and Sarah Pauly were all members of the Pride’s 2013 NPF Championship team. Lappin and Pauly were both on the 2010 NPF Championship team as well. The Pride’s Amanda Kamekona and Olivia Galati were members of the NY/NJ Comets last year which is the team the Rebellion ownership took over.
- Rebellion outfielder Angeline Quiocho was hired by the Pride’s Amanda Kamekona to be Kamekona’s assistant coach at Brevard College starting this fall. Kamekona and Quiocho were teammates on the 2012 Carolina Diamonds and the 2013 NY/NJ Comets.
- The Pride’s Danielle Lawrie and the Rebellion’s Jenn Salling were not only teammates on the 2009 National Champion Washington Husky team, they were also teammates for the Canadian National Team during the 2008 Olympics.
To purchase tickets for the series, visit www.dev.usssapride.com. The entire series will be live streamed on usssalive.com/usssapride.
You can also follow all of the Pride action on Twitter @usssapride
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.