Hamilton joins professional softball league

By Henry Greenstein     Jun 11, 2024

article image AP Photo/Colin E. Braley
Kansas pitcher Kasey Hamilton (24) reacts after striking out a Baylor batter during the seventh inning of an NCAA college softball game on Saturday, March 16, 2024, in Lawrence.

Former Kansas pitcher Kasey Hamilton is pursuing an opportunity to continue playing softball in a new professional league.

Women’s Professional Fastpitch, which is entering its second season of play beginning on June 20, is playing a four-team schedule this season. One of the teams, the Coastal Bend Tidal Wave, announced on Saturday that it had added Hamilton to its roster.

Hamilton started 89 games and pitched 525 1/3 innings over the course of her four-year career with the Jayhawks. The Topeka native put together her best season in 2024, tossing 18 complete games with an 11-14 record and a 3.40 ERA as KU made it to the tournament bubble but fell short of the postseason. Her 167 innings led the Big 12 Conference.

Hamilton was also the winner of KU’s 2024 Marlene Mawson Award, “presented to a senior female student-athlete who is a fierce competitor in the classroom and the field of play” and occupies a leadership role on her team.

The Tidal Wave is based in the Corpus Christi, Texas, area and is coached by Blake Miller. Local news station KIII has reported that the team will play at Fairgrounds Field in nearby Robstown, which has previously served as a venue for independent baseball.

While details about the league have been sparse, other teams, all based in Texas like the Tidal Wave, include the Hub City Adelitas (expected to play in Lubbock), Texas Monarchs (San Marcos) and Texas Smoke (Austin). Women’s Pro Fastpitch is one of several entities vying for a place in the professional softball landscape, along with Athletes Unlimited and the new Association of Fastpitch Professionals.

Former MLB player Brandon Phillips owns the Smoke and his B4Real Enterprises runs the operations of the league as a whole, according to a press release from April.

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Written By Henry Greenstein

Henry is the sports editor at the Lawrence Journal-World and KUsports.com, and serves as the KU beat writer while managing day-to-day sports coverage. He previously worked as a sports reporter at The Bakersfield Californian and is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis (B.A., Linguistics) and Arizona State University (M.A., Sports Journalism). Though a native of Los Angeles, he has frequently been told he does not give off "California vibes," whatever that means.