National Pro Fastpitch (NPF), formerly the Women's Pro Softball League (WPSL), was a professional women's

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

league in the United States. The teams battled for the Cowles Cup. The WPSL was founded in 1997 and folded in 2001; the NPF revived the league in 2004. A new softball league is planned for 2022, the

Women's Professional Fastpitch Women's Professional Fastpitch (WPF) is a professional women's fastpitch softball league in the United States. The new league began its promotional campaign in 2021 and launched its inaugural season in June 2022. The league is unrelated to the d ...

(WPF), and the NPF will be disbanded.

Teams

Timeline of NPF teams

*Current NPF teams in tan *Former NPF members or defunct teams in blue

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:1100 height:auto barincrement:25 Period = from:2004 till:2021 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:140 left:20 bottom:20 top:0 Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white PlotData= width:20 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:powderblue from:2004 till:2021 text: Akron Racers(2004–2017)/Cleveland Comets (2018–2021) bar:2 color:powderblue from:2004 till:2013 text: Texas Thunder(2004)/Rockford Thunder (2005–09)/Tennessee Diamonds(2010)/NPF Diamonds(2011)/Carolina Diamonds(2012) bar:3 color:powderblue from:2004 till:2009 text:

New England Riptide The New England Riptide was a women's professional fastpitch softball team based in Lowell, Massachusetts. Since the 2004 season, they have played as a member of National Pro Fastpitch National Pro Fastpitch (NPF), formerly the Women's Pro Softb ...

(2004–08) bar:4 color:powderblue from:2004 till:2007 text:

Arizona Heat The Arizona Heat was a women's softball team based in Tucson, Arizona. From the 2004 season, it played as a member of National Pro Fastpitch. The team's home games were played at historic Hi Corbett Field. Six of the players on the 2006 roster p ...

(2004–06) bar:5 color:powderblue from:2004 till:2006 text: NY/NJ Juggernaut (2004)/New York Juggernaut (2005) bar:6 color:powderblue from:2004 till:2005 text:

California Sunbirds The California Sunbirds were a women's professional softball team based in Stockton, CA. They were one of the founding members of National Pro Fastpitch in 2004. The team folded shortly after the 2005 season concluded. Franchise history The C ...

(2004, 2005 partial schedule) bar:7 color:powderblue from:2005 till:2021 text:

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 ...

(2005–2021) bar:8 color:powderblue from:2006 till:2010 text:

Philadelphia Force The Philadelphia Force was a women's professional softball team based in Allentown, Pennsylvania. From 2006 to 2009, it played as a member of National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) league until a failed sale in September 2009 put an end to the team on hia ...

(2006–09) bar:9 color:powderblue from:2006 till:2007 text:

Connecticut Brakettes The Connecticut Brakettes is a women's fastpitch softball team based in Stratford, Connecticut. The team has won many state, regional, national, and international tournaments (28 ). History The team was founded in 1947 by William S. Simpson a ...

(2006) bar:10 color:powderblue from:2007 till:2009 text:

Washington Glory The Washington Glory was a women's softball team based in Fairfax, Virginia. They played during 2007 and 2008 as a member of National Pro Fastpitch. History The Glory won the 2007 NPF championship, defeating the Rockford Thunder in the final ga ...

(2007,2008) bar:11 color:powderblue from:2009 till:2020 text:

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 ...

(2009–2019) bar:12 color:powderblue from:2013 till:2014 text: NY/NJ Comets (2013) bar:13 color:powderblue from:2014 till:2017 text: Pennsylvania Rebellion (2014–2016) bar:14 color:powderblue from:2015 till:2018 text: Dallas/Texas Charge (2015–2017) bar:15 color:powderblue from:2016 till:2018 text:

Scrap Yard Dawgs The Scrap Yard Fast Pitch was an independent women's professional softball team based in Conroe, Texas, just north of Houston. Established in October 2015 as the Scrap Yard Dawgs, the team played in the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) during the 20 ...

(2016–2017) bar:16 color:powderblue from:2017 till:2020 text:

Beijing Shougang Eagles The Beijing Eagles, officially the Beijing Shougang Eagles (北京首钢金鹰女垒), were a women's professional softball team. Established in May 2017, the team plays in the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF). In the 2019 National Pro Fastpitch seas ...

