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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. Marvin Bagley III Jersey . Andrew Luck lost his favourite target and the Indianapolis locker room lost one of its most revered leaders when Reggie Wayne was diagnosed Monday with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee that will cost him the rest of the season. Jason Williams Jersey . Perhaps Carroll was so prepared for a break because he believes there is very little the Seattle Seahawks need heading into the off-season. "I dont see anything that we need to add. We just have to get better," Carroll said. https://www.kingslockerroom.com/Richaun-Holmes-City-Edition-Jersey/ . -- Ryan Getzlaf grabbed the three pucks wrapped in tape and held them up to his chest in the Anaheim Ducks dressing room for a celebration nine seasons in the making. Richaun Holmes Kings Jersey . -- Catcher Brett Hayes has agreed to a $630,000, one-year contract with the Kansas City Royals, avoiding salary arbitration. Marvin Bagley Jersey .com) - The Calgary Flames aim to bounce back from their first regulation home loss of the campaign on Friday night when they host a Detroit Red Wings club that they swept in three meetings a season ago. KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Chris Sale got some unexpected help to get his 16th win.A rare Carlos Sanchez home run lifted Sale, who pitched his American League-leading sixth complete-game, and the Chicago White Sox to a 7-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Friday night.Sanchez had struck out in his first three at-bats before hitting a pitch from Kelvin Herrera out to right with J.D. Shuck and Avisail Garcia aboard.I threw my arms up in the air, Sale said when Sanchez homered. It was crazy. Thats your team fighting for you right there; thats your team fighting back. You know what Herrera brings to the table. Hes one of the best. You guys have seen it. So, to be able to put up a four spot in that inning was huge.It was Sanchezs first home run since last Sept. 21 at Detroit.Sanchez has been up and down this year and there have been times when he hasnt clicked, White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. But, when he gets some playing time I think hes improved enough. Hes got enough pop. When hes hitting it well, itll carry. I think thats something thatll come with him. This is, I hope, the start of that for him in his career.Todd Frazier doubled with one out and scored on Alex Avilas single for the first run of the inning. The four-run inning, gave Sale a boost to finish the game.No doubt, Sale said. It changes the complete landscape of the game, obviously. Were down two, we scored one and hit a three-run homer. I just have to go out and not mess up too badly.Sale (16-8), 1-6 in his previous 11 starts, limited the Royals to four runs, three earned, while striking out 10 and walking one.Kansas City has lost five straight and will need a miracle to return to postseason after winning the past two American League championships.Herrera (2-5) blew his third save in 14 chances.I had trouble with my release point, Herrera said. It was a little off. I felt a little off with my command for some reason. This is a tough league.Ian Kennedy, who held the White Sox to one hit over six innings Sunday to beat Sale in a 2-0 win, threw 74 pitches in the first three innings, but made it through six, allowing two runs, five hits, three walks and aa sacrifice fly.dddddddddddd He retired 11 of the last 12 batters he faced.I had to talk my way into going out for the sixth inning just because the bullpen had been so taxed the last couple of days, Kennedy said. I wanted to stay in at least one more inning. It was a grind.Kennedy walked the bases loaded with none out in the second, but escaped by allowing just one run, with Frazier scoring on Leury Garcias grounder.Sale retired the first 13 batters he faced before giving up seven hits and four runs to the next 10 batters.Salvador Perezs single with one out in the fifth was the Royals first hit. Cheslor Cuthberts double moved Perez to third. Hunter Dozier, who was making his first major league start, had an infield single, scoring Perez, and Cuthbert raced home on shortstop Tyler Saladinos throwing error, to tie the score at 2.Billy Burns opened the Royals sixth with a bunt single and scored when Whit Merrifield drilled a triple to left-center. Kendrys Morales singled home Merrifield.Jose Abreu, who singled in his first two at-bats for his 12th multi-hit game in his past 18 games, scored in the third on Fraziers sacrifice fly.Melky Cabrera homered in the ninth off Peter Moylan, while Saladino had three of the White Sox 11 hits.TEPESCH OUTRIGHTEDRHP Nick Tepesch, who was designated for assignment, cleared waivers and Royals sent him outright to Triple-A Omaha. Tepesch, who is a Missouri alumnus, is 7-15 in 35 games, including 33 starts, in the majors with the Rangers and Dodgers.TRAINERS ROOMWhite Sox: DH Justin Morneau missed his fourth straight game with a stiff neck.Royals: RHP Chien-Ming Wang (right biceps tendinitis) said his arm feels good after throwing two bullpen sessions. He was scheduled to throw batting practice Friday, but a pregame rain canceled that.UP NEXTWhite Sox: RHP Miguel Gonzalez, who is 2-0 with a 2.08 ERA in two September starts, will start Saturday.Royals: LHP Jason Vargas makes his first start since July 21, 2015, and rehabbing from reconstructive elbow surgery. ' ' '