...New Fastpitch option...

....there is in the works, an 18 and older Women Major circuit in NC. Peace coach Charlie Dobbins opened up the season with his team in Fayetteville on Sat. Baseball has the Coastal Plains League, Cape Cod League, etc. where current and former college players can play in the summer. It makes sense that there is that same type of opportunity available for the girls.

Grand Slam USA Roster:

Shanna Smith NCSU
Jen Patterson NCSU
Nicki Prior Jacksonville St.
Nicki Dobbins Asst. coach Peace
Teresa Walker Stephens Asst. coach Campbell
Kelly Hall Asst. coach Campbell
Morgan Bargour NCSU
Landon Warren NCSU
Morgan Peeler NCSU
Toni Ann Williford NCSU
Martika Elmore UNC Pembroke
Jenn Elmore Tallahassee
Kelly Minschew Mt. Olive
Emily Jefferys UNCC
Miranda Fielder Liberty

 

WOW

What a team! Would love to have them to coach

 

23U Ball

Just returned late this evening from Chambersburg, PA where my DD pitched in an adult fastpitch tournament this weekend. She's picked up with a 23U team based in NOVA. They are going to the ASA 23U Nationals in Auburn, AL this week and used the PA tournament as a warmup.

This was an interesting experience. The fields were horrible, the umpires almost as bad but the people were great and the girls had a ball. Our team was about 75% D1 players but the other seven teams seemed to be made up almost entirely of DII/III players from WV/DE/PA/MD. I suspect these girls are more willing to play in the summer as their school ball requires less games/travel, etc. I also KNOW D1 coaches who discourage kids from playing in the summer, especially pitchers. Funny different the attitude is for boys and wooden bat leagues. Of course all college baseball players think they are going to play in Fenway someday.

Anyway, when we drove up and saw the that fields were essentially cow pastures I figured the the girls would complain; I know a lot of 12U kids would! Instead these kids who played in San Diego, Hawaii, Boca Raton, and UT's $11 million stadium this past season never complained at all. They put on their bargain basement uni's in the back of the ratty bathrooms warmed up in the ditch beside the water tower and had the time of their lives for two days. My DD exemplified the attitude. The field for the first game had obviously been very recently a LL baseball field and mound removal was not quite done. She was essentially throwing downhill. I asked her about it and her reply was "I just can't wait to get back in the circle". She got to do things she never gets to do for her college team; play 1B & OF (at one time our OF was three D1 pitchers) and "leg out" a cow pasture HR. These girls were getting to do something they probably had not got to do since they played Rec Ball. . . . they were getting to PLAY ball. . . . . No showcase pressure (is coach Papa watching!) and no fear of being benched at the first mistake.

Of course it was more than our team ran rather easily thru the eight team field surrendering only one run in the five games; our D1 pitchers basically had their way. I suspect things will be a different at nationals where will we see some D1 all-star teams.

In any case, Charlie, if there is anything I can do to help with this effort let me know.

 

We need a couple of 23u teams in Charlotte, Concord, Gastonia area.

 

It's a start.....

The premise is really interesting...

There are currently 3 teams active in NC...

My team, based in the Triangle, A Fayetteville based team,
and a team based in North East NC, that draws from that region and the Va Beach area of Virginia..

The team we play Saturday was comprised of kids from that region...representing schools such as Wingate, Lemoyne, Carson Newman.
Fayetteville State, and actually one of my kids from Peace, playing against me...

We are using travel ball tournaments as our venues.... We will be doing round robins on July 26th in Clayton and on Aug 9th in Goldsboro.

Our games are mixed into the regular tournament day, which provides a crowd to watch us, and inspiration for my players as they hopefully demonstrate positive results to the younger kids...

We had a blast...
I split my pitching time down the middle... everyone threw the ball well...
Only had one rule with my position players... you couldn't play the same defensive position 2 innings in a row... That's was easy, when you have that many utility players...

Come see us in late July in Clayton...

Hopefully next year, we can have 6 teams involved...

 

This is a great idea Coach. I know a couple down here who would love to play!

 

Their will be another couple of girls playing there this weekend from North Carolina. Ashton Ward and Morgan Childers. Also Stacey Nelson from Univerisity of Florida will be pitching on this team. Should be a great tournament.

 

never refer to "Charlotte" as UNCC...major party foul

 

Marlin.....you should know better....

 

...."Charlotte"?!!.....you're right...

....to point out the new name change. My bad. Hey Metro, fill us in on why UNCC became "Charlotte". Is this school still considered a "state university" receiving our tax dollars? and if so, why go to the taxpayers expense to make the change in the name? ....