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Carolina Diamonds Ready for Championship

August 23, 2012 - National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) - Carolina Diamonds News Release


SALISBURY - The Carolina Diamonds finished their inaugural National Pro Fastpitch softball league season in third place with a 17-26 record and are now set to make a title run in the league's War of the Roses championship tournament in Chicago.

The tournament begins Thursday evening in the Windy City at the Ballpark at Rosemont with the best-of-three championship series being broadcast live on ESPN2 and ESPN3.com over the weekend. The Diamonds - who had four played named to the All NPF Team - face the Chicago Bandits Thursday at 7 pm EST and Friday at 9:30 pm with game three on Saturday at 2:30 pm if necessary.

"Everybody is excited. We stumbled on the last day we played, Saturday (against the Bandits). But everybody is ready to go," Carolina head coach Lisa Navas said.

The championship series begins Saturday night at 8 p.m. with game two on Sunday at 3:30 being broadcast on ESPN 2 and online at ESPN3.com. Game three, if necessary, will follow at 6 p.m. and will likewise be broadcast live on ESPN2 and ESPN3.com

Navas feels some teams can approach the tournament as being more than it is, but that is not the Diamonds philosophy.

"It is a series against Chicago and we need to beat them two games and then move on from there. So if you make it into, 'We have to,' and put pressure on them it makes it completely different," she explained. "We play completely different. It's one pitch at a time and just have at it."

Overall, it was a commendable first season for the Diamonds.

The team started out 2-10 but the end of June and beginning of July saw a revived Carolina team take to the field under the new guidance of Navas and quickly begin to turn their season around

In fact, it was Navas and assistant coach Miranda Ervin's guidance which helped them be awarded Coaching Staff of the Year at the league's season ending awards ceremony Wednesday night in Chicago. The Diamonds also saw catcher Rachel Folden, first baseman GiOnna DiSalvatore, pitcher Katie Burkhart and shortstop Bianca Mejia (as at-large) named to the All NPF Team.

"We did stumble a few times. I felt we didn't have depth in the middle infield, which hurt us a little bit. And with having so many rookies leadership wise, everybody - myself included - was experiencing it all for the first time. So that was the only tough part of it," Navas said of the year. "I think the kids did well. There was a lot of talent on the team, we have done some good things and hopefully we will continue forward."

This turn around is one of the biggest moments of the team's season for shortstop Mejia, who was also named NPF Defensive Player of the Week for the last series of the season on top of being awarded to the All NPF Team too

Throw it and then the Diamonds handing Chicago ace Monica Abbott her first loss of the season late in July and it's been a summer to remember on the softball field.

"Things happen for a reason. We came together after starting off 2-10. We just went after it and we dominated. It was good, it was really, really fun," Mejia said of the season.di

Mejia also feels strong going into the tournament too.

"I think we all feel pretty good as a team. What we have to focus on is feeling together as a whole group and then catch fire at the right moment. So we feel pretty good," she said.

Visit www.yourcarolinadiamonds.com or www.profastpitch.com for more information.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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