Where in the Burbs is Big South -- August 31

Hello Bandits Nation!

The past weekend found me at the Chicago-land Speedway in Joliet IL where I volunteered a few hours with the Indy Downforce fan club. I attended the Twitter get together before the race as well as the Downforce pre race party and was able to meet some great people as well as Indy drivers like Sarah Fisher, Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon and others.

The weekend also was great to talk Bandits softball as I saw players and coaches from the Elite team and learning how their season went. I'm looking forward to talking with all of you soon and getting together for your fundraisers and having the Elite come to see us next summer.

I also met Morgyn Edwards, Avery Edwards, Alyssa Tomas and Elizabeth Dodson from the Lone Tree Crushers team. The Crushers are just southeast of Iowa City and are huge fans of Stacy May and the Bandits. We spent a lot of time talking about the Bandits and bringing the Crushers out for a game. These girls and their parents still have a lot of energy and I hope to see them play next spring.

Keep the updates coming for games, tournaments and events you have going on. I'll try to make as many of them as I can and have some fun meeting and talking with all of you.

- @chrishndrcksn

Where in the Burbs is Big South -- Aug 28

Hi there Bandits fans! If you're like me and others in the office you've already started counting down until the 2010 season and the Bandits working hard to get the Cowles Cup back where it belongs.

Congratulations to Cat Osterman, Amanda Williams, Aaron Moore and the Thunder organization on winning your 1st Championship. I know that when we play again in 2010 the rivalry will go up a notch or 2.

Being with the Bandits isnt just going to softball games and tournaments all the time. If you follow the Indy style racing league I am going to be in Joliet Saturday having some fun and talking about Indy Downforce but Bandits and NPF softball as well. I was fortunate to meet Ed Carpenter who drive the #20 Vision Racing Menards car on August 27th in Crest Hill.

There are several other drivers and teams I am hoping to meet and talk with. I will be at the Indy Downforce trailer from 1pm-3pm so stop by and say hello.

There are travel teams that have already done tryouts and set rosters for next season. If you would like to come up and experience Bandits Nation drop me a line or call the office at 877-7-BANDIT to arrange times we can all meet. As schedules allow I will come to you and your team talking about the Bandits and what we can do together.

Speaking of travel teams, special congratulations to Isabella Ferguson on making the Illinois Outlaws team. And I would be bad by not wishing Laura Harms good luck with her travel team the Team Oak Stars 16u. Laura was one of the original Bandits and retired after 5 years with the Bandits and 6 years in the league on August 16th.

NSA tournaments are coming up in the Kankakee area, who else is hosting tournaments? Let me know and I'll get there to show the softball love!

Congrats to the Rockford Thunder

August 23, 2009 - AKRON, Ohio - The Rockford Thunder captured their first Cowles Cup at Firestone Stadium on Sunday afternoon crowning them the 2009 NPF champions as they defeated the USSSA Pride 2-0 in the final game of the season. Rockford climbed back from a 1-0 deficit and near elimination to win both of their series on the weekend and become champions.

Cat Osterman led the way with her second complete game shut out of the day only allowing the Pride to have one single and a walk on the day. Between the two games on Sunday, Osterman struck out an amazing 26 batters and only gave up four hits. For the tournament, Osterman struck out 50 batters in 31 innings in five starts, pitching 31 of her team's 41 innings.

The only player to get on for the Pride in game three was Oli Keohohou who drew a walk and hit an infield single that bounced off of Osterman's glove in the fifth inning.

The Thunder picked up enough offense for Osterman against tough pitching by Sarah Pauly and Monica Abbott. Leadoff hitter Shanel Scott got Rockford going right away with a hit to left field jsut past a diving Kristin Schnake. Scott would eventually score on a sacrifice bunt by Lyndsey Angus to give Rockford a 1-0 lead. For good measure, Chelsea Spencer added another run when she blasted a towering shot that soared over the center field fence for a solo home run.

The home run would be the last pitch Pauly threw as the Pride turned to Abbott, who shut down Rockford's offense the rest of the way. Abbott gave up a single to the first hitter she faced, but then retired 12 of the next 13 hitters to close out the game. Even though Abbott kept the Pride close, Osterman wouldn't allow the Pride offense an opportunity to get back in the game.

Following the game Osterman was announced as the MVP of the NPF Championship weekend after picking up all of her team's victories. The Thunder ace allowed only gave up an astonishing two runs, one earned, in her five starts of the tournament.

