2001 Women's Pro Softball League season

2001 WPSL Season
2001 WPSL Season
League	Women's Pro Softball League
Sport	softball
2001 WPSL Draft
WPSL seasons
	← 2000 2002 →

Last updated April 20, 2024

The 2001 Women's Professional Softball League season was the first year that the WPSL suspended play before relaunching the league in 2004 under the name National Pro Fastpitch. From 1997, WPSL operated under the names Women's Pro Fastpitch (WPF) and Women's Pro Softball League (WPSL).

Teams

When the WPSL suspended the 2001 season, there were four teams in the league: Tampa Bay FireStix, Akron Racers, Ohio Pride, and Florida Wahoos. When the league relaunched in 2004 as the NPF, the Racers were the only WPSL team to continue playing.

Milestones and Events

The 2001 year began as normally scheduled for the WPSL. The league had its draft in December 2000 and had a schedule for the upcoming season. However, on February 27, 2001, WPSL announced that the 2001 had been cancelled, and the league would focus on expansion for a league relaunch in 2002. (The relaunch was eventually postponed until 2004.) To maintain public awareness of the league and to test future markets for expansion, in lieu of a WPSL season the league sponsored the "Tour of Fastpitch Champions" during the summer, featuring a team of WPSL All-Stars against a team of USA and international Olympians, called WPSL Gold.^[1]

The WPSL announced a plan to restart play in "six to eight markets in 2002, with growth to 12 markets by 2004." The tour moved through 14 cities, as the two WPSL teams played each other and other international and local all-stars. Ten of these games were televised, eight on ESPN2 and two "live" on ESPN, a first for the WPSL.^[2] In 2002, the league continued to explore where its new teams would play, and had a 2003 tour as an opener to the return of league play in 2004.

College Draft

Before play was suspended, WPSL held their regularly scheduled 2001 WPSL Senior Draft.^[3]^[4] Many draftees never played in the league, but some did, even making an All-Star team. These results are indicated below.

⁺	Denotes player who has been selected for at least NPF All-Star team
^#	Denotes player who never played in the NPF

Draft Selections

Round 1

Pick	Player	Pos.	College	Drafted by	WPSL/NPF Experience
1	Courtney Dale ^#	P/OF	UCLA	Tampa Bay FireStix	Never played in NPF
2	Lindsey Collins ⁺	C	Arizona	Akron Racers	NPF All-Stars(2003), NY/NJ Juggernaut(2004)
3	Becky Lemke ^#	P	Arizona	Ohio Pride	Never played in NPF
4	Ashley Lewis ^#	P	LSU	Florida Wahoos	Never played in NPF

Round 2

Pick	Player	Pos.	College	Drafted by	WPSL/NPF Experience
5	Allison Andrade	INF	Arizona	Akron Racers	NPF All-Stars(2003), California Sunbirds(2004)
6	Lisa Carey ^#	SS	Oklahoma	Ohio Pride	Never played in NPF
7	Ashli Barrett ^#	C	Oklahoma	Florida Wahoos	Never played in NPF
8	Kim DePaul ^#	3B	Washington	Tampa Bay FireStix	Never played in NPF

Round 3

Pick	Player	Pos.	College	Drafted by	WPSL/NPF Experience
9	Serita Brooks ^#	OF	Florida State	Ohio Pride	Never played in NPF
10	Lauren Bauer	OF	Arizona	Florida Wahoos	NPF All-Stars(2003), NY/NJ Juggernaut(2004), Arizona Heat(2005)
11	Ginger Jones-Powers	1B	Alabama	Tampa Bay FireStix	Texas Thunder(2004)
12	Racheal Goodpaster ^#	SS	UNLV	Akron Racers	Never played in NPF

Round 4

Pick	Player	Pos.	College	Drafted by	WPSL/NPF Experience
13	Brenda Iglesia ^#	3B/DP	Cal State Fullerton	Florida Wahoos	Never played in NPF
14	Andrea Davis ^#	UT	Oklahoma	Tampa Bay FireStix	Never played in NPF
15	Nicole Giordano ^#	OF	Arizona	Akron Racers	Never played in NPF
16	Toni Mascarenas	3B	Arizona	Ohio Pride	Arizona Heat(2005–06)

Round 5

Pick	Player	Pos.	College	Drafted by	WPSL/NPF Experience
17	Bronwyn Blair ^#	OF	Virginia Tech	Tampa Bay FireStix	Never played in NPF
18	Janette Koshell ^#	OF/P	Tennessee	Akron Racers	Never played in NPF
19	Lupe Brambila ^#	OF	UCLA	Ohio Pride	Never played in NPF
20	Charla Moore ^#	P	Texas	Florida Wahoos	Never played in NPF

