 | |
| Location | 1000 Main Street, Stratford, Connecticut 06615 |
|---|---|
| Operator | Town of Stratford and the State of Connecticut |
| Capacity | 1,800 |
| Surface | Grass |
| Opened | 1966; renovation 2013 |
| Tenants | |
| Connecticut Brakettes | |
The Frank DeLuca Hall of Fame Field is a state-of-the-art softball facility located in Stratford, Connecticut. It is the home of the Connecticut Brakettes team of Amateur Softball Association (ASA).
41°10′30″N73°07′41″W / 41.17491°N 73.12803°W
Stratford is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It is situated on Long Island Sound at the mouth of the Housatonic River. The town is part of the Greater Bridgeport Planning Region, and the Bridgeport–Stamford–Norwalk Metropolitan Statistical Area. It was settled by Puritans in 1639.
Eastern Connecticut State University is a public university in Willimantic, Connecticut. Founded in 1889, it is the second-oldest campus in the Connecticut State University System and third-oldest public university in the state. Eastern is located on Windham Street in Willimantic, Connecticut, on 182 acres (0.74 km2) 30 minutes from Hartford, lying midway between New York City and Boston. Although the majority of courses are held on the main campus, select classes take place at Manchester Community College, Capital Community College, and a satellite center in Groton.
Post University is a private for-profit university in Waterbury, Connecticut. It was founded in 1890 as Post College. From 1990 to 2004 it was affiliated with Teikyo University in Tokyo, Japan and during that time it was named Teikyo Post University. The university offers over 25 undergraduate and graduate programs in day, evening, and online courses with most of its students participating exclusively online. It has satellite centers in Meriden, Danbury, and Wallingford.
Greenwich High School is a four-year public high school in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States. The school is part of the Greenwich Public Schools system and serves roughly 2,700 students.
Courtney Lynn Blades-Rogers is an American, former collegiate All-American, right-handed batting softball pitcher. She was a starting pitcher for two NCAA Division I teams: the Nicholls State Colonels and later the Southern Miss Golden Eagles. For her career she collected 151 wins and 1,773 strikeouts. She was awarded the Honda Sports Award Softball Player of the Year in 2000 and was recently named the #7 Greatest NCAA Pitcher of All-Time.
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 Connecticut Brakettes is a women's fastpitch softball team based in Stratford, Connecticut. The team has won many state, regional, national, and international tournaments.
Joan Joyce was the softball coach at Florida Atlantic, for 28 years until her death in 2022. She previously was a softball player for the Raybestos Brakettes and the Orange Lionettes. She also had set records on the LPGA Tour as a golfer and on the USA women's national basketball team, and was a player and coach for the Connecticut Clippers volleyball team.
Donna Lopiano is the President and founder of Sports Management Resources, a consulting firm that focuses on bringing the knowledge of experienced, expert former athletics directors to assist scholastic and collegiate athletics departments in solving growth and development challenges. She was the chief executive officer of the Women's Sports Foundation from 1992 to 2007 and focused on ensuring athletic departments throughout the nation were compliant with Title IX regulations.
West Scranton High School, is a community-based school in the west side neighborhood of Scranton, Pennsylvania. It is one of the oldest schools in the area, having opened to the public in 1935, first as a junior high facility and later as a high school. It offers about 32 clubs and 17 sports, and hosts grades 9 through 12. Robert DeLuca is the school's current principal. The school colors are royal blue and white and the mascot is the Invader. It is a public school enrolling approximately 1,000 students, with an average of about 250 students in each grade.
Sharron Backus is a former softball player and coach. She played as a shortstop and third baseman on seven Amateur Softball Association national championship teams from 1961 to 1975. She served as the head softball coach at UCLA from 1975 to 1997 and led her teams to nine national collegiate softball championships. At the time of her retirement in 1997, she was the winningest college softball coach in the history of the sport. Backus has been inducted into both the National Softball Hall of Fame and the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Susan Enquist is a former softball player and coach. She played softball at UCLA under Sharron Backus from 1975 to 1978. She helped lead UCLA to its first national softball championship in the 1978 Women's College World Series and became UCLA's first All-American softball player.
Jill Justin-Coffel is an American, former collegiate NCAA Division I All-American, right-handed hitting softball player, originally from Oak Lawn, Illinois. She played for the Northern Illinois Huskies softball team as an outfielder from 1986–89, partly in the Mid-American Conference and defunct North Star Conference. She and later was a medal-winning member of Team USA softball. She is the 4-year batting average champion for the NCAA and owns nearly all Huskie batting records.
Mary Anne O'Connor is an American Olympian who competed in the 1976 Summer Olympics on the first US Olympic women's basketball team.
Jessica Merchant is an American softball coach and former softball player. She is currently the associate head coach with the Stanford Cardinal softball team. She previously served as an assistant coach with the Minnesota Golden Gophers and UMass Minutewomen. She played professional softball in the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) league for the New England Riptide for three seasons, and for the Connecticut Brakettes for one season. While playing for the Brakettes in 2006, she was named NPF Offensive Player of the Year.
The 2007 National Pro Fastpitch season was the fourth season of professional softball under the name National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) for the only professional women's fastpitch 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). Each year, the playoff teams battle for the Cowles Cup.
The 2006 National Pro Fastpitch season was the third season of professional softball under the name National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) for the only professional women's fastpitch 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). Each year, the playoff teams battle for the Cowles Cup.
The 2006 NPF Senior Draft is the third annual NPF Draft. It was held February 15, 2006 to assign division I college players to pro teams for 2006 season. Athletes are not allowed by the NCAA to sign professional contracts until their collegiate seasons have ended. The first selection was Texas's Cat Osterman, picked by the Connecticut Brakettes. Osterman chose not to sign with the Brakettes. The Brakettes' rights to her expired after the 2006, after which she signed with the Rockford Thunder.
Kathy Arendsen is an American softball head coach and former professional player. Arendsen pitched for Holland Christian High School, where she won the state championship, before embarking on a successful collegiate and professional career. During her college years, Arendsen pitched for Texas Woman's University and California State University, Chico, where she led both teams to national championships. In recognition of her efforts, she received the 1978 Broderick Award as the nation's outstanding female athlete in softball. She was also selected to pitch for Team USA at the 1979 and 1983 Pan American Games, winning a gold and silver medal respectively.
Joan Elaine Moser is an American former field hockey and softball player. She played on the U.S. women's national field hockey team from 1967 to 1979 and was in the first class of inductees into the U.S. Field Hockey Association Hall of Fame. She also played for the world champion Raybestos Brakettes softball team.