Hello everyone! Brittany Mack here with a new blog site! This is my first time to ever write a blog, so readers please go easy on me! For my first blog, I would like to introduce myself to those who do not know me and to allow those who do know me to get a chance to learn some interesting facts about me that you may not know. Let's start with the basics... I was born in Phoenix, Arizona but my home town since age 3 is Round Rock, Texas. I am currently a professional softball player for the USSSA Pride located in Orlando, Florida. I recently graduated from Louisiana State University this past May where I pitched for four amazing years and received a major in kinesiology with a concentration in human movement (physical therapy to be more specific). Before attending LSU, I graduated from Westwood High School in Austin, Texas, where I also played softball for four years. My parents are Jan and Scott Mack, I have an older sister named Courtney (who is my best friend!), and the love of my life is none other than Josh Oakes! So the basics are: me + family + softball = a fantastic life! Seeing how this quick summary gives insufficient detail about who I am, let’s dig a little further, shall we?

Let’s start with the present time period. As stated earlier, I was drafted to play for the USSSA Pride. So I am one of a few rookies that were blessed with the opportunity to play for such an elite team with some of the greatest softball players in the world! There are too many greats to name, but I promise you will all get a chance to get to know these girls more as I intend to include their own personal facts and statements in future blogs! Of course, you can always visit our website at usssapride.com to look at the player profiles… but I intend to include more fun facts in my blogs, so you might want to stick around! Anyways, I have been living in Orlando for the past two and a half weeks simply loving life and playing the wonderful game of softball. Since I flew into town, the Pride has already played a total of 12 games in Chicago, Corpus Christi, Daytona, and Clermont. Outside of practice and games, I spend my spare time hanging out with my new teammates and enjoying my beautiful summer away from school! Three cheers for graduation! Hurray! So far I have had the most wonderful experience with these girls and the entire USSSA program.

Being a rookie with the Pride, most people remember me as a former LSU Tiger! I will forever bleed purple and gold and I will always support my Tigers! And for those of you who say us “Cajuns” don’t know how to spell, cough Kristyn Sandberg cough… GEAUX Tigers!!! For those who don’t know, Kristyn Sandberg is another rookie teammate on the Pride and a former rival in the SEC. She’s a Georgia Bulldog, but you will get to know her more in a later blog! So back to my story… I was recruited by former LSU head softball coach and National Hall of Fame legend Yvette Girouard. I was honored to play for her for three years, and thanks to her, she turned me into an All-American. During my senior year, I was blessed with the opportunity to play for another great coach, Beth Torina (who is also the head coach for the Pride). You will get to know both of these fantastic coaches in later blogs as well! It’s not very often that players have such a wonderful opportunity as this during their college career! I was even fortunate enough to play in the Women’s College World Series my senior year. Although it still saddens me to think about the last game of my college career, I am lucky to say I was able to finish my career at the WCWS. As the tradition goes with seniors leaving their cleats on the softball field, I got to leave my cleats in Oklahoma City. Playing softball for LSU has been one of the greatest blessings of my life. Not only has it led me to continue my softball career at the professional level, but it has taught me the importance of leadership, character, and love for my teammates. I dearly miss my Tiger teammates, especially one of my best friends and fellow pitchers, Rachele Fico. That girl is one heck of a pitcher and a truly amazing person! I hope to have her on my team again next year after she graduates from LSU! While attending LSU, I also got to know someone else very close to me... the love of my life, Josh! He is by far my biggest fan and supporter. Most of you have probably seen him at either the LSU games or when he surprised me at the World Series. Best surprise ever! He truly is the greatest man, and hopefully someday he will pop the question… Fingers crossed!

Obviously, softball is a huge part of my life… Okay that’s an understatement, softball IS my life! But aside from softball, there are other fun facts about me. First off, I am a country girl who absolutely loves to go horse-back riding. Come on, I’m from Texas, what did you expect? Now don’t get me wrong, I do like to visit the city and I love to go shopping! What girl doesn’t? But if I could have it my way, I would be living out in the country with AT LEAST ten acres of land surrounded by a white fence with several horses roaming around. Maybe throw in a softball field behind the house… Oh yes, that’s my dream land! I always tell people that in my other life I would be a barrel-racing champion! Besides my love for softball and horses, I am your typical friendly, caring, and loving person! If all you readers out there get a chance to meet me, you’ll get to see my fun self! But until then, hopefully you continue reading my blog and support women’s softball in any way you can! That’s actually my main reason for creating this blog site… My goal is to help increase awareness and support for women’s softball, more specifically National Pro Fastpitch (NPF). For those of you who do not know, there are only four professional softball teams in the US: USSSA Pride, Chicago Bandits, Akron Racers, and Carolina Diamonds. Though we are few in numbers, it makes the NPF that much more special to all the players and those who love and support us!

If you are reading this, I’m hoping that you are a softball fan and supporter and that you continue supporting us and the league! If you would like to learn more about the NPF or the USSSA Pride, you can visit the following websites:

www.profastpitch.com

http://usssapride.com/

I hope that you all continue to check out my blogs to learn more about softball, whether it is interviews with Pride teammates, Olympic Gold Medalists, legendary coaches, or just some fun facts! And don’t worry, I will spice things up a bit and throw in some fun blogs about different topics. So stick around and find out what’s coming up next! If you would like to get updates and sneak peeks about the next blogs to come, follow me on Facebook or Twitter! @GeauxPride_44

I hope you enjoyed my first blog and I look forward to hearing from all my new followers! This is Brittany Mack signing out!

Geaux Pride!