(2017–2019) bar:17 color:powderblue from:2018 till:2021 text: Aussie Spirit (2018)/Aussie Peppers (2019–2021) bar:18 color:powderblue from:2019 till:2021 text:

Canadian Wild The Canadian Wild, officially the Canadian Wild of Southern Illinois, were a professional women's softball team based in Marion, Illinois. They were founded in 2019 as part of National Pro Fastpitch and are partnered with the Canada women's nation ...

(2019–2021) bar:19 color:powderblue from:2020 till:2021 text: California Commotion (2020–2021) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:2004

League history

On November 21, 2002, WPSL announced a rebranding strategy and official name change to National Pro Fastpitch.

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

partnered with NPF as its Official Development Partner as a continuation of MLB's efforts to connect with female athletes and women in general. As "Official Development Partner" in 2003, Major League Baseball provided introductions to Major League Baseball Clubs, community partners, broadcast partners and t
MLB.com
As part of its long-term sales, marketing and promotional campaign, NPF featured an All-Star Tour in 2003. The tour provided each of the league's expansion team owners with tools to lay the groundwork in their marketplace for the official launch of league play in 2004. In 2004, the league relaunched with six teams in six markets:

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. Stockton was founded by Carlos Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquir ...

;

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

;

Texas Thunder Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by bo ...

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

;

Akron Racers The Akron Racers were a women's softball team based in Akron, Ohio. They have moved to Cleveland and been renamed the Cleveland Comets in 2018. The team was started by Joey Arietta in 1999 to participate in the Women's Pro Softball League (WPSL). ...

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County, Ohio, Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 C ...

;

Lowell, Massachusetts Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, in the United States. Alongside Cambridge, It is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as of ...

; and NY/NJ Juggernaut in

Montclair, New Jersey Montclair () is a township in Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated on the cliffs of the Watchung Mountains, Montclair is a wealthy and diverse commuter town and suburb of New York City within the New York metropolitan area. As ...

. The 2004 season was distinguished by 178 league-wide games, 96 of the best female softball players in the country, the continued support of Major League Baseball as the Official Development Partner of NPF in the category of women's fastpitch softball, NPF playoffs (both best of three series went three games) and the inaugural NPF Championship with the New York/New Jersey Juggernaut capturing the Championship Cowles Cup with a victory over the

, fourth-place finisher in the regular season. Today, there are 5 National Pro Fastpitch teams: the Aussie Peppers, the California Commotion, the Chicago Bandits, the Cleveland Comets, and the Canadian Wild. Each team has about 20 players on roster. The league's main goal is to provide entertainment and to secure fast-pitch as a professional sports for decades to come.

New ownership (2005)

In December 2004, owners of the individual National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) teams announced a plan intended to transition operations of National Pro Fastpitch from the founding Cowles family to an operating group consisting of team owners. The efforts of the new ownership group in 2005 focused on solidifying broadcast agreements locally and nationally, soliciting sponsorship support, and aligning with national softball associations to bring meaningful competition to each team market and various grassroots events across the country. The group continues to recruit new teams and strengthen team ownership in each market. The 2005 regular season included 144 games and 23 opponents including six NPF teams, plus women's ASA major teams and international teams such as

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The season concluded the last weekend in August when the

beat the

5–4 in extra innings to claim the NPF Championship Title. The Juggernaut joined forces with Telecare to broadcast six games in 2005. Telecare reaches almost a million homes in the Long Island area. Comcast SportsNet Chicago aired seven original broadcasts of Chicago Bandits games in 2005. ESPN2 aired two games during the NPF Championship series. The final game was broadcast on ESPN2 with a very impressive .48 rating. The

and the

joined NPF for the 2006 season. The Brakettes, the Akron Racers, the 2005 Regular Season Champions, the Chicago Bandits, the New England Riptide, the

, the

competed in league play during 2006. The New England Riptide defeated the Connecticut Brakettes to become champions. For the 2007 season, The Texas Thunder moved to Rockford, Illinois to play as the

Rockford Thunder Rockford or Rockfords may refer to: Places United States * Rockford, Illinois, a city, the largest municipality of this name *Rockford, Alabama, a town * Rockford, Idaho, a census-designated place * Rockford metropolitan area, Illinois, a United St ...