Round 6

Pick	Player	Pos.	College	Drafted by	WPSL/NPF Experience
21	Kelley Askew ^#	C/OF	Alabama	Akron Racers	Never played in NPF
22	Stephanie Swenson ^#	P	UCLA	Ohio Pride	Never played in NPF
23	Jamie Fuente ^#	P	Nebraska	Florida Wahoos	Never played in NPF
24	Sarah Farnworth ^#	P/OF	Cal State Northridge	Tampa Bay FireStix	Never played in NPF

Tour Rosters

The rosters of the 2001 WPSL All-Stars^[5] and WPSL Gold^[6] are listed below:

WPSL Gold

#	Name	Position	College	Hometown
44	Laura Berg	OF	Fresno State	Santa Fe Springs, CA
2	Jennifer Brundage	3B	UCLA	Ann Arbor, MI
6	Crystl Bustos	SS	Palm Beach Community College	Santa Clarita, CA
22	Sheila Douty	1B	UCLA	Diamond Bar, CA
16	Lisa Fernandez	P/3B	UCLA	Long Beach, CA
4	Danielle Henderson	P	UMass	Commack, NY
21	Kelly Kretschman	OF	Alabama	Indian Harbour Beach, FL
10	Teri Klement-Goldberg	OF	Colorado State	Ft. Collins, CO
11	Jackie Lance	OF	New Mexico	North Delta, BC
3	Jennifer McFalls	UT INF	Texas A&M	Grand Prairie, TX
32	Michele Smith	P/1B	Oklahoma State	Califon, NJ
23	Michelle Venturella	C	Indiana	Indianapolis, IN
12	Erin White	C/OF	Iowa State	Richmond, BC
7	Cindy Yan Fang	2B		Beijing, China

Head Coach: Judy Martino

WPSL All-Stars

Name	Position	College	Hometown	Years in WPSL
Monica Armendarez	3B/UT	Indiana	Carlsbad, NM	3
Patti Benedict	OF	Michigan	Lamont, FL	3
Kaci Clark	P	UCLA	Brentwood, TN	3
Danielle Cox	OF	Florida State	Anniston, AL	2
Julie Crandall	C	UNLV	San Jose, CA	2
Jaime Foutch	1B/OF	Oklahoma State	Edmond, OK	1
Stephanie Klaviter	P	Minnesota	New Ulm, MN	2
Lyndsey Klein	SS	UCLA	Roseville, CA	1
Amy Kyler	P	Cleveland State	Marshallville, OH	3
Marty Laudato	C	Bloomsburg	Malvern, PA	4
Kim Maher	OF/UT	Fresno State	Oakland, CA	1
Kendall Richards	3B/UT	Texas A&M	Eugene, OR	2
Julie Smith	2B	Fresno State	Glendora, CA	1
Kellyn Tate	OF	Michigan	Chesterfield, MO	3

Head Coach: Tim Kiernan

Tour Schedule and Results

WPSL Gold schedule and results:^[7]

Date	W/L	Score	Opponent	Pitcher	Location
6/1	W	7-5	WPSL All-Stars	Fernandez (1-0)	Plant City, FL
6/8	W	8-0	WPSL All-Stars	Fernandez (2-0)	Allentown, PA
6/9	W	5-4	WPSL All-Stars	Henderson (1-0)	Allentown, PA
6/14	W	5-2	WPSL All-Stars	Smith (1-0)	Oklahoma City, OK
6/15	W	6-2	WPSL All-Stars	Henderson (2-0)	Oklahoma City, OK
6/17	L	1-2	USA Red^{[lower-alpha 1]}	Fernandez (1-2)	Los Angeles, CA
6/23	L	2-3	WPSL All-Stars	Henderson (2-1)	Akron, OH
6/23	L	2-3	WPSL All-Stars	Smith (1-1)	Akron, OH
6/24	W	14-1	WPSL All-Stars	Fernandez (3-1)	Akron, OH
6/28	W	4-1	Tennessee All-Stars	Smith (2-1)	Chattanooga, TN
6/29	T	1-1^{[lower-alpha 2]}	WPSL All-Stars	N/A	Chattanooga, TN
7/1	W	6-5	WPSL All-Stars	Fernandez (4-1)	Houston, TX
7/2	L	1-2	WPSL All-Stars	Smith (2-2)	Houston, TX
7/4	Cancelled^{[lower-alpha 2]}		WPSL All-Stars	N/A	Plant City, FL
7/13	W	9-0	White Sox All-Stars	Fernandez (5-1)	Rockford, IL
7/14	W	5-0	WPSL All-Stars	Smith (3-2)	Rockford, IL
7/21	L	0-1	Canada	Henderson (2-2)	Madison, WI
7/22	W	4-0	Canada	Fernandez (6-1)	Madison, WI
7/31	Cancelled^{[lower-alpha 2]}		WPSL All-Stars	N/A	Plant City, FL
8/8	W	3-0	WPSL All-Stars	Fernandez (7-1)	Salem, VA
8/9	L	2-4	WPSL All-Stars	Henderson (2-3)	Salem, VA
8/9	W	2-0	WPSL All-Stars	Fernandez (8-1)	Salem, VA
8/17	W	6-0	WPSL All-Stars	Fernandez (9-1)	Akron, OH
8/18	W	3-2	WPSL All-Stars	Smith (4-2)	Akron, OH
8/18	W	6-3	WPSL All-Stars	Fernandez (10-1)	Akron, OH
8/29	W	4-0	WPSL All-Stars	Smith (5-2)	Omaha, NE
8/30	W	2-1	WPSL All-Stars	Fernandez (2-1)	Omaha, NE

