Pro News: Former Scrap Yard Dawgs Team Takes on New Name & Identity: “This Is Us”

After the stunning turn of events Monday evening involving the former Scrap Yard Fastpitch team, infuriated at what they felt was a “tone deaf” tweet released without their knowledge and, certainly, their approval, announced on Friday that it would be suiting up under a new team name: This Is Us.

The players (click HERE to see the team roster) have created a This Is Us Softball webpage to promote the new team and explain its mission.

Additionally, a video was released that gave a voice to the players and the reasons for the change and the new identity:

In the About section of the site, the following is posted:

This Is Us Softball is a group formed in June 2020 of 18 professional fastpitch softball athletes from all across the United States.

When these athletes were unfairly spoken for in a way that was insensitive to the current climate in America, they decided to walk away from their former professional team, and move forward as an independent unit.

These athletes are using their resources to get back on the softball field for the 2020 summer season, and to continue playing the game they love, while also using their platforms to raise awareness, empower young women, and unite the softball community.

A Yahoo! Article written by Chris Cwik quoted team member Hallie McCleney as saying: “It’s really the same team, we’re just dropping the Scrap Yard portion of it because we no longer want to represent the organization after how we were treated. So we’re going to continue to play for the awareness, the empowerment and the unity.”

According to the article, “Multiple companies reached out to the team to help secure funding and equipment. The USSSA Pride, the team the Scrap Yard Dawgs played against Monday, also offered their full support to the players, coaches and staff that left the organization. The Pride — who were set to play a seven-game series against the Scrap Yard Dawgs during the summer — condemned May’s tweet publicly, and postponed games as a show of solidarity after what happened Monday.”

“’The Pride is 100 percent behind us,’” says Stewart. “’They support everything we’re doing.’”