(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen & Marco Stoovelaar)
  Chicago Bandits NPF Champion; Britt Vonk ends first pro season
Nederlands
...Britt Vonk made her professional debut...
...Here, she plays for the Netherlands...
...Team during the 2013 European...
...Championship in Prague (Czech Rep.)...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
 TUSCALOOSA, Alabama (USA) -
Chicago Bandits has repeated as champion of the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF).
On Tuesday-evening (August 23), the Bandits won 2-1 against USSSA Pride on back-to-back homeruns to win Game 3 of the best-of-three Championship Series and capture the Cowles Cup for the second year in a row.
Britt Vonk, player of the Netherlands National Team and Dutch Golden League-team Terrasvogels, concluded her first professional season in the NPF and reached the Play-Offs with Scrap Yard Dawgs, which played in its inaugural season in the professional league.
The best-of-three Play-Offs and best-of-three Final were played at Rhoads Stadium in Tuscaloosa.
There, a record attendance of more than 7,400 was set.
The National Pro Fastpitch is an Official Development Partner of Major League Baseball since 2002.
The NPF formerly was the Women's Pro Softball League (WPSL), which was founded in 1997, then folded in 2001.
In 2002, the WPSL changed its name to National Pro Fastpitch and a partnership with Major League Baseball followed as a continuation of MLB's efforts to connect with female athletes.
In 2003, a promotional tour was held, then the NPF officially began playing in 2004.
This year, players from Australia, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the USA played in the lone professional women softball league in the United States.
In Game 3 on Tuesday, catcher Taylor Edwards and outfielder Brittany Cervantes belted back-to-homeruns.
For Cervantes, this was her third postseason homerun and she was named Most Valuable Player of the Championship Series.
Winning pitcher Angel Bunner gave up eight hits in six innings, including two to Kelly Kretschman, one of them being a homerun in the fifth that cut Chicago's lead in half.
In the regular season, Kretschman was the leading hitter with a .466 average and she became the first player in NPF-history to win the Triple Crown, by also leading in homeruns (13) and runs batted in (45).
Chicago took a 2-0 lead in the third inning on the consecutive homeruns off of starting pitcher Keilani Ricketts.
...Monica Abbott pitching for Team USA...
...at the 2008 Olympic Games...
...in Beijing (China)...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Chicago had opened the best-of-three Final on Sunday with a 3-1 loss in front of more than 1,600 spectators.
During that game, the attendance record for a Championship Series was broken.
The previous record of 5,592 was set last year when the event was held in Hoover (Alabama).
The Bandits and Pride then also faced each other in the Final.
In the opener, Megan Wiggins and Chelsea Goodacre homered for the Pride, while Kristen Brown hit one over the fence for the Bandits.
The Bandits then won Game 2 with an 11-5 score on Monday on 15 hits, including three by Danielle Zymkowitz and homeruns by Jill Barrett, Taylor Edwards and Brittanny Cervantes.
En route to the Final, the Bandits faced Scrap Yard Dawgs in the Play-Offs.
Playing in its first NPF-season, the Dawgs finished in second place with a 29-19 record to qualify for the Play-Offs.
Monica Abbott, one of the best American pitchers in the last years, played for the Dawgs and was 18-1 with an 0.72 ERA and 167 strikeouts.
She led the league in all these categories and was named NPF Pitcher of the Year.
Britt Vonk also played for the Dawgs this season.
Chicago was 22-25 to close the regular season in third place.
In the Semi-Finals, which were bothered by some rainy days, the Bandits also needed three games to advance to the all-deciding series.
In the third game, which was played on Sunday, Chicago won 2-1.
The Bandits had opened the score for the third straight game off of Monica Abbott, who last season pitched for Chicago.
Danielle Zymkowitz gave Chicago a 2-0 lead, on a grounder in the first inning and on a triple in the third.
The Dawgs scored their lone run in the bottom of the third.
Emily Crane then hit a single and moved on a sacrifice bunt.
Hereafter, Britt Vonk reached on an error and after a pitching change, Crane scored on a single by Madison Shipman.
