CONNECTICUT BRAKETTES OPEN SERIES WITH CHICAGO BANDITS

June 22, 2006 - First place will be up for grabs when the Connecticut Brakettes launch a four-game National Pro Fastpitch league series with the Chicago Bandits tonight (Thursday, June 22) at Frank DeLuca Hall of Fame Field. Game time is 7:05 p.m. and the gates open at 5 p.m. with tickets still available.

The teams meet in single games Friday and Saturday at 7:05 p.m. and Sunday at 5:05 p.m.

The Chicago Bandits salvaged a 2-2 split with Chinese Taipei by capturing the finale Tuesday 4-2, to raise their record to 8-3 overall. The Brakettes, who swept the four-game series with Taipei, split four games last weekend with the 2005 NPF champion Akron Racers, and stand 7-2 on the season.

Tonight’s pitching matchup will be Connecticut Brakettes’ 6-foot-3 righty Sarah Pauly (4-1), who ranks second in the league in strikeouts, against Chicago’s Amy Harre, who has a 5-1 record.

Two more draft choices signed contracts and reported to the team Monday. UCLA’s All-America third baseman Andrea Duran and Pac-10 rival Adrienne Alo of Oregon State, an outfielder, will be in action Thursday.

Expecting to lose several players to the USA National Team, the Brakettes management and players were stunned to learn that 2004 Olympian Kelly Kretschman, the team’s centerfielder, first baseman Kellie Wilkerson, a 2005 National Team member, and shortstop Jessica Merchant of Michigan failed to make the team that was announced earlier in the week.

"We still can’t believe that Kellie, Kelly and Jess didn’t make Team USA," said Stratton. "They are very talented players with plenty of international experience who belong on the team. We really feel bad for them. But with that said, we are elated that they will be playing for us the entire NPF season."

Those three players comprise the Brakettes’ first (Kretschman), third (Wilkerson) and fourth (Merchant) batters in the lineup. Merchant leads the club in home runs with four, tops in the NPF, while No. 2 hitter Stephanie Best is ranked among the top ten with a .333 batting average.

Duran and No. 1 draft choice Cat Osterman are the only two Brakettes to make the Team USA, which is dominated by collegians from UCLA and Arizona, where Team USA Coach Mike Candrea is the head coach.

Chicago, which posted the best regular season record last year, features another former Olympian in shortstop Jaime Clark, who leads the league with 17 RBI and is hitting .357. Clark dazzled the Team USA staff at last week’s trials with four home runs, but she, too, was not chosen for this year’s squad. Teammates Jennie Finch and third baseman Vicki Galindo (.364) were the Bandits players picked.

Finch is not making the trip, according to Bandits’ owner Bill Conroy. "She tried pitching Monday night and she is still having some physical problems. Our team physician decided to send her home." Finch gave birth in April and she is not close to being in top shape.

Nevertheless, the Bandits boast a talented lineup with three-time All-NPF first baseman Nicole Trimboli, catcher Mackenzie Vandergeest (.290), Trena Peel (.407) and Selena Collins (.294) the other top hitters.

All four games in the series will be webcast over the Connecticut Brakettes network.

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