Bandits softball should be easy for Fox Valley to embrace

Elgin city councilman Mike Powers may have said it best.

"Elgin has an incredibly rich sports tradition," was Powers' comment Tuesday at a press conference formally announcing the Chicago Bandits professional softball team would be moving to Elgin.

Powers went on to inform those who didn't know and remind those who did that Elgin was the site of the first high school basketball game (March 2, 1900 at Sauer's Hall) as well as the site of the first high school football night game (Oct. 28, 1898 at King Park).

Now, the Bandits will try to add to that tradition by becoming the first viable pro sports team to play its games in Elgin. After three years at Benedictine University in Lisle, the Bandits have agreed to play their home games for the next three years at a revamped Judson University field while the city moves forward with plans to build a stadium on the current Spartan Meadows golf course property.

The Bandits' move to Elgin is a win-win for not just Elgin but for the entire Fox Valley region. Judging by the number of new travel softball teams that have been formed in the area in the last 5 years, as well as the number of fastpitch tournaments scheduled at the Elgin Sports Complex for 2008, it's safe to say the Bandits should be well received in this area.

The biggest benefactor of the Bandits coming here is Judson. The $350,000 the city will contribute to upgrading Judson's field is not something that falls out of a tree every day.

"It's a huge blessing," said Judson coach Becky Bruns, whose team will play its home games at the complex this coming spring while the work to turn Judson's facility into a pro-quality one kicks into high gear.

"It's the only way we were going to get these kinds of upgrades. It's fun to see our kids' faces light up over this. It's also going to be a huge recruiting tool. It will be great to be able to talk to potential Judson student-athletes about coming here and be able to showcase not only a wonderfully upgraded facility but the Bandits as well."

And while this year's Judson seniors won't get the benefit of playing at the new facility, future Judson softball players will. The upgrades won't go with the Bandits when Elgin finishes the stadium, so what's being done at Judson will remain Judson's for years to come.

"You always want to make your senior year special and it's going to be really fun to have the new stadium. It's going to be a great experience," said Judson junior Rachel Pope. "I don't see anything bad about it. It's a win-win, no question."

In Lisle, the Bandits were averaging about 1,000 fans per game. There will be seating for 2,000 at Judson and Bandits owner Bill Conroy is shooting for sellouts. In Lisle, the Bandits tried to appeal to the suburbs as a whole. Conroy said in Elgin the marketing strategy will change some.

"In Lisle we targeted everybody in the suburbs," Conroy said. "Here, it's more of a community feeling and we're going to target the Elgin area more."

The Bandits, whose home opener is scheduled for Friday, June 6 against Akron, will be without the big name of Jennie Finch this season and the six-team National Pro Fastpitch league as a whole will be without Olympic stars as Team USA goes for the gold in Bejing.

But don't think for a minute the Bandits will lack for talent. Through trades, Conroy has picked up former UCLA standout Amanda Freed and former Cal-Berekely star Kristina Thorson to shore up the pitching staff. The Bandits have also acquired pitcher Tracie Adix, who led DePaul into the Women's College World Series last year. Conroy, coach Mickey Dean and all of the Bandits' staff clearly expect a turnaround from their 23-21 last-place finish in 2007.

Elgin and the Fox Valley area should embrace this team. The players are not multi-millionaires. They get paid, yes, but they all hold jobs in the offseason because what they get paid to play softball is far from enough to live on. Unless you're Jennie Finch, of course.

"Our team has to realize it won't have Jennie to rely on this year," said Conroy, who added Finch is expected to be back with the Bandits in 2009.

Instead, fans will learn names like Jessica Sallinger, Stacy May, Laura Harms, Nicole Trimboli, Vickie Galindo, Jamie Clark, Kristie Fox and all the other young women who will play for the Bandits.

"It's our goal to create hundreds of Jennies," said Bandits vice president Bill Sokolis. "There are so many kids who play on this team at such a high level. They meet all the standards and that's what we should be looking at."

When the Bandits move their operations to Elgin in January, they would be wise to do a couple of things. First, they need to get their name out. People in the softball community are well aware of who the Bandits are but anytime you bring something new to an area you want everyone to know who you are. Marketing should be the No. 1 priority for Conroy and his staff.

Secondly, the Bandits should be reminded this is a tradition-rich area that will embrace new entities who show they truly are here for the community. The Bandits should, and most certainly will, work with high schools, colleges and travel ball programs in the area to promote not only the Bandits, Elgin and Judson, but the sport as a whole.

"Elgin's a great place for softball," said Jaci Corn, who has played the sport in Elgin for 17 years between her careers with Elgin National Little League, Elgin High, ECC, Judson, the Fox Valley Renegades, the Elgin Heat and the Northern Illinois Lightning. "It's close enough for anyone in Chicago all the way west of Elgin to come and see."

We are also an area sorely in need of becoming a Rockford in terms of pro sports franchises. Now we finally have one. It's also an area that will support a team it sees making an effort to be part of the community.

"We want to be fan-friendly," Conroy says. "We want kids, we want families."

Then we want you here, Bandits, and you should do well here.

Welcome to Elgin.