WPSL All-Stars schedule and results:^[9]

Date	W/L	Score	Opponent	Pitcher	Location
6/1	L	5-7	WPSL Gold	Klaviter (0-1)	Plant City, FL
6/8	L	0-8	WPSL Gold	Clark (0-1)	Allentown, PA
6/9	L	4-5	WPSL Gold	Kyler (0-1)	Allentown, PA
6/14	L	2-5	WPSL Gold	Kyler (0-2)	Oklahoma City, OK
6/15	L	2-6	WPSL Gold	Klaviter (0-2)	Oklahoma City, OK
6/17	W	1-0	USA Blue^{[lower-alpha 1]}	Kyler (1-2)	Los Angeles, CA
6/23	W	3-2	WPSL Gold	Clark (1-1)	Akron, OH
6/23	W	3-2	WPSL Gold	Kyler (2-2)	Akron, OH
6/24	L	1-14	WPSL Gold	Klaviter (0-3)	Akron, OH
6/29	T	1-1^{[lower-alpha 2]}	WPSL Gold	N/A	Chattanooga, TN
7/1	L	5-6	WPSL Gold	Kyler (2-3)	Houston, TX
7/2	W	2-1	WPSL Gold	Klaviter (1-3)	Houston, TX
7/4	Cancelled^{[lower-alpha 2]}		WPSL Gold	N/A	Plant City, FL
7/14	L	0-5	WPSL Gold	Klaviter (1-4)	Rockford, IL
7/14	W	7-0	White Sox All-Stars	Kyler (3-3)^{[lower-alpha 3]}	Rockford, IL
7/31	Cancelled^{[lower-alpha 2]}		WPSL Gold	N/A	Plant City, FL
8/8	L	0-3	WPSL Gold	Klaviter (1-5)	Salem, VA
8/9	W	4-2	WPSL Gold	Kyler (4-3)	Salem, VA
8/9	L	0-2	WPSL Gold	Clark (1-2)	Salem, VA
8/17	L	0-6	WPSL Gold	Clark (1-3)	Akron, OH
8/18	L	2-3	WPSL Gold	Klaviter(1-6)	Akron, OH
8/18	L	3-6	WPSL Gold	Kyler (4-4)	Akron, OH
8/29	L	0-4	WPSL Gold	Kyler (4-5)	Omaha, NE
8/30	L	1-2	WPSL Gold	Clark (1-4)	Omaha, NE

Game notes

1 2 The USA Olympic softball team split into two teams, USA Red and USA Blue, to play a doubleheader against the two WPSL tour teams.^[8]
1 2 3 4 5 6 Called due to rain
↑ Perfect game

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References

↑ "NPF History". profastpitch.com. 4 August 2011. Archived from the original on 2008-07-05. Retrieved 19 July 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
↑ ""Tour of Fastpitch Champions" Features Olympians/All-Stars". ProSoftball.com. Archived from the original on 11 March 2003. Retrieved 22 July 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
↑ "2001 Women's Pro Softball League Senior Draft". ProSoftball.com. Archived from the original on 25 January 2001. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
↑ "Twenty-four collegiate seniors drafted by Women's Pro Softball League's four teams". ProSoftball.com. Archived from the original on 2 February 2001. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
↑ "2001 WPSL All-Stars". ProSoftball.com. Archived from the original on 8 October 2002. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
↑ "2001 WPSL Gold". ProSoftball.com. Archived from the original on 8 October 2002. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
↑ "2001 WPSL Gold Team Results". ProSoftball.com. Archived from the original on 8 October 2002. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
↑ Lance Swan (17 June 2001). "WPSL Teams Split With USA National Teams". NFCA.org. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
↑ "2001 WPSL All-Star Team Results". ProSoftball.com. Archived from the original on 8 June 2002. Retrieved 22 July 2015.

External links

National Pro Fastpitch ^[usurped]