The USSSA Pride is a professional

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) ...

team based in

Viera, Florida Viera () is a planned community located in the central coastal region of Brevard County, Florida. It is part of an unincorporated section adjacent to the Melbourne, Florida area. However, Viera is actually much closer to Cocoa than to Melbourne. F ...

, and a former member of

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 first official season in 2023. The league is unrelated to the d ...

(WPF). Founded in 2009, they previously played in

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) from 2009 to 2019. They play their home games at

USSSA Space Coast Complex USSSA Space Coast Complex is a baseball stadium and 13 diamond multi-sports facility in Viera, Florida, owned by Brevard County, Florida. Under its original name, Space Coast Stadium, it served as the spring training facility for the Florida Marl ...

. The team was established to replace the folded

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 ...

, who played in NPF from 2007 to 2008. They are organized by the

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). The Pride won the Cowles Cup championship in 2010, 2013, 2014, 2018 and 2019.

History

2015 - 2019

Of their selections in the 2015 NPF Draft, the Pride signed All-American and 2013 Big 12 Player of the Year Shelby Pendley of

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

, two-time All-American and Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Player of the Year Emilee Koerner of Notre Dame, and All-American and 2012 Pac-12 Player of the Year Amber Freeman of

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 ...

. All-time NCAA Division I homerun champion

Lauren Chamberlain Lauren Nicole Chamberlain (born July 2, 1993) is an American retired softball infielder. Chamberlain played college softball for the Oklahoma Sooners softball from 2012 to 2015. A collegiate All-American, she was part of the 2013 Women's Colleg ...

signed a three-year deal. The Pride also signed free agent All-American Chelsea Goodacre of

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

Caitlin Lowe Caitlin Faith Lowe-Nagy (born February 6, 1985) is the head coach of the Arizona Wildcats softball team. Lowe is a former collegiate four-time first team All-American and medal winning Olympian. She played college softball for Arizona and led he ...

announced her retirement as a player after the 2014 season. Subsequently, the Pride announced that Lowe would be inducted into the USSSA Hall of Fame, and that her jersey number 26 would be retired. In 2017, the Pride announced that former player and assistant coach

Megan Willis Megan is a Welsh feminine given name, originally a diminutive form of Margaret. Margaret is from the Greek μαργαρίτης (''margarítēs''), Latin ''margarīta'', "pearl". Megan is one of the most popular Welsh-language names for women in ...

was promoted to assistant general manager.

USSSA 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 ...

purchased

Space Coast Stadium USSSA Space Coast Complex is a baseball stadium and 13 diamond multi-sports facility in Viera, Florida, owned by Brevard County, Florida. Under its original name, Space Coast Stadium, it served as the spring training facility for the Florida Marl ...

and announced renovations to make it a center for amateur softball and baseball with 15 fields. It became the Pride's new home stadium, beginning in 2017. At the Pride's first home game at USSSA Space Coast Stadium, played on June 8, 2017, the team announced that it had retired legendary pitcher

Cat Osterman Catherine Leigh Osterman (born April 16, 1983) is a retired American softball player and currently the general manager of the Volts for the inaugural 2025 season of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL). Osterman pitched on the United Stat ...

's jersey number "8," commemorating it with a banner on the outfield fence. In 2018, the Pride announced Mike Stith, the head coach of the OC BatBusters, would be their coach for 2018. His assistants were Cody Dent, volunteer assistant coach of the

Florida Gators softball The Florida Gators softball team represents the University of Florida in the sport of softball. Florida competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Gators play their h ...

team, and Andrea Duran, Olympic medalist and former Pride player. On September 13, 2019, the Pride announced they would not renew their partnership with

(NPF) for the 2020 season.

2020 - present

On September 30, 2021, the Pride announced they are joining the WPF -

league for the 2022 exhibition season. They played in the 2023 Women's Professional Fastpitch season, the inaugural season of the league, where they were crowned Runners-Up against the Texas Smoke. They declined to continue participation in the WPF for the 2024 season.

General managers

* Don DeDonatis (-present)

All-time head coaches

Season-by-season

, - , align=center,

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, , 16 , , 24 , , 0 , , 4th place National Pro Fastpitch , , Lost in NPF Semifinals , - , align=center,

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, , 28 , , 20 , , 0 , , 2nd place National Pro Fastpitch , , Won NPF Championship , - , align=center,

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, , 30 , , 9 , , 0 , , 1st place National Pro Fastpitch , , Lost in NPF Finals , - , align=center,

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, , 31 , , 12 , , 0 , , 1st place National Pro Fastpitch , , Faced

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 ...

in NPF Finals , - , align=center,

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, , 34 , , 14 , , 0 , , 2nd place National Pro Fastpitch , , Won NPF Championship , - , align=center,

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, , 33 , , 15 , , 0 , , 1st place National Pro Fastpitch , , Won NPF Championship , - , align=center,

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, , 34 , , 14 , , 0 , , 1st place National Pro Fastpitch , , Lost to

in NPF Finals , - , align=center,

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, , 37 , , 13 , , 0 , , 1st place National Pro Fastpitch , , Lost to

in NPF Finals , - , align=center,

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, , 40 , , 9 , , 0 , , 1st place National Pro Fastpitch , , Lost to Scrap Yard Dawgs in NPF Finals , - , align=center,

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, , 42 , , 5 , , 0 , , 1st place National Pro Fastpitch , , Won NPF Championship , - , align=center,

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, , 32 , , 13 , , 0 , , 2nd place National Pro Fastpitch , , Won NPF Championship , - , align=center,

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, , 18 , , 16 , , 0 , , 3rd Place Women's Professional Fastpitch , , Lost to Texas Smoke in WPF Finals , - !Totals , , 375 , , 164 , , 0 , colspan="2",

Retired numbers

The Pride has retired two jerseys: *

8 *

Current players

References

External links

* {{S-end Softball teams in Florida National Pro Fastpitch teams Sports in Kissimmee, Florida 2009 establishments in Florida Sports clubs and teams established in 2009