User:Jbaldon03/sandbox

Article Evaluation: Women's pro fastpitch


 * All material relevant to topic
 * Provided accurate information related to the evolution of the league.
 * Tables/graphs were helpful to summarize and keep track of which teams began, folded, or changed names or location.
 * Information is up to date with latest season (2017 season)
 * No personal biases- neutral tone
 * Citations from NPF websites, Pro Fastpitch websites, and FloSoftball
 * Generalized ideas, no biases
 * Talk page involved an idea of splitting WPSL and NPF into separate pages (no support for that) and the desire for Pro Fastpitch softball to become more popular in the U.S.
 * WikiProject Sports, WikiProject Baseball, WikiProject Softball, WikiProject Women's sport/Softball (all noted of low-importance)
 * Question: What happened to ScrapYard Dawgs for them to not return to the NPF for the 2018 season?

Wikipage contribution:

Contraction and expansion (2009–present)
The New England Riptide did not play the 2009 season, citing economic reasons. The Washington Glory folded outright and were replaced by the USSSA Pride.

For 2011, the Diamonds became a traveling team, and the Pride split home games between two new venues. In 2012, the Diamonds relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina, and became the Carolina Diamonds. They played in various venues in North Carolina during the 2012 season.

The league announced that the Pennsylvania Rebellion would be added as an expansion team for the 2014 season, receiving the roster of the recently defunct NY/NJ Comets.

In January 2015, the league announced the Dallas Charge as an expansion team for the 2015 season. The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex-based team will split their home games between the Ballfields at Craig Ranch in McKinney and a ballpark in Arlington.

On October 23, 2015, the NPF announced that the Scrap Yard Dawgs would join the league as an expansion team based in The Woodlands, Texas.

On January 16, 2017, the NPF announced that the ownership of the Pennsylvania Rebellion would be dissolving the team, effective immediately. The Pennsylvania Rebellion played three seasons, accumulating a 42-104 record and competed in the postseason of 2015, but failed to make postseason for the 2016 and 2017 seasons. All Rebellion players under contract were granted free agency.

On May 2, 2017 NPF announced the addition of an expansion team, Beijing Shougang Eagles. Its roster is to be populated with members of China women's national softball team and selected American players. For 2017, the home half Beijing's schedule was played in the home venues of the other NPF teams. During the 2017 season, discussion began to support the Eagles in making Space Coast Stadium the U.S. "home" training base for their team. However, as of 2018, the Beijing Shougang Eagles do not have a permanent home base in the U.S.

On October 12, 2017, it was reported the Texas Charge would be dissolving, effective immediately. The NPF did not make an announcement regarding the Charge, but all Charge players under contract were added to the league's transactions page as free agents.

In an arrangement similar to the Beijng Eagles', NPF announced in December 2017 that Softball Australia would be operating a 2018 expansion team, the Aussie Spirit.

On January 28, 2018, the Scrap Yard Dawgs announced via press release they would no longer be affiliated with the NPF. However, the NPF announced they had terminated the franchise on January 29 citing that the team had violated several league operating rules and franchise requirements. The Scrap Yard Dawgs indicated they would continue as an independent team known as Scrap Yard Fastpitch for 2018. The resigning of the Scrapyard Dawgs from the NPF raised questions about the viability of the league in the softball community as well as some concerns about how women will be able to excel in professional sports without enough support backing the women's sports platform. On the same day, Ohio.com reported that the Akron Racers would be replaced by a Chinese team, similar to the Beijing Eagles. However, on February 1, 2018 Akron, instead, changed their name to the Cleveland Comets. The Comets will still be an NPF travel team.

For the 2018 season, the remaining teams in the NPF league consisted of the newcomers Aussie Spirit (a collaboration with Softball Australia), two Chinese teams including the newly launched Cleveland Comets (former Akron Racers combined with Chinese players) and the Beijing Shougang Eagles (who went 3-44 in the 2017 NPF season), the Chicago Bandits, and the USSSA Pride.