TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- If a particularly brave soul could have made good money betting on the Chicago Bandits to even reach the National Pro Fastpitch championship series, as their coach suggested of a team that had a losing record in the regular season, imagine the fortune available in predicting the identity of the pitcher who would make them back-to-back champions.Not Monica Abbott, the pitcher who led the Bandits to a title a year ago and then departed.Not Jennie Finch, the retired ace whose name adorns the street outside the teams stadium.Not even a pitcher who was on the teams roster, or any NPF roster, when the season began.But for a night, Angel Bunner was the only pitcher who mattered.For six innings, Bunner kept the best lineup in the sport at bay and got the better of far her more recognizable counterpart in the pitching circle, Keilani Ricketts. Released by the Pennsylvania Rebellion before the start of the 2015 season and still out of work as this season began, Bunner had as much to do with a 2-1 win over the USSSA Pride in a winner-take-all finale as any player on the field Tuesday.Without a player who waited so long to make it back to the league, the Bandits wouldnt be back-to-back champions.Its a dream, so of course I would imagine it, Bunner said of her journey to a confetti-strewn field and a trophy. But making it a reality was a lot different.Bunner worked six innings, the longest stint of any pitcher on either team in the best-of-three championship series. She allowed eight hits but just a solitary run.Most Valuable Player honors deservedly went to Bandits outfielder Brittany Cervantes, the veteran cornerstone who followed Taylor Edwards with the second of back-to-back home runs in the top of the third inning this night and hit .500 in the postseason. But a day after the Bandits talked about using all available arms to try to get through seven innings against the regular-season champions, they kept giving the ball back to Bunner. Inning after inning after inning.We talked last night, and we said once through the order and then maybe a couple of lefties, Bandits coach Mike Steuerwald said of the Bunner plan. We had six of our seven pitchers hot pretty much from the fourth inning on. It was talking to Bunner and talking to [catcher Edwards]. Part of it is the relationship weve built even in her short time here. Ive learned to trust her. Shes learned to trust me. And if she cant go another batter, come talk to me.It sounded as if the very first batter Bunner faced had hit a ball bound for the seats beyond the outfield fence, but that blast from Megan Wiggins in the bottom of the first inning tailed into a routine fly out on a stifling night when, Edwards and Cervantes aside, the ball didnt carry. There was more of that each time the Pride batted, fly balls to the warning track and line drives ripped right at fielders.Bunner didnt dominate. She persevered.Shes pitched well against us pretty much the whole year, since she joined the Bandits, said the Prides Kelly Kretschman, who provided her teams only run with a fifth-inning home run. I dont think we were surprised by anything. She kind of just goes at you, and Here it is; hit it.But she did a great job against ScrapYard, and she did a good job tonight, too.The story of Chicagos season was destined to be about pitching, no matter how unlikely it was that Bunner would emerge the protagonist in the end. The Bandits lost more than Abbott after last seasons title. Longtime standouts Amber Patton and Tammy Williams retired, but it was the best pitcher in the sport leaving for a million dollar contract with the expansion ScrapYard Dawgs that seemed likely to define her former teams season for better or for worse.After a decent start to the season, the Bandits stumbled to eight losses in nine games as June came to a close, the last five losses by a 51-3 margin. It was at that point that they reached out to Bunner, nearly two calendar years removed from her most recent NPF innings.Signing her was probably a big key to turning our season around, Steuerwald said. Obviously losing Monica [after] last year is a big dent to your pitching staff. And we werent playing good softball at the time, so we needed to do something. She was someone weve discussed in the past bringing in and just wasnt a fit in previous seasons with teams we had at that point.We had the thought that shes been out for a year, shes probably ready to go. Maybe not physically as much, but she wants to get after it again. We needed a bit of that on this team.Now 26 years old, Bunner was living at home in Florida with her parents while waiting for another start. She never made the mental transition to a post-softball life. She wanted to keep playing. She reached out to teams, and Steuerwald said players in the league reached out on her behalf.It was hard, Bunner said. I mean, I love the sport. And Im dedicated to a team, and I want a team to be dedicated to me. So it was really hard when I got released. But if thats what they felt was best, then thats what they needed to do.The call finally came.In her first game back, Bunner gave up hits to the first three batters she faced against the Akron Racers. She gave up eight hits in less than three innings. But with some help from the pitchers who followed her, the Bandits still won that game. She finished the regular season with just one win but had one of the best ERAs on the team.So when it came to the decision of who to start Tuesday night, the choice was the same as it had been two days earlier in an elimination game against Abbott and the Dawgs.Im not going to lie, Im not normally nervous, but I was extra nervous, Bunner said of Tuesday. I had a group of pitchers standing behind me, and the first thing they said to me when we got here was No matter what happens, we all got your back. So going into the game, I just used that mentality that if I got into trouble, I knew there was another pitcher coming in behind me.Except that none of them did, not until rookie Shelby Turnier entered in the seventh -- Bunner the first to give her a high-five as she took the field. So good throughout the postseason, Turnier retired the Pride in order in the seventh for her second save in as many days.The game ended with Kretschman on deck, the one batter who got to Bunner all night, waiting for another chance in the stadium that didnt even exist when she first arrived at Alabama as a college freshman two decades ago. There was no one better equipped to put into perspective the most recent installment of the best rivalry that not enough