Finding a job after graduation just got a whole lot easier for Tammy Williams.
The senior shortstop got drafted Tuesday with the 10th overall pick of the 2009 National Professional Fastpitch senior draft by the Chicago Bandits.
“Being drafted by the Bandits is a great honor,” Williams said. “Being in the draft has always been something that I’d hoped to do, so I was really excited to hear.”
Williams, a three-time NFCA All-American, was the Big Ten Player of the Year in 2008 after setting a school record with a .440 batting average and is on the watch list for the 2009 USA Today Player of the Year award. But it’s not just her on-field play that attracted the Bandits’ front office to use their second-round draft pick on her.
“I’ve watched her play her entire college career, and it’s obvious she’s the spark plug of the team,” Bill Sokolis, president and CEO of the Bandits, said in a press release after the draft. “Tammy is the type of player that, if she takes one off the forehead and puts a Band-Aid on, then everybody in the stands as well as the dugout will put a Band-Aid on their forehead in support of her. That’s the type of togetherness the player brings.”
If she signs with the Bandits, Williams would be the fifth player in Northwestern history to join the NPF. Williams would join a familiar face on the Bandits’ roster: Eileen Canney, the 2008 NPF Pitcher of the Year, who graduated from NU in 2007.
“She’s one of my best friends,” Canney said of Williams. “We were both anxiously waiting to see what was going to happen during the draft because we were both hoping she’d end up on the Bandits.”
Canney and Williams talk to each other on the phone daily – even before there was a possibility of them being reunited as teammates. What do they talk about?
“Everything,” Canney said.
The NPF is the only professional softball league in operation in the United States. The league holds an annual draft in February for members of the upcoming graduating college class, but the players selected aren’t obligated to play and aren’t allowed to sign a contract and join the team until after their college eligibility is up – for Williams, this June.
The Bandits are the current defending World Champions, and it looks like their success should continue. In addition to the players from last year, the Bandits will add Canney after her old team, the New England Riptide, folded in the offseason. They’ll also add Jennie Finch, who spent last year pitching for the U.S. Olympic team.
“They’ve had a very good organization the past few years,” Canney said. “They get a ton of fans there, and it really makes it a lot of fun to play there.”
As for now, Williams has to be careful with her words: As a current NCAA student-athlete, she can’t say anything too certain about what she’ll do next year.
“I’d definitely be interested in a softball career after college,” Williams said. “I just look forward to getting better at softball over the next few years.”
Williams and the No. 12 Wildcats will face five teams in three days this weekend at the Cathedral City Classic in Cathedral City, Calif., including No. 3 Arizona State and No. 14 Fresno State.