. The Connecticut Brakettes left the NPF to return to exclusive amateur status. The

was established as a new franchise, picking up many of the former Brakettes' pro players. The Arizona Heat franchise was officially suspended. Each of the six established NPF teams played an official schedule of 44 games during 2007, including games against non-league opponents that counted in the NPF standings. The Michigan Ice played a more limited schedule as a provisional NPF team. Non-league opponents included Team China, Denso Japan, the Venezuela national team, and the Stratford Brakettes. The league moved its playoffs to Kimberly, Wisconsin in a double-elimination format. Washington was the only team in the playoffs to go undefeated and won the championship in the first game on August 26. Rains on August 24 prevented the first day of competition to be played so all Friday games were played Saturday morning/afternoon and the scheduled Saturday games were pushed later into the evening.

Monica Abbott Monica Cecilia Abbott (born July 28, 1985) is an American professional softball player. Abbott was an All-American pitcher for the Tennessee Lady Volunteers in college before starting a professional career in the NPF and in the Japan Softball ...

and

Cat Osterman Catherine Leigh Osterman (born April 16, 1983) is a retired American softball player. Osterman pitched on the United States women's national softball team that won the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics and silver medal at the 2008 and 2020 Su ...

threw no-hitters during the championship weekend. In

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, the league saw the addition of four more games as different international opponents appeared on the schedule and every team played in every other league city. The international opponents included Canada, Venezuela, Chinese Taipei, and Netherlands. Each team played two home series against two of the four international opponents. The league also hosted Battle of the Bats throughout the 2008 season. At every Saturday night home game, or a selected date if a series is not played on a Saturday night, four players from each team were selected to represent a different bat manufacturer in a home-run-hitting contest. The contest puts manufacturer against manufacturer and player against player in a competition that concluded in Kimberly, Wisconsin as part of the championship weekend.

Contraction and expansion (2009–present)

The

did not play the 2009 season, citing economic reasons. The Washington Glory folded outright and were replaced by the

. For

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, the Diamonds became a traveling team, and the Pride split home games between two new venues. In

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, the Diamonds relocated to

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

, and became the Carolina Diamonds. They played in various venues in North Carolina during the 2012 season. The league announced that the Pennsylvania Rebellion would be added as an expansion team for the 2014 season, receiving the roster of the recently defunct NY/NJ Comets. In January 2015, the league announced the Dallas Charge as an expansion team for the 2015 season. The

Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, officially designated Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, is a conurbated metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Texas encompassing 11 counties and anchore ...

-based team will split their home games between the Ballfields at Craig Ranch in

McKinney McKinney is a city in and the county seat of Collin County, Texas. It is Collin County's third-largest city, after Plano, Texas, Plano and Frisco, Texas, Frisco. A suburb of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, McKinney is about north of Dallas. ...

and a ballpark in Arlington. On October 23, 2015, the NPF announced that the

would join the league as an expansion team based in

The Woodlands, Texas The Woodlands is a special-purpose district and census-designated place (CDP) in the U.S. state of Texas in the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area. The Woodlands is primarily located in Montgomery County, with por ...

. On January 16, 2017, the NPF announced that the ownership of the Pennsylvania Rebellion would be dissolving the team, effective immediately. All Rebellion players under contract were granted free agency. On May 2, 2017, NPF announced the addition of an expansion team, Beijing Shougang Eagles. Its roster is to be populated with members of

China women's national softball team The China women's national softball team is the national team of the People's Republic of China. It is governed by the Chinese Softball Association and takes part in international softball competitions. They are ranked number four according to the ...

and selected American players. For 2017, the home half Beijing's schedule was played in the home venues of the other NPF teams. Beijing is expected to announce a permanent US home location in the future. On October 12, 2017, it was reported the

Texas Charge The Texas Charge were a women's professional softball team based in San Marcos, Texas, San Marcos, Texas. The team began play as the Dallas Charge as a member of National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) with a game on June 3, 2015. They were initially headqu ...

would be dissolving, effective immediately. The NPF did not make an announcement regarding the Charge, but all Charge players under contract were added to the league's transactions page as free agents. In an arrangement similar to the Beijing Eagles', NPF announced in December 2017 that

Softball Australia Australia's softball history began in 1939 when Gordon Young, Director of Physical Education in NSW, began to promote the game in schools and colleges. In 1942, during World War II, US army sergeant William Duvernet organised softball as a recr ...

would be operating a 2018 expansion team, the Aussie Spirit. On January 28, 2018, the Scrap Yard Dawgs announced via press release they would no longer be affiliated with the NPF. However, the NPF announced they had terminated the franchise on January 29 citing that the team had violated several league operating rules and franchise requirements. The Scrap Yard Dawgs indicated they would continue as an independent team known as Scrap Yard Fastpitch for 2018. On the same day, Ohio.com reported that the Akron Racers would be replaced by a Chinese team, similar to the Beijing Eagles. However, on February 1, 2018, Akron, instead, changed their name to the

Cleveland Comets The Cleveland Comets were a women's professional softball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. Founded by General Manager, Stephen Dunn. They moved to Cleveland from Akron, Ohio, in 2018. The Comets played as a member of National Pro Fastpitch Nation ...

