Former Mizzou softball star Casidy Chaumont makes pro debut as WPF has its opening day

Casidy Chaumont made the most of her first professional softball hit.

Hustling down the first-base line on a bloop single that just glanced off the glove of the opposing first baseman, Chaumont, the former Missouri Tigers softball star, turned on the jets and took an extra base for a double.

It was an evening full of firsts for Chaumont and for the Women’s Professional Fastpitch league, which held its inaugural opening day Tuesday night at the Shawnee Mission Softball Complex.

Kicking off a condensed, exhibition-style summer schedule, the USSSA Pride and Smash It Sports Vipers teams faced off as the Vipers took the first-ever WPF win, 9-5.

The only “first” missing was the debut of Oklahoma softball star Jocelyn Alo, who led the Sooners to a NCAA championship as one of the best college softball players ever.

The outfielder, who was drafted first by the Vipers and announced her intention to play for the WPF to much fanfare Monday, isn’t likely to make her debut this week in Shawnee, where the league will play doubleheaders this Wednesday through Friday, as she takes personal time off after the Sooners won the Women’s College World Series just five days ago.

Vipers center fielder Ciara Bryan smashed two high-arcing home runs in her first two at-bats on Tuesday, giving her team a lead it would never relinquish.

Olympian and veteran left-handed pitcher Monica Abbott showed why Pride head coach Kelly Kretschman called her “still the best pitcher in the world” by coming in relief and shutting down the Vipers.

As the players battled gusty winds and a wasp or two in the dugouts, around 150 fans attended the opening day. Commissioner and former Oklahoma softball star Lauren Chamberlain said the league is playing its summer schedule in locations where local youth softball tournaments are being held.

“I remember I went to some (games) close to my hometown,” Chaumont said. “Even when I was in high school, I was fan-girling.”

The left fielder regularly made spectacular, diving plays for the Tigers en route to winning a Gold Glove for the first time the defensive award was given in college softball.

She didn’t have much time to celebrate the Gold Glove, however. The Pride selected Chaumont 12th just days before her collegiate career ended.

Just a few weeks later, her parents, Dwayne and Shelley Chaumont, made a familiar drive from Louisiana to the Midwest, this time to Shawnee instead of Columbia, to watch her play her first professional game. Shelley said they’re used to watching Casidy put her body on the line for highlight-reel plays.

“We’ve been watching her do that probably since she was 9 months old,” Shelley said. “Yeah, it sometimes takes my breath away when she’s running over the top of the fence, but we never overreacted as parents when they were little … if we didn’t see blood gushing out, we were probably just like, ‘Oh, they’re probably okay.’”

But Casidy didn’t even play outfield until her junior year at Missouri.

“Around October, Coach was like, ‘Chaumont, do you play outfield?’” Casidy said. “I was like, ‘Never.’ She’s like, ‘OK, why don’t you get some practice?’”

The first ball in play after that came right to Casidy, and she said she thought it was a line drive.

“So I’m charging it kind of like in the infield, thinking it’s going to stay where it is,” Casidy said. “No, I ran in. That thing shot over my head. I star-fished in the air, and I think they scored an inside-the-park home run.”

So, winning a Gold Glove in left field just two years after switching positions was a full-circle moment for the Tiger, who had transferred to Missouri from Louisiana after her sophomore year.

And watching in the stands as Casidy plays professional softball for the first time was a full-circle moment for Dwayne and Shelley.

“It’s a surprise that her body hasn’t called it,” Shelley said. “She’s worked so hard her whole life, and to battle past the challenges and the injuries and to make it to a professional level is super exciting.”

And that’s what the WPF is all about: protecting the dream, as Chamberlain uses as the motto for the league, of playing professional softball and having a career past college. She said the 30 athletes playing Tuesday were paving the way for the dreams of many of the kids in the stands.

“I actually have two nieces and giving them the belief that they’re able to continue their career after college means so much to me,” Casidy said.

This story was originally published June 14, 2022 at 10:38 PM.