Brittany Marya Cervantes (born July 3, 1990) is an American softball catcher and coach of Mexican descent, and is currently the director of softball operations for Kentucky. She represented Mexico at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Early life

Cervantes attended high school at Chaminade College Preparatory School in Chatsworth, Los Angeles. She helped lead her school to two consecutive C.I.F championships.

College career

Cervantes played

college softball College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. College softball is normally played by women at the Intercollegiate level, whereas college baseball is nor ...

at Kentucky. In 2011, she hit 15 home runs, the second most homers in a season at Kentucky and scored 55 runs, the most in single-season history. The Wildcats reached the Super Regionals in the

2011 NCAA Division I softball tournament The 2011 NCAA Division 1 softball tournament was held from May 19 through June 8, 2011 as part of the 2011 NCAA Division 1 softball season. The 64 NCAA Division 1 college softball teams were selected out of an eligible 284 teams on May 15, 2011. ...

for the first time in program history. In 2012, she batted a team best .357 with 11 home runs and 23 RBI. She ranked among the top in the SEC with batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, RBI, home runs and walks, and led the league in total bases. Following the season she was named to the All-SEC First Team and SEC All-Defensive Team. During her college career at Kentucky, she was the only player in program history to hit 10 or more homers in each of her four seasons. She also set single-season school records with 55 runs scored and 48 walks in 2011.

Professional career

On June 2, 2012, Cervantes signed with the

Chicago Bandits The Chicago Bandits were a women's professional softball team based in Rosemont, Illinois. Since the 2005 season, they have played as a member of National Pro Fastpitch (NPF). The Bandits won the 2008 NPF championship, defeating the Washington Gl ...

following open tryouts. She played with the Bandits for five seasons, and won two consecutive the

Cowles Cup National Pro Fastpitch (NPF), formerly the Women's Pro Softball League (WPSL), was a professional women's softball league in the United States. The teams battled for the Cowles Cup. The WPSL was founded in 1997 and folded in 2001; the NPF revive ...

championships with the team in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

and

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

. She was named the NPF Offensive Player of the Year in 2015, where she hit .358 on the season and led the league in both slugging and on base percentage. In addition, she recorded 26 runs, nine home runs, 71 total bases, 30 walks and 23 RBI. During the 2016 NPF Championship, she batted over .500 in the playoffs with three homers and six RBI, and recorded a hit in all six games of the playoffs. She was subsequently named tournament MVP. On January 27, 2016, she signed a one-year contract extension with the Bandits. On January 27, 2017, Cervantes was traded to the Scrap Yard Dawgs. She helped the Scrap Yard Dawgs win their first Cowles Cup in franchise history, and her third consecutive championship. In

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

she played for

USSSA Pride The USSSA Pride are a professional softball team based in Viera, Florida and a member of the WPF - Women's Professional Fastpitch League, U.S. Founded in 2009. They previously played in National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) from 2009 to 2019. They play th ...

where she won her fourth NPF championship.

Coaching career

In 2013, she served as volunteer assistant coach at Kentucky. She then served as assistant coach for

Loyola University Chicago Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Cathol ...

. In 2019 she was named director of softball operations at Kentucky.

International career

She participated at the

2018 Women's Softball World Championship The 2018 Women's Softball World Championship was an international softball competition held in Chiba, Japan, from 2 August to 12 August. It was the 16th edition of the tournament, and the third edition to be sanctioned by the World Baseball Softb ...

. She represented Mexico at the

and placed fourth in the tournament.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cervantes, Brittany Living people 1990 births American sportspeople of Mexican descent Chicago Bandits players Kentucky Wildcats coaches Kentucky Wildcats softball players Loyola Ramblers softball coaches Mexican softball players Olympic softball players for Mexico People from Chatsworth, Los Angeles Scrap Yard Dawgs players Softball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Softball players from California Sportspeople from Los Angeles USSSA Pride players