Kelly’s heroines
- Updated: July 2, 2023
Under direction of former Alabama standout Kretschman, USSSA Pride holds Oxford’s Smash It Sports Vipers to two hits, pounds out 15 hits to win 6-1
By Joe Medley
East Alabama Sports Today
OXFORD — Kelly Kretschman smiles about the new reality of professional fastpitch softball in Alabama.
The current head coach of the Women’s Professional Fastpitch league’s USSSA Pride can’t help but wonder what that might’ve looked like, had it been a thing when she finished her record-setting college career at the University of Alabama.
“When I was playing, it would’ve been able to play back in the state of Alabama,” she said Sunday. “It’s exciting.
“Once people start coming more and seeing it more on the pro level, I think they’ll enjoy it.”
For now, Oxford’s Smash It Sports Vipers continue to struggle. Pride pitcher Hope Trautwein had a no-hitter through four innings, and the Pride pounded out 15 hits to beat the Vipers 6-1 on Sunday at Choccolocco Park.
That backed up the Pride’s 8-3 victory over the Vipers in Saturday’s opener of their three-game series. Going into Monday’s third game, the Vipers stand at 2-10 in their first season in Oxford an in last place in the four-team WPF.
The Pride (4-9) are third.
With one game left before a week’s break, the Vipers stand ready to shed their current skin.
“I think it’s just hard right now, if you look at our record,” said left fielder Tatyana Forbes, who drove in the Vipers’ lone run Sunday with a fifth-inning single. “Once we get at least one more win, I think we’re going to keep building off of that.
“We just need that one to feel confident and get that pressure off our backs.”
Vipers coach Gerry Glasco, who was ejected from Saturday’s game, tries to keep things positive.
“We’re frustrated,” he said. “I’ve never coached a team with a 2-10 record, college, pro, never. I don’t know what to do. Just try to stay with them, let them know we care and, hopefully, we can find a way to win.”
Not much happened to boost the Vipers’ confidence Sunday.
Amber Fiser, the pitcher of record in both of their wins, left the circle during the Pride’s five-hit, three-run fourth inning with the Vipers trailing 5-0.
Annie Willis, who pitched four promising innings of relief in a 3-2 loss to the Oklahoma City Spark on Thursday, threw seven pitches to two batters before calling trainer Randy Beason to the circle. Glasco called it an “arm injury.”
“I’m not going to say a whole lot,” he said. “It’s an arm injury, and we’ll get it checked out.”
Karly Heath pitched the rest of the way, allowing one seventh-inning run on Delaney Spaulding’s single, but the Vipers had arguably their best moments in that inning. Shortstop Mikayla Allee threw home for a force out with bases loaded, catcher Mary Iakopo picked off Casidy Chaumont at third base, and Forbes flagged down Kelli Godin’s liner to let field to end the threat.
Too little, too late.
“For us, it was good to get a lot of hits and kind of just try to battle and have good at bats,” Kretschman said. “I think we had, like, 22 quality at bats today out of 30, so that’s a positive for us.
“We’ve been struggling early in the year to put hits together, and we did tonight.”
Trautwein got the start for the Pride, allowing no hits with four strikeouts and two walks through four innings before giving way to Ellen Roberts in to start the fifth inning.
“She did a great job,” Kretschman said. “We’ve been trying to just get our pitchers to attack early and throw strikes, kind of give us some good opportunities to get outs for them. She did that tonight. She gave us the opportunity to get other people some work, too.”
Kretschman was a four-time All-American at Alabama, between 1998-2001, and helped the Crimson Tide make its first College World Series appearance as a junior. She graduated with school career records in average, RBIs, home runs, triples, doubles, hits, walks, runs, stolen bases, slugging and on-base percentages. She still holds records for hits, home runs, doubles, triples, runs and slugging.
She played in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, and her pursuits for Team USA brought her back to play in Alabama. She became the Pride’s head coach in 2022, and the Pride played exhibitions against Team USA, Australia and Japan on July 5-6 at Choccolocco Park, ahead of last year’s World Games in Birmingham.
This weekend’s series brings Kretschman back to Alabama to coach on Choccolocco Park’s signature field again.
“Maybe we can get more Alabama girls to get in the league to get that interest going,” she said. “This facility is amazing.”
Cover photo: Smash It Sports Vipers pitcher Amber Fiser deals against the USSSA Pride on Sunday at Choccolocco Park. (Photo by Joe Medley)
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