people in sports know about. Players from both sides made the same comparison, the Pride as the New York Yankees and the Bandits as the Boston Red Sox from the height of that rivalry a decade ago. Its what we do, finding a more familiar comparison point to explain womens sports.But the truth is this rivalry stands on its own. The mutual respect and mutual dislike of perfect foils.I would have liked to be on some other ends of wins, but youve got to enjoy [it], Kretschman said. I think this is probably the most fun championship Ive played in my entire time being in this league. Because it wasnt about whos pitching on their team and whos pitching on [our] team. It was about two great teams going at it and what best team was going to win it. Not who was pitching. I think thats a huge difference in whats gone on in the league in the past.It was a game in which a pitcher entered anonymous and earned her headlines.Which in its own way summed up how a group of 23 players earned a championship together. Andrew Ladd Jersey . He said Tuesday thats a big reason why he is now the new coach of the Tennessee Titans. Whisenhunt said he hit it off quickly with Ruston Webster when interviewing for the job Friday night. Shane Prince Jersey . Wilson hit Schenn from behind during Tuesday nights game in Philadelphia, earning a five-minute major for charging and a game misconduct. 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Bob Stoops was a young defensive assistant when he joined new Kansas State head coach Bill Snyders staff way back in 1989.Just winning a game was a big deal then for the Wildcats, who were coming off consecutive winless seasons and decades of mostly losing records.There are now 388 career victories between Snyder, who just won his 200th game last weekend, and Stoops, who has 188 wins in 18 seasons as Oklahomas coach. And they arent the only Big 12 coaches who are the winningest coaches at their schools.Kansas State finishes Snyders 25th regular season Saturday at TCU, where winningest coach Gary Patterson will set the school record with his 202nd game coached while going for his 150th victory.Stoops and the Sooners claim their 10th Big 12 title if they win the Bedlam rivalry game against Oklahoma State and Mike Gundy, the former Cowboys quarterback who with 103 wins is his alma maters winningest coach.Well, first reaction is no, Stoops said, when asked if he initially imagined Snyder winning 200 games at K-State. But, you know, with coach Snyder, yes. Ive spoken a lot about how determined and how successful I thought we would be when we arrived there. ... Hes that good, and hes that determined to get it done, and hes the kind of guy, loyal too, to be there that long.Stoops was part of Snyders first 46 victories at Kansas State, then left for three seasons and two national championships as Floridas defensive coordinator before taking over as Oklahomas coach in 1999 -- and winning a national title there in 2000.More on the Big 12s winningest coaches:BILL SNYDER, Kansas State (1989-2005, 2009-present).Record: 200-105-1.Highlights with Wildcats: After one bowl in K-States first eight decades playing football, went to the Copper Bowl in 1993, Snyders fifth season. That was first of 11 consecutive bowl appearances for K-State, which this year goes to its 19th bowl under the 77-year-old Snyder. K-State won 2003 Big 12 championship game, and shared 2012 league title with Oklahoma. Snyder has 64 wins in last eight seasons since his three-year retirement.Before being head coach: Hayden Frys offensive coordinator from 1979-88 after two seasons on his staff at North Texas.BOB STOOPS, OKLAHOMA (1999-present)Record: 188-48.Highlights with Sooners: Won record nine Big 12 titles, and only team in league history to win three in a row (2006-08). Oklahoma won national championship in 2000, and was national runner-up in 2003, 2004 and 2008 seasons. Only coach in BCS era to win the Rose, Orange, Fiesta and Sugar Bowls. Never missed bowl at Oklahoma. Coaached two Heisman Trophy winners (Jason White and Sam Bradford).ddddddddddddBefore being head coach: Grad assistant at Iowa, his alma mater, then assistant there and Kent State before K-State and Florida.GARY PATTERSON, TCU (2000-present)Record: 149-52.Highlights with Horned Frogs: A 13-0 season in 2010, capped by Rose Bowl victory and No. 2 final ranking in AP poll. Part of three consecutive seasons undefeated in Mountain West Conference play before moving to Big 12 in 2012, the year he became schools winningest coach. Shared 2014 Big 12 title with Baylor. Currently tied for most games coached with Dutch Meyer, coach of TCUs only AP national champion team in 1938 led by Heisman winner Davey OBrien.Before being head coach: Grad assistant at K-State, his alma mater, which was pre-Snyder. Coaching stints at eight other schools. Defensive coordinator at TCU for three seasons before Dennis Franchione left for Alabama.MIKE GUNDY, OKLAHOMA STATE (2005-present)Record: 103-49.Highlights with Cowboys: Won 2011 Big 12 title, and will finish no worse than second for third time in four years this season. Have been AP Top 10 team seven of last nine seasons. Team this season will go to 11th consecutive bowl game, longest streak in school history.Before being head coach: Starting QB for 3 1/2 seasons at Oklahoma State. Was Cowboys assistant from 1990-95, then left for a season at Baylor and four at Maryland before returning to Stillwater in 2001.NOT MANY LIKE THEMThe only active coaches from Power Five conference teams outside that Big 12 quartet who are their schools winningest coaches are Northwesterns Pat Fitzgerald (76 wins) and Louisvilles Bobby Petrino (67). For the record, Nick Sabans 117 wins in 10 seasons at Alabama are still 115 shy of Bear Bryant.LONG TENURESSnyder, Stoops and Patterson are 1-2-3 among active FBS coaches for wins at their current schools, with Iowas Kirk Ferentz (135) and Saban the only non-Big 12 coaches with more than Gundy, who in his 12th season is tied with Utahs Kyle Whittingham.The average tenure for the current Big 12 coaches is 5.75 years, and that includes Tom Herman being at Texas less than a week since Charlie Strong was fired. The average coaching tenure in all the other Power Five leagues and Notre Dame is less than five years, with only eight of those 55 coaches having reached 10 seasons.---More AP college football at www.collegefootball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25 Jerseys NFL Cheap Wholesale NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping Cheap NFL Jerseys China Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap ' ' '