Interview with National Pro Fastpitch Commissioner Cheri Kempf

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Cheri Kempf was named the commissioner of the National Pro Fastpitch League (NPF) in 2007 after a successful career as a softball player, coach and analyst.

Today, Kempf and I discussed the decision the current players were forced to make between playing for USA Softball and playing for the NPF. They were forced to make the choice after USA Softball told them they would not be allowed to play for Team USA if they continued to play for NPF.

After consulting with each other and Billie Jean King herself, the players from the 2008 Olympic Silver Medalist Team unanimously decided to stick with the pro league and focus on helping it grow so that the next generation, as player and leader Jessica Mendoza puts it, "can say, 'I wanna play softball when I grow up,' and be able to do that!"

Listen in for more background on this situation as well as how the league plans to market itself and grow, as well as their plans for their draft.

The 2011 National Pro Fastpitch Draft takes place FRIDAY, MARCH 18, at 8pm eastern and will be broadcasted live at MLB.com (check profastpitch.com for the direct link).

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• National Pro Fastpitch

This post is related to an event on our Calendar:

• 2011 National Pro Fastpitch College Senior Draft

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• Women Talk Sports Weekly Radio Show

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There is 1 comment on this post. Join the discussion!

yostk321 says:

If the WPS can suspend their season this year so that those women who play on national soccer teams can do so in this year's Women's World Cup, and the WNBA can suspend their seasons every four years for the Summer Olympics, then I can see absolutely no reason why the NPF can't also suspend their season each year for the KFC Cup of Softball and just start the NPF season a little earlier in mid-May and end it a little later in early to mid September.

Monday, March 21, 2011 at 6:32pm EDT

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