On Feb 6, a softball friend forwarded an email from Paul Wilson announcing the new National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) expansion team in Washington, called the Glory. I had heard rumors of such a league, but coverage around this area was pretty dismal. I signed up for the email list for the new team, and let some of my players know about it. Turns out one of them (Amanda) already knew about it, because they approached Fairfax County about using Westfield HS as their home field. (The county declined.)

Further emails from Paul mentioned players being signed and drafted. Everyone was thrilled with Monica Abbott being drafted, even though it was unclear how much (if any) she would play due to the national team committments. On March 6, the schedule was announced. I was bummed that most of their games were Thu-Sun, as that meant I wouldn't be able to see them as often as I liked. (Conflicts on Friday and Sunday were with my teams, and every other Saturday night I have dinner with my mom.)

On March 12, an email arrived with a season ticket order form. They still hadn't announced their home field yet, which is certainly an important detail when ordering tickets, but fortunately Amanda has connections, and she told me that it would likely be George Mason University. I thought about it for a while, and I decided that I was going to do my best to help this franchise get started. Even though I knew I wouldn't be able to make more than about half the games, I decided to order 4 season tickets in the VIP section, and try to use my softball contacts to get the seats filled. I ran up to Kinko's that night to fax in the order.

The seating chart was supposed to be announced in 30 days, at which time we could pick our seats. Finally on April 30th they confirmed GMU as their home, and on May 4th an email was sent out with the seating chart. Fortunately this was a Friday, when I'm at home rather than work, because Paul called me so I could pick my seats. (I was able to secure front row, so I was very happy with that.) I thought it was very cool to be talking directly to the owner of the team. After I picked the seats, I asked Paul one question about Monica Abbott, and I think it was 30 minutes later when he finally stopped talking. He was obviously thrilled with this venture, which bodes well for the franchise being able to stay in this area. (So many other league teams have moved around, and in fact this franchise took over the Brakettes contracts from last year.)

On May 17, the Glory announced a meet and greet for May 23 at Brion's Grille, at which we could pick up our tickets and order Glory Garb (though I think Glory Gear sounds better). Just about anyone I talked to about the team had not heard about it at this point, so I was pleasantly suprised to see a pretty good crowd of people at the event. They even sold out of the white t-shirts in my size.

That just about takes me to today, June 10. Throughout the first 2 weeks of the season, I've found it frustrating to find information about the team and its players. The team's website has a roster, but it hasn't been updated to include newly signed players. And in order to find game results, I've been turning to the NPF wesbite (profastpitch.com). The team is just getting started, and I'm sure they're busy with a bunch of other things, so I figured I'd put something together here, to share news and views about the team. This isn't really a blog, so comments aren't possible, but feel free to email me at jim@glorytickets.com.

Readers might want to start from the bottom at this point, to get game recaps in chrono order. But before the recaps get started, I wanted to mention some things that didn't fit into these recaps, starting off with a couple of rumors: 1) The backstop fence at GMU has a horizontal bar that is directly in the line of sight for many in the grandstands. I've heard that it will be removed soon. 2) Monica Abbott is rumored to have signed with the Glory, and may actually be able to pitch some games for us in between her National Team committments.

In addition to the Washington Glory website, the NPF website has a ton of info, including historical data from past years. Current, year-to-date stats are available for each team, as well as recaps for each game, and news stories for many games. There's a FanZone with message boards as well. Check it out here.

From this site's stats from last year, I noticed that not many of the Brakettes are currently playing for the Glory. Returning this year are Sarah Pauly, Callie Piper, Germaine Fairchild, Stephanie Best, and Kelly Kretschman. That's just 5 players. It seems like, for the most part, the Glory were able to cherry-pick the best of the Brakettes (who were runners-up last year in the NPF), and add a bunch of others from various places. Considering how well we're doing so far, I have to give a lot of credit to GM Paul Wilson and Coach Carie Dever Boaz for the talent they were able to find for this team.