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We continue our list of the Top 15 Softball Stories of 2018, which will run through December 31st when we’ll present our No. 1 story of the year.
We’ve surveyed the softball community and talked internally as well to come up with what were the most impactful and relevant stories in 2018 pertaining to the world of fastpitch softball.
Here are the previous stories:
- #15… Alexia Carrasquillo: The Shot Heard Round the Recruiting World (Dec. 17, 2018)
- #14… Ashley Rogers Overcomes Tragedy to Become National Player of the Year
- #13… High School Senior Sydney Supple Approaching $100K To Build Hometown Field of Dreams
- #12… NFCA’s StrikeOut Cancer Initiative Provides Unity & Half Million-Plus For Research
- #11… There’s Rage in Them Cajuns…. Michael Lotief Firing at ULL Sparks Pushback from Coach & Players
- #10… Controversy at TC/USA Nationals As Championship Team Disqualified
Today is #9, and is an unusual accomplishment that you rarely see: a head coach winning a championship at two different levels in one season, but that’s what Mike Stith did in 2018 as he led his OC Batbuster 18U club team and his USSSA Pride pro squad to titles just a few weeks apart!
To provide comments, insights or thoughts, email: [email protected].
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Mike Stith, the longtime club coach who’s won National Championships with Team Mizuno and the OC Batbusters, was a busy man this summer.
He traveled with the Batbusters nationwide and helped his 18 club team to titles at Team New Jersey and in Colorado at the Boulder IDT and then came just an inning away from an amazing run at PGF Nationals when his team advanced through the Loser’s Bracket at 18U Premier and had to win 10 games in three days–including six on Friday before the title game–to get to Saturday’s championship game where the Batbusters lost 6-4 to the Georgia Impact-Lewis team.
Still, a great club summer became a great pro summer for Stith when he coached the USSSA Pride to the NPF title winning the championship over the Chicago Bandits.
Not many can say they’ve won a pro and club title in the span about a month, but Stith pulled off the rare double win showing an excellent coach is an excellent coach no matter the age level and expertise.
Here’s a closer look at the stories behind Stith’s double championship summer…
— Brentt Eads, Extra Inning Softball
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Playing with Pride: MVP Pendley lifts USSSA to fourth NPF title
(article originally published Aug. 19, 2018 on ESPNW)
ROSEMONT, Ill. — Shelby Pendley didn’t grow up dreaming of winning National Pro Fastpitch championships. She didn’t even know the league existed until a year or two before she was drafted in 2015.
She grew up thinking about playing softball — about swinging the bat, whipping a throw across the infield, stretching out to feel a ball find her glove inches above the ground.
Where she did those things didn’t matter. The dream was just to do them for as long as she could.
It just so happens that in the leanest years for women hoping to play softball beyond college, the years between the sport’s Olympic exit in 2008 and news it will return in 2020, there was no better environment in which to do that than with the NPF’s USSSA Pride.
*** To see the rest of the article, go to ESPNW’s page by CLICKING HERE
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Batbusters, Vipers & Angels Impress with Championships at Boulder IDT
(article originally published July 1, 2018 on Extra Inning Softball)
Sunday wrapped up the always-huge week for club softball in one of the top tournaments of the summer as Event Director Dan Burns always gets a loaded field at the Boulder Independence Day Tournament and this year was no exception.