. The Comets will still be an NPF travel team. On October 30, 2018, Softball Canada announced that it will be operating an expansion team called the

. On September 13, 2019, USSSA Pride announced they would not renew their partnership with NPF for the 2020 season, leaving the league after 11 years. On November 14, 2019, the California Commotion was announced to be an expansion team, representing the league's first presence on the west coast since the 2005 season. The Commotion's first season in the league was scheduled to be in 2020. Both the 2020 season and the 2021 season were cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. On August 1, 2021, the league announced that, due to a lack of revenue after cancelling the previous two seasons, it would be suspending operations.

Champions

Career leaders

* ''Stats updated .'' Also note that every listed player was active for at least three seasons of play, while every pitcher also reached 200 innings pitched.

Batting

Pitching

History of previous leagues

IWPSA

The NPF traces its origins back to the first professional softball league. Former

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekl ...

member Janie Blaylock, softball legend

Joan Joyce Joan Joyce (August 18, 1940 – March 26, 2022) was the softball coach at Florida Atlantic, for 28 years until her death in 2022. She previously was a softball player for the Raybestos Brakettes and the Orange Lionettes. She also had set reco ...

, tennis icon

Billie Jean King Billie Jean King (née Moffitt; born November 22, 1943) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. King won 39 major titles: 12 in singles, 16 in women's doubles, and 11 in mixed doubles. King was a member of the victorious United States ...

, sports entrepreneur

Jim Jorgensen Jim Jorgensen (born 1948 in Racine, Wisconsin) is a serial entrepreneur. He has started over 25 enterprises since getting his MBA at Stanford Graduate School of Business at the age of 24. Jorgensen's industry selection for these new enterprises h ...

and

Dennis Murphy Dennis Murphy may refer to: *Dennis Murphy (Canadian politician) (1842–1917), Canadian businessman and political figure from Ontario *Dennis Murphy (equestrian) (born 1944), American Olympic equestrian *Dennis Murphy (journalist) (born 1946 or 19 ...

co-founder of the WHA and WTT leagues, founded the International Women's Professional Softball Association (IWPSA) in 1976. The league featured 10 teams in cities across the nation, including

Meriden, Connecticut Meriden is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, located halfway between the regional cities of New Haven, Connecticut, New Haven and Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. In 2020, the population of the city was 60,850.Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Prescott, Arizona Prescott ( ) is a city in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2020 Census, the city's population was 45,827. The city is the county seat of Yavapai County. In 1864, Prescott was designated as the capital of the Arizona T ...

, and

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

. In the IWPSA's first season, each team played a 120-game schedule that featured 60 doubleheaders. The fledgling association survived four seasons before lack of funds, high travel costs, and inadequate facilities ultimately led to its demise.

Teams

* Arizona/Phoenix Bird (1976) * Buffalo Breskis (1976–79) * Chicago Bandits (1976) * Connecticut Falcons (1976–79) * Michigan Travelers (1976) * Pennsylvania Liberties (1976) * Santa Ana Lionettes (1976–77) * San Diego Sandpipers (1976) * San Jose Sunbirds (1976–78); San Jose Rainbows (1979) * Southern California Gems (1976) * Bakersfield Aggies (1977) * St. Louis Hummers (1977–79) * Edmonton Snowbirds (1979) * New York Adventurers (1979)

Championships

;1976 :Champion: Connecticut Falcons :Runner-up: San Jose Sunbirds ;1977 :Champion: Connecticut Falcons :Runner-up: Santa Anna Lionettes ;1978 :Champion: Connecticut Falcons :Runner-up: St. Louis Hummers ;1979 :Champion: Connecticut Falcons :Runner-up: St. Louis Hummers

Following the IWPSA

In 1982, the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

began to sanction the

Women's College World Series The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States. Eight teams participate in the WCWS, which begins with a double-elimination tournament. In other wo ...

