2012 National Pro Fastpitch season
# 2012 National Pro Fastpitch season

The 2012 National Pro Fastpitch season was the ninth season of professional softball under the name National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) for the only professional women's softball 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). The 2012 season is especially notable because due to weather and scheduling issues, the NPF Championship Series was not completed and no Cowles Cup champion was named.

## Milestones and events

NPF announced the Carolina Diamonds as a new team for the 2012 season, owned by Amelia Nemeth and husband Alan Demaske . Carolina replaced the NPF Diamonds, a travelling team operated by NPF. The team was headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina and played its home games in various venues throughout the Carolinas.

## Teams, cities and stadiums

| Team | City | Stadium |
| - | - | - |
| Akron Racers | Akron, Ohio | Firestone Stadium |
| Carolina Diamonds | Charlotte, North Carolina | Various |
| Chicago Bandits | Rosemont, Illinois (Chicago Area) | Ballpark at Rosemont |
| USSSA Pride | Kissimmee, Florida | Osceola County Stadium and Champion Stadium |

## Player acquisition

### College draft

The 2012 NPF College Draft was held in the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee on March 7 at 5:00 CST. USSSA Pride selected pitcher Brittany Mack of LSU as the first overall pick.

## League standings

Source:

| Team | GP | W | L | Pct. | GB |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| USSSA Pride | 43 | 31 | 12 | .721 | - |
| Chicago Bandits | 44 | 25 | 19 | .568 | 6.5 |
| Carolina Diamonds | 43 | 17 | 26 | .395 | 14 |
| Akron Racers | 44 | 14 | 30 | .318 | 17.5 |

## NPF Championship

With only four teams in the league, every team qualified for the postseason. Teams are seeded by the final standings. No. 1 seed USSSA Pride faced No. 4 seed Akron Racers in one best-of-three semifinal series, while the No. 2 seed Chicago Bandits faced the No. 3 seed Carolina Diamonds in another. The winners were scheduled to advance to the best-of-three championship series.

After winning their semifinal series, the Bandits and Pride played the first game of the championship series, with the Bandits winning 2-1.

On Sunday August 26, the start of game was delayed for hours due to rain. After one out in the first inning, the field was deemed unplayable, and the game was cancelled. No makeup game was scheduled and the series was ended without naming a champion.

Conflicting comments were made regarding the possibility of finishing the series on Monday. Citing owners' costs and players' travel obligations, NPF commissioner Cheri Kempf said that "The Bandits had six players that could not change plans, including [starting pitcher] Monica Abbott going to Japan" and,"I can say that the championship wasn't complete, and it wasn't complete because Chicago stated it had six players that could not finish. So therefore, I don't feel like that the right thing to do is to award the championship on one game." However, Bandits owner Bill Sokolis said,"We could have put nine players on the field,". On her blog Monica Abbott wrote that no one asked her to change her flight to Japan, but that she "would have done so in a heartbeat."

NPF announced that a committee would be formed to make recommendations to avoid unfinished championships in the future.

| NPF Semifinals (Best-of-3) | NPF Semifinals (Best-of-3) | NPF Semifinals (Best-of-3) | NPF Championship (Best-of-3) | NPF Championship (Best-of-3) | NPF Championship (Best-of-3) |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | USSSA Pride | 2 | | | |
| 4 | Akron Racers | 1 | | | |
| 4 | Akron Racers | 1 | 1 | USSSA Pride | 0 |
| | | | 2 | Chicago Bandits | 1 |
| 2 | Chicago Bandits | 2 | 2 | Chicago Bandits | 1 |
| 3 | Carolina Diamonds | 0 | | | |

2012 NPF Semifinals Chicago Bandits defeat Akron Racers 2-0 :

| Game | Date | Score | Series (CHI-CAR) | Location |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | August 23 | Chicago Bandits 11, Carolina Diamonds 1 | 1-0 | Rosemont, Illinois |
| 2 | August 24 | Chicago Bandits 5, Carolina Diamonds 1 | 1-0 | Rosemont, Illinois |

