Dallas Charge’s introductory season was, of course, a year marked by firsts. Starting with the announcement of the team on January 8, through the semi-final loss in the NPF Championship Series it was a world-wind of activity that produced many positive results.
Behind the scenes activity began in earnest in early December 2014, just a short five weeks before the Jan 8 announcement from the NPF. The expansion proclamation was followed quickly by the NPF 2015 scheduling meeting and subsequent release on January 13.
The first campaign for the young club would include 48 regular season contests, 18 in the DFW area. Sixteen of the events in North Texas were played at The Ballfields at Craig Ranch and two at UTA’s Allen Saxe Field. The season included 12 games against each of the other league teams. Besides going on the road to the normal home venues in Chicago, Akron and Washington, PA, the Charge worked to export the game to new markets playing four games against Akron in Colorado, and seven against the USSSA Pride in Kansas City, Columbia, MO, Sugarland, TX and San Antonio.
A week after the schedule was published, the first step to building the actual team began. First time General Manager Kevin Shelton started by hiring local Olympic hero and Texas Assistant Coach Jennifer McFalls to lead the Charge on the field. The Grand Prairie native was a natural fit for Dallas first pro fast-pitch team.
Eight days later Shelton announced the team’s first signee, 2011 USA National Team player, NFCA All-American and Cal alum pitcher Jolene Henderson.
On February 1, Assistant GM Laura Villa joined the front office. GM Kevin Shelton commented, “Laura was a critical hire. A softball player herself as a youngster, she has a tremendous passion for the game. Her event experience and familiarity with the local market helped her hit the ground running. Imagine starting a company from scratch and planning over 20 events almost single-handedly in a very short period of time. She didn’t get much help until May when the excellent staff of interns she assembled came in. Laura quickly organized them, unleashing their creative power while deftly directing the practical matters required to get the job done. I can’t say enough about how important Laura is to the Charge.”
Laura had a few things to say about the challenging beginning, “Going into our inaugural season I knew it was not going to be easy. I started working for the Charge on February 9th and had four months to prepare. We were building a team from the ground up with very little experience in the sports industry. I did a lot of research and got ideas from other teams in the league, minor baseball teams, other sports teams and also brought some of my experience as promotional director for a local radio station. I needed to start right away on marketing, how to sell tickets, sponsorships, promotional ideas, merchandise, mascot, programs/posters and more. With my promotional background a big key to a successful season was going to be the fan experience. I definitely would not have been able to do it alone, so the first step was to find interns. After reviewing multiple resumes and doing phone interviews I was able to find twenty great interns. With the team we were able to come up with a great promotional schedule for the 2015 season, work on group ticket sales, scripts, press releases, game day activities, charity partnerships, player personnel and more. They were also a big part of our game day staff. Each intern had a specific job to do and they did it well. With the short time that we had I think we pulled it off. Most of our fans were very pleased with the season and are looking forward to 2016.”
Shelton continued to assemble the squad adding free agents Taylor Thom, Morgan Melloh, Natalie Villarreal, Angie “Q” Quiocho, Mikey Kenney, Bailey Watts, Sarah Purvis and Molly Fichtner while trading for NPF veteran Kaylyn Castillo.
In March, Coach McFalls successfully coaxed Texas Alum Chez Sievers into joining the coaching staff. Her addition solidified quality and experienced leadership for what would be an extremely inexperienced roster.
The Charge’s first NPF draft occurred on April 1 in Nashville. Shelton drafted 11 players. Danielle Henderson was the team’s first ever pick, followed by Kaitlyn Richardson. The draftees included Renada Davis, a “market pick” provided to help expansion teams build competitive rosters. Other draft notables included Washington’s Kylee Lahners and Florida’s Lauren Haeger, the 2015 USA National Collegiate Player of the Year.
The club took on a little international flavor in May adding Australian National pitcher Vanessa Stokes and Japanese Nationals Eri Yamada and Kazuki Watanabe.
The club added both Brianna Cherry, Nadia Taylor and two-time Division II Daktronics Ron Lenz National Player of the Year Renee Erwin after tryouts in Round Rock.
Shelton talked about working on personnel. “Building a competitive roster from scratch was really challenging and required us to reach out to every resource available, both foreign and domestic. We couldn’t have done it without help, most notably, Jami Lopbries was critical in helping us make important contacts with players and encouraging them to play. Additionally, she was invaluable to our early marketing efforts, website development and social media presence.”
