TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Speaking about a former teammate who had just ended her season Sunday, Monica Abbott described Chicago Bandits veteran Danielle Zymkowitz as a rallier.As in, one who rallies those around her.The qualities Abbott was talking about make the longest-serving player on the Chicago roster -- now in her sixth season in a league when making it half that long makes a player grizzled -- an important part of the culture of a franchise that annually punches above its supposed weight.She has been there before. The Bandits have been there before.And it is a franchise that is at it again after its 11-5 win against the top-seeded USSSA Pride leveled the best-of-three National Pro Fastpitch championship series and set up a winner-take-all finale in a softball rivalry every bit as special as that between the United States and Japan or Arizona and UCLA.What Zymkowitz began with a bloop single over the head of the shortstop in the bottom of the fourth inning, veteran teammate Brittany Cervantes completed with a much longer but no less arcing home run off the light pole in left field in the sixth inning. From the brink of elimination, the Bandits won by scoring more runs than any team scored against the Pride this season.The Bandits finished the regular season with a losing record, a rarity for them. They werent supposed to win a semifinal series against the ScrapYard Dawgs, the team that signed away Abbott this spring. But here the Bandits are on level footing with the Pride with one game left in the season, the same two teams left to settle a championship for the sixth time in the past seven years.You asked who would we rather face, the Prides Megan Wiggins said. In all honesty I would have rather faced ScrapYard because I know the type of team [the Bandits] are. It doesnt matter the opponent that theyre playing, it doesnt matter the pitcher that theyre facing.She should know. She was the thorn in the Prides side when she played for the Bandits.For the fourth time in as many postseason games, the Bandits scored first. With one out in the bottom of the third inning, Taylor Edwards drilled a pitch deep into the Tuscaloosa night for a home run. If the lead was familiar territory to the Bandits, it was unfamiliar to the Pride, their first deficit of the playoffs. It didnt seem to bother the best lineup in the league. The Pride rallied for two runs in the top of the fourth to take the lead.But instead of the beginning of the end for the team that presumably needed every break to fall its way, the Bandits made it the beginning of the fun. They answered the Prides runs with five of their own in the bottom of the fourth inning, Zymkowitzs bloop preceding, in due time, Jill Barretts three-run home run that pushed the lead to 6-2.The Pride answered again in the top of the fifth inning to cut the lead to 6-5. And again the Bandits answered in kind. Zymkowitz lined a double in the bottom of the inning that was the first step toward two more runs and an 8-5 lead. This time the see-saw never budged. The Pride went quietly in the top of the sixth inning, and Cervantes three-run home run in the bottom of that inning provided the exclamation mark.The Pride lineup Monday night included hitters ranked first, sixth, eighth and 15th in NCAA career home runs. That list didnt even include former Olympian Kelly Kretschman, the NPF MVP this season. Or Wiggins, a former MVP and an all-league selection the past six seasons who made the rich richer when she moved.In Zymkowitz and Cervantes, the Bandits lineup had at its heart two veterans who went undrafted and made the team by way of open tryouts in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Coach Michael Steuerwald said 45 players might show up for those annual tryouts, more than half of them former Division I players. Out of that mass, the team might find one or two who could help.No team more consistently finds talent that others overlooked, Zymkowitz and Cervantes the descendants of former finds like Amber Patton and Tammy Williams. And the former pair may, in turn, hand over that mantle to the likes of Megan Blank, the former Iowa standout who signed with the Bandits out of a tryout a year ago and had two hits and an RBI in Mondays game.I think everyone knows the level of talent across the country is incredible, Steuerwald said. Theres girls that arent playing in this league that could be and should be. And hopefully they have more opportunities as years come along. But for us, its a huge thing. We look at players that might not be drafted. For Cerv, [Kentucky] sent up film of her and we