Viera, FL (August 7, 2017) – Jumping into the last stretch of the regular season before flying to Baton Rouge, the 2017 Regular Season Champs, USSSA Pride (35-8) throttled past the Beijing Eagles (2-42) on Monday night at the Space Coast Stadium. After claiming its fourth straight title on Sunday night, USSSA exploded in an offensive frenzy to clutch the win over Shougang 11-0.
In the circle, Hannah Rogers (3-0) took her third win for the 2017 season with a seven-inning shutout, where she collected seven strikeouts and allowed solely two hits. As a Gator, Rogers has been named Florida’s first-ever four-time Softball All-American. The right handed pitcher finished her career at UF with a 127-31 record, becoming the second Gator in the program history to ever reach the 100-win mark.
At the current time, Hannah ranks second overall at Florida for wins (127), strikeouts (833), innings pitched (988), and shutouts (41). In her third NPF season as a Pride, Rogers counts nine walks, 23 strikeouts and 22 hits in 31 innings pitched for a 2.04 ERA.
In the box, the Pride recorded 11 hits with seven players collecting at least one hit each. Courtney Ceo, Bianka Bell and Alex Powers all ended the night with a 2-for-4 performance. GiOnna DiSalvatore joined Bell, Powers and Ceo, as the four USSSA players with two RBIs apiece.
The Pride broke through the score in the bottom of the first, where DiSalvatore and Shelby Pendley drove in one runner respectively to put USSSA ahead, 2-0. Entering the second with a two-run lead, the Pride burst again with another five runs to roll past the Eagles, 7-0. Although the third went by with an unchanged score, the Pride tacked another run in the fourth to increase the Eagles deficit, 8-0.
The Pride offense kept rolling in the fifth with joined forced from Megan Wiggins, DiSalvatore and Bell, as they widened the gap, 11-0. In the closing innings with an untouched scoreboard, Rogers quickly ended the Eagles lineup to clutch the USSSA win, 11-0.
Tomorrow, the Pride will see the Eagles as the home team in both games during the doubleheader. Game 1 is set for 7:05 p.m. EST.
Quick Facts
Attendance: 294
Duration: 1 hour, 50 minutes
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.
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.