Brave the cold, have Ball-looza of a weekend with the Bandits

Shopping for a scarf and heavy-duty gloves when it's 80 degrees outside just doesn't seem right.

But Kristina Thorson, who lives in warm and sunny California, put that on her to-do list Thursday. A trip to the Midwest this weekend demanded those kind of last-minute pickups.

"My friends who are from Chicago said I need really good gloves, a scarf, all that kind of stuff," Thorson said. "I've never even owned a scarf. And most of the gloves you can get around here are the little thin ones for a dollar a pair.

"I don't know if I'm ready for this. It's 80 degrees (in the Bay Area), so I'm not going to lie, I'm not happy about the weather (in Chicago). I don't even know how to comprehend negative temperatures."

Never removing all of that new gear might be a tempting response.

But Thorson, a standout pitcher for the Chicago Bandits, needed at least one hand uncovered Friday night.

She joined the rest of her teammates at the Heritage Ball Room in Elgin for a formal dinner and ring ceremony that celebrated the team's 2008 National Pro Fastpitch league championship. Each player was presented with a specially designed championship ring.

The event kicked off an entire Bandits-themed weekend that is jam-packed with all kinds of fun activities around the Elgin area. The team, which plays its home games at Judson University in Elgin, has billed the extravaganza "Bandit Ball-looza Weekend."

The Bandits will help out with local Little League registration today at the Heritage Ball Room (9 a.m.-1 p.m.) and will conduct two clinics on Sunday at the Centre of Elgin Fieldhouse (8 a.m.-9:30 a.m. and 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m.). They'll also be holding informal autograph sessions each day.

"I'm really excited about everything we're doing- and I'm really excited everything is going to be inside," laughed Thorson, who went 12-5 last season with 104 strikeouts and a team-best 2.37 earned run average. "It'll be great to see the rings, too. I can't wait to wear it. I'm going to show it off.

"I've never gotten a championship ring like this before. When I played in college (at Cal), we got some rings for winning the Pac-10 and some regional titles, things like that. But we never won the (NCAA) championship, so we never got a ring (of that caliber)."

The Bandits, who brought professional softball to the Chicago area in 2005, won the franchise's first championship in August by knocking off the Washington Glory in the NPF Championship Series in Kimberly, Wis.

The Bandits also won the league's regular-season title.

"It was one of those seasons where the chemistry on the team was absolutely perfect. Everyone got along so well and that made the entire season so completely memorable," Thorson said. "And we just showed a lot of confidence. The attitude was: No matter what, we're going to win. It seemed like every day something great happened and somebody did something that everyone was going to talk about for months and months and months."

Now the talk is about the future.

The Bandits welcome Olympians Jennie Finch and Vicky Galindo back to the dugout. Finch, a superstar pitcher and the most recognizable name in softball, and Galindo missed the entire 2008 NPF season to compete with the U.S. women's national team at the Olympics in Beijing.

But here's the question: Will their presence, and the return of all the other Olympians league-wide, be enough to catapult the NPF to the next level? With softball being cut from the Olympic itinerary for 2012, the sport has taken a hit worldwide that could have a trickle-down effect.

"Softball will be hurt internationally," Thorson said. "But with college softball the way it is in the U.S. (gaining steam) and with the loss of the Olympic team, I think the pro league will really take off because there will be no other softball to watch in the summer. That's really going to help our league a lot."

Ball-looza details: Any girl who signs up for Elgin/South Elgin Little League programs on Saturday will be given a free Bandits 2009 season ticket for outfield seating. The clinics on Sunday cost $35. For more information about Bandit Ball-looza weekend, visit: www.chicagobandits.com.

pbabcock@dailyherald.com