International & NPF

USSSA Pride Win 4th NPF Championship

The USSSA Pride won the Cowles Cup for the first time since 2014, defeating the Chicago Bandits 4-0 on Saturday night to clinch the National Pro Fastpitch Championship Series sweep and the title. It is the Pride’s fourth National Pro Fastpitch Championship (2010, 2013, 2014, 2018) in 10 seasons the franchise has existed since first coming to the league in 2009.

https://twitter.com/USSSAPride/status/1030987756611231745

Jessica Burroughs pitched four and one-third innings of shutout ball, giving up four singles with one strikeout, before giving way to Delanie Gourley in the fifth inning. Gourley came into the game with Bandit runners on first and third with just one out and their two best hitters coming up to bat. Gourley got Brenna Moss to strike out swinging and then induced Jessie Scroggins to ground out to third base.

Jolene Henderson came on to pitch the sixth and seventh to preserve the shutout. Henderson allowed one hit, a walk and a hit batter while striking out two.

Shelby Pendley was named the series MVP hitting .429 in the series, and she also hit a go-ahead and game-winning two-run homer in game one to give the Pride a 3-2 win. Pendley also made an incredible defensive play robbing Sammy Marshall of a hit in the bottom of the seventh to end game two.

https://twitter.com/espnW/status/1030806802529742848

The Pride outscored the Bandits 10-2 in the three games as the Pride pitching staff threw 21 innings and gave up just two runs (both earned) for a 0.67 ERA in the series. Both runs came in the first game as the Pride pitching staff pitched back to back shutouts in the last two games.

The Pride pitching controlled a Bandits offense that led the NPF in scoring (6.09 runs per game), BA (.345), OBP (.400), SLG (550) and OPS (.950). In the championship series, they were held to: .167 BA, .250 OBP, .167 SLG, .417 OPS and scored just two runs in three games (0.67 runs per game).

The Bandits managed just 12 hits (all singles) in the three games. Only the Bandits top of the batting order did any damage during the series. NPF’s MVP and Offense Player of Year winner Brenna Moss hit .400 (4 for 10) and NPF rookie of the year Jessie Scroggins hit .444 (4 for 9). But the rest of the Bandits managed only four hits in the three games. Scroggins was the only player on the team to drive in runs the entire series.

For the Pride, they finally got over the hump against the Bandits. Since the Pride’s NPF Championship in 2014, which was led by Cat Osterman, the Pride lost in the NPF Championship Series to the Bandits in 2015 and again in 2016. In 2017 the Pride lost in three games to the Scrap Yard Dawgs.

But the Pride would not be denied in 2018, A year the Pride celebrated their tenth anniversary as a franchise. The Pride will bring the Cowles Cup to Viera, Florida.

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