, a move that led to increased participation and exposure for the sport. Internationally, the USA Softball Women's national team won back-to-back gold medals at the 1986

ISF Women's World Championship The Women's Softball World Cup is a fastpitch softball tournament for women's national teams held historically every four years, now every two years, by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). The tournament, originally known as the ''I ...

and the

1987 Pan American Games The 1987 Pan American Games, officially known as the X Pan American Games, was a major international multi-sport event held in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, on August 7–23, 1987. Over 4,300 athletes from 38 countries in the Americas c ...

. The college game also benefited from rule changes enacted in 1987 that increased the game's offensive output and ultimately its popularity.

Women's Professional Softball League

Former

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

softball player Jane Cowles and her collegiate coach, John Horan, developed a plan for a women's professional fastpitch softball league. In February 1989, Cowles introduced a blueprint for the league to her parents Sage and

John Cowles, Jr. John Cowles Jr. (May 27, 1929 – March 17, 2012) was an American editor and publisher, son of John Cowles Sr. (1898–1983). Cowles sat on the boards of directors of the Associated Press and Columbia University's Pulitzer Prizes and had be ...

, owners of the

Cowles Media Company Cowles Media Company ( ) (1935–1998) was a newspaper, magazine and information publishing company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. The company operated Cowles Business Media, Cowles Creative Publishing, and Cowles Enth ...

, who agreed to provide financial backing for the endeavor. Field research and market studies began later that fall and continued to take place into 1993. In January 1994, plans for a barnstorming tour were announced, and 18 months later two teams, the Blaze and the Storm, composed of former collegiate all-stars played exhibition games in cities throughout the Midwest. Eight years of research and planning finally culminated in May 1997, with the Cowles family and title sponsor

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

Wireless Services launching Women's Pro Fastpitch (WPF). The League began with six teams: Orlando Wahoos, Tampa Bay Firestix, Georgia Pride (later the Akron-based Ohio Pride), Carolina Diamonds, Durham Dragons, and Virginia Roadsters.

WPF Championships

After completing two seasons as WPF, officials changed the name to the Women's Professional Softball League in 1998. The Orlando Wahoos moved to Akron, Ohio and become the

, the only team which still remains in the league today. The WPSL consisted of four teams located in the

Eastern United States The Eastern United States, commonly referred to as the American East, Eastern America, or simply the East, is the region of the United States to the east of the Mississippi River. In some cases the term may refer to a smaller area or the East C ...

in 2000. The world's most talented fastpitch softball players, including former Olympians, collegiate All-Americans, and all-conference selections highlighted the 15-player rosters of the league's four squads. The Akron Racers, Florida Wahoos,This version was a new expansion team in

Plant City, Florida Plant City is an incorporated city in Hillsborough County, Florida, Hillsborough County, Florida, United States, approximately midway between Brandon, Florida, Brandon and Lakeland, Florida, Lakeland along Interstate 4. The population was 39,764 at ...

, unrelated to the previous ''Orlando'' Wahoos that became the Akron Racers
ref
Ohio Pride, and the Tampa Bay FireStix each participated in the WPSL regular season. The Florida Wahoos defeated the Ohio Pride in the championship series held in

Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estimat ...

. The 2001 "Tour of Fastpitch Champions" allowed the WPSL to focus on expansion. The 2001 tour traveled to 11 cities that were targeted as WPSL expansion candidates. Competition featured games between the WPSL Gold and All-Star teams as well as Canada, the USA National Teams, and local all-star teams. Nine of these games were televised, seven on

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially fo ...

and two "live" on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, a first for the WPSL. The season was deemed a success with more than three million households witnessing a WPSL game. Numerous cities are also being developed for future ownership in the league. Play was suspended during the 2002 season to restructure the organization and allow the league additional time to develop and explore new expansion markets. However, a WPSL All-Star team competed in two exhibition games against the Tennessee All-Stars as part of the National Softball Association's A division Eastern World Series in

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

. The WPSL All-Stars also conducted two clinics as part of the weekend activities.

WPSL Championships

References

Notes

External links

*
Japan Pro Softball: Toyota

The Softball Channel
{{Top sport leagues in the United States Softball competitions Professional sports leagues in the United States 2004 establishments in the United States Sports leagues established in 2004

Teams

Timeline of NPF teams

League history

New ownership (2005)

Contraction and expansion (2009–present)

Champions

Career leaders

Batting

Pitching

History of previous leagues

IWPSA

Teams

Championships

Following the IWPSA

Women's Professional Softball League

WPF Championships

WPSL Championships

See also

References

Notes

External links