said Hey, can we get her to tryouts. The story isnt always exactly the same -- rookie pitcher Shelby Turnier, so poised in relief in both this game and the elimination game a day earlier against ScrapYard, was a prized second-round pick, as was starting pitcher Michelle Gascoigne in 2014. Barrett was a fourth-round find, but it was Akron that found her. The Bandits paid a first-round price to acquire her last fall.But the essence of the Bandits is in stories like those of Cervantes and Zymkowitz. Always in the shadow of the Pride, the Bandits perpetually play with something to prove. The entire first round that was selected in the 2012 draft is now out of the league. Cervantes has another game to play Tuesday.Cervantes played sparingly as a rookie in 2012. She recorded just 50 at-bats and eight hits for the summer. But the talent that made her one of the best run producers in the SEC matured in the professional game. She was the NPF offensive player of the year a season ago and ranks fourth in the league in on-base percentage this season. She is one of the best hitters in the world and has looked the part here with eight hits in five postseason games.After our final game [at Kentucky], I knew I wasnt done yet, Cervantes said. Even though I knew I wasnt playing [as an NPF rookie], I knew I was getting better, just by watching the people above me, like Vicky Galindo, Tammy, Amber, Shannon [Doepking] and Monica. Everybody was still helping me become a better player. Its fun to see the hard work kind of pay off.She and the Bandits manage a difficult balancing act, playing with a chip on their shoulders without seeming churlish. She used the word fun, and that genuinely seems to describe them. Steuerwald said this particular group was the most fun he has been around in Chicago -- even when it wasnt winning or playing particularly well early this year.But there is also an edge to them. Cervantes said the bat flip that followed a Wiggins home run in the opening game of the title series wasnt a source of motivation, but she made clear that there was some extra motivation stoking a rivalry that already burned hot.So often, too often and too easily, the lament is offered about womens sports that there arent enough upsets, there isnt enough parity. It is too often Serena Williams or the Connecticut womens basketball team marching to titles.The naysayers should take the time to watch the finale in Tuscaloosa on Tuesday night.There will be a great team that should win. There will be another team that believes it will win.And which team does is anyones guess. Like any real rivalry.Some of our vets have played in three, four championship series now, so theyre not scared of the situation, Steuerwald said. But at the same time, I think if you asked everyone in the softball world should we be going to Game 3 against the Pride tomorrow night, you probably would have won a lot of money in Vegas. DeMarre Carroll Jersey . -- Peyton Manning will have all of his wide receivers available for the first time in a month when the Denver Broncos begin their playoff run Jan. Spurs Jerseys China . Speaking to the Chicago Tribune at baseballs Winter Meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Boras called the former home of the Expos a "tremendous environment" for baseball. https://www.cheapspurs.com/696j-willie-anderson-jersey-spurs.html . The 26-year-old Ireland striker, who has four goals this season, has signed a three-and-a-half year contract with his new club. Stitched Spurs Jerseys . Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek defeated Nenad Zimonjic and Ilija Bozoljac 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (4) on the indoor hard-court at Belgrade Arena. The victory improved the Czech pairs impressive cup doubles record to 14-1. Artis Gilmore Jersey . Here are his mid-season NBA awards. MVP: (KEVIN DURANT-Thunder) - Has been sensational this season and more importantly, the most consistent player in the league. Considering that his team has been without star guard Russell Westbrook and with the free agent departure of sharpshooter Kevin Martin, hes had to carry the majority of the load to not only keep his team afloat but more importantly, at an elite level. The barnyard and zoo animals cant make it Friday night. Theyre shipping up to Boston for hockey. No way around it; their scholarships require it.True story: The dozen or so students who turn out for University of Minnesota womens volleyball matches as cows, pigs, penguins, Super Mario Brothers and a gorilla arent just goofy students. Theyre actually athletes themselves, and outstanding ones at that -- the two-time defending NCAA champion Minnesota womens hockey team.Eight live in off-campus housing diagonally across the street from volleyball seniors Sarah Wilhite, Hannah and Paige Tapp, and Katie Schau. The volleyball Gophers are 2-0 when the hockey Gophers show up in costume, and Wilhite and Co. would love to see their pals cheering in the student section at this weekends NCAA regional in Minneapolis.Unfortunately, Friday night is out. The hockey team will be finishing its game at Boston University while, back home, Minnesota meets Missouri in the Sweet 16. But if the volleyball team advances to Saturdays regional final, the hockey team might be back in time to catch some of the match. Hockey starts at 3 p.m. EST and charters home afterward; volleyball tips at 10 p.m.Thats a game-changer, said junior forward Kelly Pannek, the leading scorer in Division I. It would be fun if we could swing by.Gophers volleyball is the hottest ticket on campus these days, reflecting the groundswell of support for Hugh McCutcheons dynamic squad that ranks No. 1 in one national poll and No. 2 in the other.The 27-4 Gophers sold out their last four Big Ten Conference matches at the 5,200-capacity Sports Pavilion -- the Pav for short -- as well as the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament. Tickets were so tight for the second round against Hawaii that scalpers worked the perimeter of the Pav, rare for a Minnesota womens game.Athletes claim some of the 200 day-of-the-match student tickets, cramming into small bleachers behind each end line.Showing up in costume isnt unusual at Minnesota. The student section at basketballs Williams Arena, a.k.a. The Barn, is known as The Barnyard, and many dress the part. Basketball coach Richard Pitinos brother Ryan once came to a game in a chicken suit and sat next to their father, Louisville coach Rick Pitino. The photos of them went viral.The hockey dress-up gag began with volleyballs Oct. 29 match against Penn State. Senior defenseman Kelsey Cline said everyone already had their Halloween costumes, so as a goof they decided to wear them to the match. We said, What the heck? Cline said. The Gophers won in straight setts before a raucous crowd of 5,391.ddddddddddddAfter the match we went over to the volleyball girls house, Cline said. They told us how much they loved it and how much it helped them. They said, Youve got to come to the rest of our home games.Conflicting schedules prevented that until Nov. 23, the night before Thanksgiving, when Minnesota faced top-ranked and reigning national champion Nebraska. Hockey coach Brad Frost keeps a stash of costumes in his office for an annual Halloween-themed practice, and the players raided the closet before heading over. Cline dressed as a penguin and Pannek a leprechaun.An even bigger sellout of 5,401 saw Minnesota drop the first two sets and trail 23-20 in the third before rallying to win, 28-26, 25-17, 17-15. The Big Ten Network televised the match and featured the players in crowd shots.It was something funny to do, like high school days, having a theme for the football game, Pannek said. We were just doing something a little bit different and standing out.The atmosphere at the Pav, a converted hockey arena, rocks. Thats not a recent development. Minnesota ranked among the top 10 in NCAA attendance in the final decade of former coach Mike Herberts 15 seasons (he retired in 2010), and the Pav attendance record of 5,840 dates to 1999.But the next four largest crowds all happened since McCutcheon, the two-time U.S. Olympic coach, arrived in 2012. This season, only Nebraska (8,199), Hawaii (6,579) and Wisconsin (5,915) topped the Gophers (4,766) in average home attendance.Because NCAA tournament regulations prohibit the host team from egging on their crowd, the customary public address call-and-response to Minnesota points -- Point U! -- is out for postseason play. But last Saturday night, by the end of Minnesotas three-set victory over Hawaii, some in the crowd yelled Point U! without prompting.Its loud, and the fans are supercrazy, Rainbow Wahine senior middle hitter Annie Mitchem said. It was hard to come back after we were down.McCutcheon appreciates the assist.If people are feeling connected to what were doing, thats great, he said. The reason for that would be, our athletes are authentic. They work hard. Theyre out there competing. Theyre trying to win the next point. And we happen to play in the best league in the country. If you like volleyball, its probably pretty good to watch. Theres no pretense to it.Or with their fans, even if they dont always come as they are. ' ' '