Your Chicago Bandits are officially Championship Bound! We defeated the Dallas Charge on Wednesday August 10th, to secure us a spot in Tuscaloosa, Alabama next week. Out of the six teams in the Pro League, only four teams attend the Championships. We will represent the No. 3 seed out of the four teams in attendance and will take on the No. 2 Scrap Yard Dawgs in the opening round. It will be a best out of three game series with Scrap Yard, two wins will put us back in the Championship against the winner of the USSSA Pride and the Akron Racers. Unlike in years past, it was a fight to the finish for the final two spots in Alabama. This was exciting because it shows how much better and competitive the league has become. Now that we’ve made it, it’s time to get back to work.
Championship week is my favorite week of the year! It is what we have worked all off-season and all summer for. This year the games will be held at Rhoads Stadium, the home field for the 2012 WCWS Champions, the Alabama Crimson Tide. I never got a chance to play at Rhodes Stadium when I was in college, so I’m really excited for this opportunity as a Pro.
Here is what the upcoming week will look like for your Bandits. We will have Monday off, followed by practice at our field in Chicago on Tuesday. On Wednesday we will load the bus at 8 AM and drive down to Nashville, Tennessee, where we will have a team practice followed by a team dinner. Then on Thursday we will leave Nashville early in the morning and finish the drive to Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Once we get to Tuscaloosa, we have a team practice on the field at 2 PM. After practice, we have the 2016 NPF Awards Banquet at 6 PM. Then the games begin on Friday. We open up with the Scrap Yard Dawgs Friday at 5 PM CT. ALL Championship games will be aired on CBS Sports Network so be sure to watch live, or set your DVR, and spread the word!
Our team goal this season was to get back to Championships. Now that we have accomplished our goal, anything can happen. There isn’t a team favorite going into Championships this year which is exciting because the door is wide open for any of the four teams attending. Our coaches talked a lot this season about the three elements that go into winning a game. Pitching, Defense, and Hitting. You need two out of the three elements to win. I can speak for our whole team when I say we haven’t put all three elements together yet this season. This is exciting because I still believe our best is yet to come. If we are able to come together this week when it matters most, we will win back to back titles. But we have to do it together as a team. GO BANDITS!
Sara Moulton is a current Pitcher for the Chicago Bandits of the National Pro Fastpitch League.
