Seniors Jamie Schloredt and Izmena Cabrera have been drafted by the Chicago Bandits of the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) softball league. Schloredt and Cabrera are in exclusive company as only 25 players from around the country were drafted.

Picked 14th in the third round and the first catcher overall in the draft, Schloredt is entering her fourth year as starter at Sacramento State. Still early in the season, Schloredt is already Sac State’s all-time leader in home runs, batting average, RBIs and walks.

“I was absolutely thrilled for her,” Head Coach Kathy Strahan said. “I knew that the Chicago Bandits were going to draft Jamie. I’d been talking to the owner for a couple of weeks leading up to draft day.”

Having set the single-season RBI mark in Sac State history last season, Cabrera surprised everyone when she was selected with the final pick of the draft. “I was really excited, I really had no clue I was going to be in the draft,” Cabrera said. Starting in all 53 games last year, Sac State’s left fielder was one of 17 players in the nation to average at least an RBI per game as she finished with 53.

The team watched the draft online together expecting Schloredt to get drafted but were caught off-guard when Cabrera was chosen. “Total surprise; we were stunned when Izmena got picked up in the 5th round as the last pick,” Strahan said.

After Schloredt was drafted everybody had stopped watching and missed Cabrera’s selection. “No clue, that was a total shocker,” Schloredt said.

“I started crying, I was so excited for her. I was actually the one that was able to tell her ‘You’re coming to Chicago, we’re gonna be teammates’,” Schloredt said. “It was definitely a priceless moment.”

Emotions ran high throughout the day as the two called their families to inform them of the good news. “Mom cried. She was so excited she started crying on the phone,” Schloredt said. “My dad couldn’t stop yelling and screaming.”

“My parents almost started crying,” Cabrera said. “If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be where I am right now.”

Getting drafted allows the two to continue playing softball without having to go overseas. “I knew this wasn’t going to be my last year. What I was going to do after I didn’t know,” Schloredt said. “Overseas was a possibility, but I didn’t really want to do that.”

Cabrera and her coaches had discussed playing in Italy before the draft. “She’d rather be here in this country, her parents can watch her,” Strahan said.

The road to being drafted has been a long one for the new Bandits, as both started playing when they were still in elementary school. Cabrera didn’t start playing in the outfield until she hit the college level. “Since I was 10, I was originally a second basemen,” Cabrera said.

Schloredt followed in her brother Evan’s footsteps. “I started when I was 9. I’ve always been a catcher, that’s what my brother was,” Schloredt said. “I went to the baseball camps he went to. I’d be the little tag-along sister in the corner doing the catching drills.”

Together the two will help the championship Bandits defend their title, joining a roster filled with veterans and two Olympians. Led by superstar gold medal-winning pitcher Jennie Finch, the Bandits look to be a contender in 2009. The National Pro Fastpitch in 2009 will consist of five teams that also have other Olympians among rosters.

“I think she (Finch) can take them a long way,” Strahan said. “But I know (Cabrera and Schloredt) can do their part and I think they can bring a championship to Chicago.”

“I can’t wait to be able to stand next to them, play with them and see how they do things.” Cabrera said.

Schloredt will be across the circle from quite possibly the most famous softball player in the world in Finch. “It still seems very unreal. Hasn’t quite hit me that I’ll be catching an Olympian,” Schloredt said. “I work at a sports store. I sell her products.”

The International Olympic Committee voted in 2005 to drop softball and baseball from the Olympics. If softball is reinstated it wouldn’t be until at least 2016; but Cabrera and Schloredt are young enough to be future Olympians if the opportunity arises.

“I think that’s every softball players dream from when they’re little to represent the United States and make it to that level,” Cabrera said.

For now, the pair get to enjoy their last collegiate year with the respect of everybody who knows them. “They by far exceeded expectations. They deserve all the successes they’re getting,” Strahan said.

“Just to have the opportunity to go pro and play with these great athletes, I couldn’t ask for more,” Cabrera said.

Mitchell Wilson can be reached at [email protected]