The team began to assemble on May 23 ahead of the first day of practice, May 25. The record setting rainfall in North Texas forced the initial practices onto the turf at Allen Station away from the friendly confines of Craig Ranch.
The Charge played their first game ever at home at Craig Ranch against the PA Rebellion in front of 700+ fans, a 4-3 loss. In an opening season there were a litany of notable firsts:
Base Hit: Brianna Cherry, 2 RBI single, 6/3
2B: Taylor Thom, 6/3
3B: Renada Davis, 6/4
HR: Taylor Thom, 6/4
HBP: Mikey Kenny, 6/3
BB & SB: Kahley Novak, 6/3
Run: Natalie Villarreal, 6/3
Start in circle: Vanessa Stokes, 6/3
Strikeout: Vanessa Stokes, 6/3
Win: 6/4 v. PA Rebellion. Vanessa Stokes earned the win in relief
Save: Sarah Purvis, 6/5
1-hitter: Haeger, 7/11
3-hit game: Taylor Thom, 6/4
The Charge finished their first summer in the league with a 17-31 regular season record. The 17 wins was good enough for a fourth place finish and a berth in the NPF Championship Series and the most wins for a first year team since the 2007 Washington Glory. Successive losses to the USSSA Pride in the NPF Championship Series in Hoover, AL ended the Charge’s 2015 march.
The Dallas squad was 8-15 in designated home games and 9-16 on the road. The Charge averaged a DFW home attendance of 501. The largest crowd was just over 1,000. Not surprisingly it was the July 4 event where the home team honored our Veterans with special tributes.
The Charge longest win streak in 2015 was just two games. The squad won back-to-back games three times.
Statistically the Charge finished with numbers that reflected their fourth place finish. The first year team was fourth in batting average (.233), RS (132) and Hits (290), 3rd with 37 doubles and 32 HR’s and 2nd with six triples. The Charge pitching staff finished with the 3rd best ERA (2.97) and Strikeouts (230) in the league.
The 2015 summer included three Dallas Charge camps for future NPF players organized and managed by Assistant Coach Chez Sievers. The events averaged over 40 athletes each.
The Dallas Charge Christmas camp had over 80 athletes at Extra Innings to get some instruction from Haeger, Thom, Kenney, Q and Coach Sievers. The event also collected over 50 toys that went to the McKinney Salvation Army.
Additionally, the Charge community efforts were notable. The club partnered with local organizations like Boys and Girls Club, Rae’s Hope, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, the Miracle League of DFW, NTX Susan G. Komen, Children’s Medical Center – Dallas, Samaritan Inn, Smart Girls, Hope For Warriors and Emily’s March For A Match.
Highlighting the Charge’s first summer in action were the selection of Kaitlyn Richardson as All-NPF at first base and our on-field leadership’s selection as the NPF Coaching Staff of the Year!
Sievers reflected on some of her most fond memories of 2015, “Winning the first series against PA, making playoffs, being selected Coaching Staff of the Year, Haeger’s shut out of Chicago, Nadia's game winning homerun at PA, Katie’s 2-HR game and playing in front of the huge Kansas City crowd.”
Coach McFalls talked about leading the Charge in their inaugural action, “When I reflect back on our season I think about what an amazing group of young ladies with tremendous character, work ethic, and a true passion for the game. Coming out of college, you do not choose to play in the NPF to get rich....you choose to continue your career as an athlete simply because of your love for the game. I admire their commitment to compete at the highest level, which continued to impact the growth of fast pitch softball. I continued to be amazed at their willingness to reach out to young kids. The Charge players were exceptional role models on and off the field. My most favorite memories will be reminiscing about the times we sat back and laughed at some challenging situations that we had no control over. You know you are coaching special athletes when they are not consumed with things off the field. My only regret is that our season wasn't longer....I feel like we were just starting to come together and really play as a team when the season was coming to an end. I personally had an amazing experience. I was blessed to be surrounded by a great coaching staff and athletes that continue to play simply for their passion for softball!”
2015 was a challenging and successful year for the Dallas Charge by many measures both on and off the field. 2016 will give the players and new coaching staff a chance to Lead the Charge again!