Women's College World Series breakout star Odicci Alexander has signed with the USSSA Pride professional fastpitch softball team for the 2021 season and will be with the team when it opens its home series against Team Mexico on Tuesday.
Alexander, who captured national attention with her performance for James Madison in the WCWS, finished her collegiate career with 81 wins and 712 strikeouts in 640 innings. She threw 1,057 pitches in the WCWS, holding Oklahoma to a season-low three runs in James Madison's opening win over the No. 1 seed. She was named Pitcher of the Year by Softball America on Monday.
Her diving play at the plate against Oklahoma State drew even more attention, and T-shirts with the play featured prominently on them are now for sale. That play allowed the Dukes to become the first unseeded team to advance to the national semifinals.
But in the end, they could not overcome Oklahoma, the eventual national champion. When Alexander left her final collegiate game in a loss to the Sooners, the largely pro-Oklahoma crowd gave her a standing ovation.
"Her passion for the sport and her love of the game were evident every inning of every game at the WCWS, as we saw firsthand in Oklahoma," Pride general manager Don DeDonatis Sr. said in a statement. "Odicci has been on the Pride radar since 2019 when we were scouting and drafting then JMU pitcher Megan Good. It didn't go unnoticed that Odicci was 24-1 that year with an ERA of 1.70 and 178 strikeouts in 152 innings. I am happy to finally see that the softball world had an opportunity to witness firsthand what an outstanding program JMU and coach Loren LaPorte have created."
The Pride, based in Viera, Florida, have five games scheduled against Team Mexico before a home series against Team Canada and then another series against Team Mexico.
