By Tommy Deas

Nobody puts the Chicago Bandits in a corner.

The Scrap Yard Dawgs tried it in the semifinal round of the National Pro Fastpitch playoffs, which forced an elimination final in the best-of-three series. That's when the Bandits roared back to upend Monica Abbott and the second-seeded Dawgs.

The top-seeded, regular-season champion USSSA Pride did the same thing as they won the first game of the NPF Championship Series, putting Chicago in a win-or-go-home situation on Monday night at Rhoads Stadium.

The Bandits took it to the Pride, and won 11-5 to force a decisive third game in the Cowles Cup final. The teams will face off again on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. CT on CBS Sports Net with the league championship on the line.

The fact that Chicago is still around after coming into the playoffs as the No. 3 seed -- and with a losing record, no less -- is a bit of a surprise.

"If you asked everyone in the softball world if we should be going to Game Three with the Pride... you would win a lot of money in Vegas," Bandits coach Mike Steuerwald said.

Ask those who know them best, however, and they'll tell you otherwise.

"I think we all knew it was going to be tough," NPF Player of the Year Kelly Kretschman, the Triple Crown winner for the Pride, said. "They had pretty much battled us for all the year. They battle every inning. It doesn't really surprise me that our rivalry continues."

That's the thing about the Bandits—they have a strange kind of swagger. On one hand, they sound like they're just happy to be here. On the other, they are ready to throw down over the idea that they, the defending league champions, somehow don't belong.

Third baseman Jill Barrett embraced what Steuerwald told the team before Monday's game: "We're always going to fight, it's tradition, you're going to play for a ring."

That fight started in the bottom of the third inning of Monday's game, which is when Chicago catcher Taylor Edwards hit a solo home run to right field to give the Bandits a 1-0 lead.

USSSA Pride answered in the top of the fourth with two runs. Kretschman, who played with a brace to protect an injured right calf and was visibly limping, got her first hit of the postseason on a single to left field. Kristi Merritt entered to pinch run, advanced to third on a single and a fielder's choice and scored on a wild pitch.

Catcher Chelsea Goodacre hit a RBI single to right field to give the Pride a 2-1 lead.

At that point, it still looked like a pitcher's duel.

"I thought we were going to have to scratch about three runs across," Steuerwald said.

Instead, Chicago just started scratching and turned it into a slugfest—the kind of street fight the Bandits thrive on.

Chicago regained the lead with five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning as third baseman Barrett hit her first home run of the year. It was a haymaker of a counterpunch.

"That sparked us," Steuerwald said. "They came back at us and we knew we had to come back and get a couple more. We do what we can to compete."

In a game that saw the teams combine for 24 hits, Chicago produced 15 of them, including three home runs, a triple and a double to account for every extra-base hit in the contest.

But the Pride wasn't ready to concede. Down 6-2 going into the top of the fifth, they rallied for three runs, which were highlighted by Goodacre's two-RBI single, to cut the margin to one run.

The Bandits didn't blink. They added two runs in the bottom of the inning as first baseman Megan Blank hit an RBI triple and scored on a Brenna Moss single. They finished the Pride with a three-run home run by outfielder Brittany Cervantes in the sixth.

All of that production came against three of the Pride's pedigreed pitchers: Jolene Henderson (10-4), Kelsey Nunley and Hannah Rogers.

Chicago got it done with lefty Michelle Gascoigne (6-5), who gave up five runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings, and spunky reliever Shelby Turnier, who earned her first save with 2 2/3 innings of shutout pitching.

Turnier is typical of the Bandits' spirit. The former University of Central Florida ace is listed at 5-foot-5, but might be an inch shorter.

"I like that she's small," Cervantes said. "She's feisty. But when she's out there, she looks six feet tall."

The Bandits won the league's regular-season title six times since 2005, and are looking for their fourth championship. But this is no longer the franchise of Abbott, who signed a six-year, million-dollar deal with the expansion Scrap Yard Dawgs as a free agent after last season, and Jennie Finch. Now, the roster is filled with players from schools more off the beaten path, like Illinois and Indiana and Kentucky and Tulsa.

But what they lack in star power, they make up for in big-game experience.

"They've been there before," Steuerwald said. "Some of our veterans have played in three or four championship series now, so they know what to expect. They're not afraid of the situation."

Now, Chicago will play to win its second league championship in a row. It's a high-pressure situation, and that's just how the Bandits like it.
Cervantes recalled a few years ago when she was in the outfield and the bases were loaded. Teammate Danielle Zymkowitz told her, "The fun's about to start."

"I'm just excited to be still playing one more game. It's going to be fun," Cervantes said.