2012 NPF Semifinals USSSA Pride defeat Akron Racers 2–1 :

| Game | Date | Score | Series (USSA-AKR) | Location |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | August 23 | USSSA Pride 4, Akron Racers 1 | 1-0 | Rosemont, Illinois |
| 2 | August 24 | USSSA Pride 7, Akron Racers 8 | 1-1 | Rosemont, Illinois |
| 3 | August 25 | USSSA Pride 9, Akron Racers 7 | 2-1 | Rosemont, Illinois |

2012 NPF Championship Series Incomplete :

| Game | Date | Score | Series (CHI-USSSA) | Location |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | August 25 | Chicago Bandits 2, USSSA Pride 1 | 1-0 | Rosemont, Illinois |

## Annual awards

On August 22 NPF hosted a banquet in Rosemont, Illinois, at which the league's annual awards were announced and the All-NPF Team was named:

* Ringor Cup (Best regular season record)
* USSSA Pride

| Award | Player | Team | Stat |
| - | - | - | - |
| Player of the Year Award | Caitlin Lowe | USSSA Pride | .440 Avg., 51 H, .496 OBP, .509 SLG |
| Pitcher of the Year | Monica Abbott | Chicago Bandits | 14-3, 125.2 IP, 4 SV, 190 K (all led NPF), 1.06 ERA(2nd in NPF), 2 no-hitters |
| Rookie of the Year | Kristyn Sandberg | USSSA Pride | .355 average(4th in League), 33 RBI (1st), .504 OBP (2nd), .624 SLG (2nd) |
| Defensive Player of the Year (tie) | Amber Patton | Chicago Bandits | 1 error, .991 Fielding Percentage |
| Defensive Player of the Year (tie) | Kelley Montalvo | Akron Racers | 3 errors, .978 Fielding Percentage |
| Offensive Player of the Year | Sam Marder | Akron Racers | .343 Avg., 36 H, 8 HR, 27 RBI, 24 BB. 5th or better in 7 different offensive categories. |
| Home Run Award | Megan Wiggins | Chicago Bandits | 12 HR |
| Diamond Spikes Award (tie) | Sharonda McDonald | Akron Racers | 13 SB for each player |
| Diamond Spikes Award (tie) | Amber Patton | Chicago Bandits | 13 SB for each player |
| Coaching Staff of the Year | Carolina Diamonds -- Lisa Navas–Head Coach, Miranda Ervin–Assistant Coach, Lisa Dodd–Assistant Coach | Carolina Diamonds -- Lisa Navas–Head Coach, Miranda Ervin–Assistant Coach, Lisa Dodd–Assistant Coach | Carolina Diamonds -- Lisa Navas–Head Coach, Miranda Ervin–Assistant Coach, Lisa Dodd–Assistant Coach |
| Jennie Finch Award | Natasha Watley | USSSA Pride | |

## Award notes

* ↑ The Diamond Spikes Award is given to the player(s) with the most stolen bases
* ↑ The Jennie Finch Award is awarded to the player who shows excellence in sportsmanship, leadership and humility both on and off the field.

2012 All-NPF Team :

| Position | Name | Team |
| - | - | - |
| Pitcher | Cat Osterman | USSSA Pride |
| Pitcher | Monica Abbott | Chicago Bandits |
| Pitcher | Michelle Gascoigne | Chicago Bandits |
| Pitcher | Andi Williamson | Chicago Bandits |
| Catcher | Rachel Folden | Carolina Diamonds |
| 1st Base | GiOnna DiSalvatore | Carolina Diamonds |
| 2nd Base | Ashley Charters | USSSA Pride |
| 3rd Base | Amber Patton | Chicago Bandits |
| Shortstop | Natasha Watley | USSSA Pride |
| Outfield | Megan Wiggins | Chicago Bandits |
| Outfield | Caitlin Lowe | USSSA Pride |
| Outfield | Sharonda McDonald | Akron Racers |
| At-Large | Sam Marder | Akron Racers |
| At-Large | Vicky Galindo | Chicago Bandits |
| At-Large | Jessica Mendoza | USSSA Pride |
| At-Large | Bianca Mejia | Carolina Diamonds |
| At-Large | Kelly Kretschman | USSSA Pride |
| At-Large | Nicole Pauly | Akron Racers |