Where in the Burbs is Big South -- Aug 7

Hi everyone Big South here and I hope you've made plans to come up and cheer the Bandits on as we countdown to the NPF playoffs in Akron Ohio.
We still have a couple of games left with the Racers then we close out with the Thunder next week. I want to give out some special Thank You's for these groups and folks who are coming up and give the Bandits that extra push.
~ Lane and Russell Walters and the Donovan IL All Stars
~ Brandon Denison and the Indiana Chaos girls 10u team
~ The St Anne IL girls softball players
~ Carla Ferguson, Julie Morgan and players from the Crete IL Crush
~ John Teders, Rene Morales
~ Roy Collins from WKAN AM 1320 in Kankakee

On a personal note Laura Harms will be playing her last game as a Bandit on August 16th. Laura is a friend not only on field but off field. She has been a huge influence and role model for girls all over the Chicago and Kankakee areas but there is 1 in particular that she has made an impact on in sports and in everyday life. That would be Little South, my daughter Emilie. There is never going to be enough words that I can say to you Laura that
can thank you enough. I know you'll still be in the area and we'll see each other but from Emilie; your fans and friends and from me: Thank you for giving the inspiration and the dream. We all love you and we will all miss seeing you in the orange and black.

Jamie Schloredt checks in post-Red Stars game

Sunday was my first ever Womens Professional Soccer game. Six other Bandits, myself, a few people from the office, and some friends went to a Chicago Red Stars game for an appearance. At first, I was somewhat skeptical that there were going to be soccer fans that would want our autographs, or anything to do with the Bandits in general.

Turns out, there was a good percentage of the girls there to watch the soccer game, were also softball players!

There were people that not only knew who we were, but had already seen a game this season. Some were even at the Battle of the Sexes game against the Flyers and agreed with us in saying that it was a hit, and that we should do it again the next year. I would love to do another game next year. After signing autographs and handing out some schedules, we headed up to a part of the field that we rarely get to attend, the stands! We sat at the end of the field, behind the goal of the visiting team. It was interesting too, because the visiting team was the Los Angeles Sol, and being from California myself, I was torn on who to cheer for. I ended up being a Red Stars fan. We were even able to witness a Red Stars goal before having to head down towards the field.
We were escorted through a few tunnels before we were down on the grass. It felt like I was on a putting green. I wish our grass was that nice. I feel as though you could have bowled on it with no problem. We waited there for a few minutes before the first half was up, and it was our turn to have the attention of the fans. We walked out to midfield as our team was announced in front of thousands of fans. We had a great response.

When we were announced we all smiled and waved and we all had a close up, up on their jumbo screen. As we walked off the field, I gave them my best Miss America wave and walk impression. As we were leaving we had a few hoops and hollars for the team and when we waved back we would get more. Their screams turned into whistles as we got closer to the end where they had drummers set up for music during the game. Unfortunately we had to leave because we had practice already set up for later that night, and since we were so far away from our field we had to leave early.

Overall it was an amazing experience to be at a WPS game, and to be on their field, and i will definately take advantage of someone's invitation should they ever ask me to a game in the future.

-- Jamie Schloredt

Where in the Burbs is Big South -- August 3

Bandits Nation, now is the time to raise your voices and get ready for the playoffs! We have 2 series left before we go to Akron and defend our Championship.
The Akron Racers are in town August 5-9 and hten we close with Rockford Thunder. If you don't have tickets yet call me or call the Bandits office at 877-7BANDIT so you don't miss out on this opportunity to see the Racers.
I met with coaches, parents and players from the Starke County softball team on August 1st. These players are definitley an exciting group of girls who love their softball and made sure I knew who their favorite player was. I'm looking forward to talking with all of them again, and hopefully bringing you up to see the Bandits that last weekend in August versus the Rockford Thunder.
Other teams I talked with include the Wheaton Bobcats, Herscher All Stars, and teams from St. John Indiana.
A big thanks goes out to Bill Yohnka and Allison Beasley from WKAN for having me on their show last Friday. We had a fun time in the studio talking Bandits and what we have coming up on the schedule. A special thanks also to Lane Walters and the Donovan IL All Stars. Lane is bringing her group up August 9th (Sunday) when we finish our series with the Racers -- also just let me know that even more people are coming out. Very cool to have all the Bandits fans coming out to cheer on the Bandits as they come down the home stretch.
To everyone out there, if you have teams playing fall ball, let me know! I have some tournaments this fall I'll be at hopefully with a 2nd Championship to talk about *knock on wood* so I hope to see you there.
If you are interested in bringing a group out to the Bandits, contact me at chendrickson@chicagobandits.com

See you soon and Go Bandits!
@chrishndrcksn