The Texas Charge, one of six teams that competed in the National Pro Fastpitch league in 2017, have folded and will not participate in the 2018 league summer season.
Announced in January 2015, the Charge had been the league’s fourth-longest tenured franchise. In 2017, the squad finished in fifth place in the league standings and missed the postseason for the second straight season.
Formerly the Dallas Charge, the 2017 season also saw the team move their base of operations to San Marcos, Texas, where their home games were played at Texas State’s Bobcat Softball Stadium.
With the team’s dissolution this fall, the Charge will end their short-lived tenure with an all-time record of 59-89 and just a single postseason appearance, in 2015. Four different individuals have served as the team’s head coach, including Florida assistant Jennifer Rocha, who posted the best record of the quartet at the team’s helm with a 20-30 mark in 2016.
The Charge’s dissolution marks the second time in as many years that the NPF has seen the exit of a league franchise, following the Pennsylvania Rebellion’s departure prior to the 2017 season.
More than a dozen players were under contract with the Charge through 2018 and beyond, including pitchers Delanie Gourley and Dallas Escobado. JWOS obtained a copy of an email that was sent from the league office on Thursday to players on the Charge roster; in the correspondence, league commissioner Cheri Kempf notes that players previously actively under contract with the Charge are now free agents.
The team’s social media accounts have been deactivated, though their official website remains active as of Thursday evening.
The league nor the team has issued an official statement. Attempts to contact representatives of each were unsuccessful.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
