PFX Tour: Great Athletes, Great Role Models, Great Times

Photo: PFX Pros Tiffany Haas (7), Jennie Ritter (15) and Lauren Lappin (27) along with others sign autographs for fans.

After finishing an athletic collegiate career, most athletes never have the chance to do what they love on any professional level. This weekend, Saint Louis, Missouri, was a place where the women playing in the PROFASTPITCH

X-TREME TOUR (PFX) had a chance to not only play softball with other greats, but also had a chance to give back to their fans, which is the main reason for the countrywide tour.

The PFX Tour is made up of about 30 women who split into two teams and travel the country playing each other in a tournament. Along with the professionals playing, during each stop, local area youth teams sign up and play in their own tournaments as well as different skill type challenges against the professional players, including: pitching, homerun, and bunting among others. “Last year, we averaged about 40 teams per event and here in Saint Louis this weekend, we had 64 teams,” said PFX Tour President and CEO, Tom McCarthy.

McCarthy feels the tour is such a success because of the type of talent that he and other management bring into play, “The ladies we have on this tour are those who are very strong in character and those who understand that everything begins with the fans.” McCarthy went on to say, “While we track players who are in college and also those who’ve played on the US National Team, we are looking for a certain player. The types of players we want are those like Jennie Ritter and Lisa Fernandez, who get the ‘big picture,’ that while they are stars, there are more important things than being well-known and making the amount of money that other professional athletes are making.” Ritter, who is a former pitcher for the Michigan Wolverines and was a member of the 2006 World University Games Gold Medal Team USA, shadowed McCarthy’s statement saying, “The women on this tour are here because they enjoy the game, and more importantly, because they enjoy being around the fans. This tour gives us a chance we normally wouldn’t have to interact with the fans across the country and in the end, bringing a smile to their faces is what makes it worth it.”

Many of the PFX Tour pros share the same feelings when it comes to how the tour is helping in the movement of softball. Outfielder Jessica Mendoza who was part of the 2004 US Olympic Gold Medal Team, 2B Tiffany Haas who played collegiate ball at Michigan, and 2B and OF Brandey Weed, agreed that any time youth see them they are able to know that they can not only make it on the high school and college level, but also on the professional level. Weed has a sister named Courtney that plays OF on the tour, and both will have the chance the weekend of August 10, to play in their backyard as the tour will stop in Freehold, NJ.

Due to the types of players on the tour, the number of sponsors has grown. One of the sponsors is Mattingly Baseball, which is a baseball and softball equipment company formed by 1985 A.L. MVP and now New York Yankees coach Don Mattingly, “The main reason we joined PFX this summer is the way the tour operates in respect to selection of pro invitees, to the interaction with the fans. You would be incredibly hard pressed to find a professional league or tour that has everything PFX offers,” said Mattingly Baseball President, Skip Shaw. The featured item for Mattingly is its patented V-Grip, which is aimed to improve swing technique.

Currently, the PFX Tour is only done in the United States. McCarthy spoke about the possibility of international expansion saying, “Seven different countries including Australia and Japan have contacted us. The good thing about Australia is that during the last two Olympic games, the US has played Australia for the gold medal.”

Seeing how these great athletes interacted with their fans over the period of two days was great. Anyone who lives around an area where the tour is schedule to stop, should take full advantage and go see some great athletes, great role models, and have great times.

UPCOMING TOUR SCHEDULE
August 10-12: Freehold, New Jersey
August 17-19: Iowa City, Iowa
August 24-26: McKinney, Texas
September 1-3: Indianapolis, Indiana
September 7-9: Syracuse, New York
October 12-14: Clermont, Florida

SIDE NOTE
* On February 27, 2007, in front of a crowd of 7,500 plus, the PFX Pros defeated the UCLA Bruins 15-0.

For information on how to register a team, becoming a sponsor, PFX Pro bios, and much more visit www.pfxtour.com

For more information on Mattingly Baseball visit www.mattinglybasball.com