Aug. 21, 2017
BATON ROUGE, La. - Kasey Cooper had as memorable of a first professional season as one could hope for in 2017.
The former Auburn slugger launched a two-run home run in the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) championship series to pace the Scrap Yard Dawgs to their first Cowles Cup in franchise history.
Cooper's two-run shot came in the sixth inning in a tie game of a winner-take-all contest with the USSSA Pride.
The Dawgs and the Pride split the previous two meetings of the annual championship series to set up the finale of the best-of-three competition.
The Dothan, Ala. native hit .393 with a .553 on-base percentage and a .643 slugging percentage in her first season as a professional. She notched 11 hits, including two doubles, one triple and one home run.
Cooper racked up 10 RBI and scored nine runs in 12 games at third base. She touted a perfect 1.000 fielding clip at the hot corner in 27 chances and even turned two double plays.
With Cooper's triumph, 2017 marks the second consecutive season that a former Auburn star has won the Cowles Cup. Emily Carosone took home top honors last year with the Chicago Bandits.
The Tigers also had a former standout reach the NPF championship in the opposite dugout of Cooper in Angel Bunner of the USSSA Pride.
The southpaw capped the most successful season of her professional career with a 1.17 ERA in 53 2/3 innings of work. She went 7-1 with one save and allowed just nine earned runs during the entire summer.
Bunner struck out 29 batters in 13 relief appearances and five starts for the Pride.