Chicago opened the series against the Dawgs on Friday with a big 11-2 win vs. Monica Abbott, highlighted by homeruns hit by Brittany Cervantes and Amanda Kamekona.
In this game, Britt Vonk was 1-for-4.
...Britt Vonk playing for the Netherlands Team during...
...the 2014 World Championship in Haarlem...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
On Saturday, Abbott led the Dawgs to a 10-1 victory in five inings.
The game had started at 11 AM in the morning, then was interrupted in the fifth inning due to heavy rain and lightning.
The delay last more than eight hours (!) but then the game was called in the evening.
Because of the weather conditions, the third game, which also was scheduled for Saturday, moved to Sunday.
Trailing 1-0, the Dawgs scored four runs in the second, including three on a homerun by Kiki Stokes.
The team also rallied for four runs in the fourth, then Stokes added a 2-run triple in the fifth.
Britt Vonk, who played at first base in all three games, was 0-for-4 and scored one run for the Dawgs.
USSSA Pride finished in first place in the regular season with a 37-13 record and in the Play-Offs, it faced Akron Racers, which was 22-28 to finish in the fourth place.
The Pride swept the Racers in its series.
Game One on Friday was won 3-0 after it had started one hour later due to rain.
The three runs were scored on a homerun by Lauren Chamberlain in the first inning.
On Sunday, the Pride won Game 2 with a 6-2 score.
The team rallied for four runs in the sixth inning.
Dallas Charge (20-30) and Pennsylvania Rebellion (17-33) finished in fifth and sixth place respectively.
Pennsylvania was led for the second season by Craig Montvidas, who has been the Head Coach of the Netherlands Women Softball Team in 2009-2014.
In that span, he led the Orange squad to three undeated European Championship-titles and reached the Play-Offs of a World Championship three times.
This year, Montvidas was assisted by Tracy Bunge, who also had been associated with the Netherlands Team in the past years.
Last year, she was the Co-Head Coach of the team during the European Championhip with Juni Francisca, who was the sole Head Coach this season.
This year, the Orange accomplished a historic feat, finishing in fourth place at the World Championship in July in Canada.
...Craig Montvidas & Tracy Bunge while coaching the...
...Netherlands Softball Team during the 2014...
...World Championship in Haarlem (Neth.)...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Before the start of the postseason-series, the NPF Awards Banquet took place in Tuscaloosa, which was opened by Major League Hall of Famer Ken Griffey, Jr..
36-year old Kelly Kretschman (USSSA Pride) won several awards.
As mentioned, she became the first player to win a Triple Crown for which she was handed a special plaque.
But she also was the Louisville Slugger Offensive Player of the Year (Best Hitter), Mizuno Player of the Year (Most Valuable Player) and got the Wilson/DeMarini Home Run Award.
Monica Abbott (Scrap Yard Dawgs) was Diamond Pitcher of the Year and Lauren Chamberlain (USSSA Pride won the Jennie Finch Award for leadership and humility of and off the field.
Outfielder A.J. Andrews (Akron Racers) became the first winner of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award, which has been awarded annually in the Major League since 1957.
For the first time, this award was now handed out in the NPF.
Andrews also received the 3n2 Sports Rally Spikes Award (Most Stolen Bases), which she shared with Sammy Marshall (Chicago Bandits).
Both stole 15 bases.
The Easton Rookie of the Year Award went to Sami Fagan (Akron Racers).
The Schutt Sports Coaching Staff of the Year Award went to the staff of regular season-winner USSSA Pride, led by Head Coach Lonni Alameda.
An All Star Team was also selected and they were named to the Combat All-NPF Team.
In her first NPF-season, Britt Vonk played in 29 games and batted .270 (24-for-89) with two doubles and three triples.
She scored 24 runs, batted in only five and stole nine bases.
Britt Vonk is the third Dutch player in the National Pro Fastpitch.
Last season, 3B Virginie Anneveld and pitcher Dagmar Bloeming played for Pennsylvania Rebellion.
(August 24)
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