The 2009 National Pro Fastpitch season was the sixth season of professional softball under the name

National Pro Fastpitch 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 ...

(NPF) for the only professional women's fastpitch

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

league in the United States. From 1997 to 2002, NPF operated under the names Women's Pro Fastpitch (WPF) and Women's Pro Softball League (WPSL). Each year, the playoff teams battle for the Cowles Cup.

Teams, cities and stadiums

Milestones and events

In November 2008, the

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

named as field manager

James Sherwood James Blair Sherwood (August 8, 1933 – May 18, 2020) was an American-born, British-based businessman, and the founder of Belmond Limited and Sea Containers. Early life James Blair Sherwood was born in Newcastle, Pennsylvania, the son of Willia ...

, who replaced Javier Vela. Vela resigned after four seasons.

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

named a new field manager,

Barb Sherwood Barb or the BARBs or ''variation'' may refer to: People * Barb (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname * Barb, a term used by fans of Nicki Minaj to refer to themselves * The Barbs, a band Places * Barb, ...

, who replaced

Shonda Stanton Shonda Stanton is an American softball coach who is the head coach at Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has t ...

. Before the 2009 season,

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 ...

ceased operations for financial reasons. Subsequently, NPF and

United States Specialty Sports Association The United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA) is a volunteer, sports governing body and a nonprofit organization 3] based in Melbourne, Florida. Originally USSSA stood for United States Slowpitch Softball Association. However, in 1998 ...

(USSSA) began a partnership, which resulted in the expansion team

USSSA Pride The USSSA Pride is a professional softball team based in Viera, Florida, and a former member of Women's Professional Fastpitch (WPF). Founded in 2009, they previously played in National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) from 2009 to 2019. They play their home ...

inheriting the Glory's player contracts. The Pride named J.Y. Davis and Margaret Davis as coaches.

Player acquisition

College draft

The 2009 NPF Senior Draft was held February 10, 2009, at the Cambria Suites Akron-Canton Airport location. Three-time First-Team All-American outfielder

Kaitlin Cochran Kaitlin Elizabeth Cochran (born February 28, 1987) is an American, former collegiate four-time first team All-American, retired softball player. She attended Rosary High School and Arizona State University from 2006 to 2009, where she won the ...

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is one of the largest ...

was selected first by the

, after a draft-day trade.

Notable transactions

League standings

Source

NPF Championship

The 2009 NPF Championship Series was held at

Firestone Stadium Firestone Stadium is a softball stadium in Akron, Ohio, U.S. The stadium was dedicated on July 25, 1925, by Harvey S. Firestone, the founder of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company. It was owned and operated by the Firestone company until it wa ...

Akron, Ohio Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Akron metr ...

August 19–23. The top four teams qualified and were seeded based on the final standings. The first seed played the fourth seed on a best-of-three series, and the second seed played the third seed in another best-of-three series. The winners played each other in a best-of-three series that determined the champion. Day one of play was rained out, forcing the four teams to play doubleheaders on day two, August 21.

Championship Game

Annual awards

Source:

References

External links

* Softball in the United States 2009 in women's softball 2009 in American women's sports