Sacred Heart Senior will attend D'Youville College!

Ashley McCormick will be attending D'Youville College to pursue her education and play softball for the Spartans. Ashley has been a solid outfielder for the Diamond Girls for the last 4 seasons. She has blazing speed, bats from the left side and is a fantastic base runner. She also played 1B & 2B as alternate spots. Ashley's athleticism will make her a valuable asset to any team.

Extra base hits vs. the Diamond Girls outfield were tough!

You can check out the D'Youville softball team here.

Good Luck Ashley!

New Era Diamond Girl Signs with Mercyhurst

 Bunker signs National Letter of Intent to play for Mercyhurst
NORTH TONAWANDA, N.Y- Shaina Bunker signs a ceremonial letter of intent to play softball at Mercyhurst College, flanked by her parents Julie and Doug, and Greg Witman, standing, left, and Jim Kisher, at the high school Tuesday.

The reigning Tonawanda News Softball Player of the Year signed her National Letter of Intent to play for Division-II Mercyhurst College in 2012.

“It’s going to be very exciting,” said Bunker, who was joined by her father, Doug, and mother, Julie, alongside NT Director of Athletics Greg Witman and school principal Jim Fisher in the school library where the ceremonial signing took place. The Lady Jacks starting catcher put up outstanding numbers as a junior, batting .625 with a .739 on base percentage and a .904 slugging percentage.

She also drove in 21 RBIs with eight doubles and three-game winning hits, while drawing 14 walks.

“Every time she walks to the plate she thinks she’s going to get a hit,” NT coach Larry Lash said. “It was just a matter of where she was going to hit it. And I think all great hitters have that confidence when they get up there.”

Bunker also excelled behind the plate, back-stopping the Lady Jacks with a .939 fielding percentage, only allowing one passed ball all season to earn 2009 first-team All-Niagara Frontier League recognition.

Shaina plays travel softball for the New Era Diamond Girls and is coached by Jim Smith and Frank Simmeth

Lancaster Senior Signs NLI

LETTER OF INTENT — Lancaster’s Michelle DelPrince signs her letter of intent to play softball for Canisius College next year. DelPrince was Lancaster’s lead-off hitter and starting left fielder last season. She hit .340 in 49 career games with three home runs and 43 runs scored and was named to both the All-ECIC Large School and Division I first team in 2009 and was named to the Division I second team in 2010. She is joined in front by her parents, Sue and Mitch, and in back by Athletic Director Brian Wild and softball coach Kelly Ambrose. Michelle currently plays travel softball for the New Era Diamond Girls and is coached by Larry Colucci, Chris Swiatek and her father.
 

Kennery, Genovese to continue softball careers

Williamsville North’s Corrin Genovese, left, and Robin Kennery sign letters of intent to play softball at the University of Missouri and Canisius College, respectively, on Tuesday, Nov. 16 in the North gym.

Kennery was looking at the University at Buffalo and St. John Fisher College before deciding on Canisius. The Lady Golden Griffins finished 34-19 and lost in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference final last spring.
“Aside from people telling me it’s a good school, when I went there to visit, I felt comfortable,” said Kennery. “Not only do they have a good softball program, they have good academics. They have psychology and I’m interested in psychology. It had everything that I wanted.”
Kennery has excelled at North as a pitcher and second baseman.
Last year, she led the Lady Spartans in RBIs (29) and walks (9) and was a First-Team All-Western New York Large School selection and for the third straight year, an ECIC I First-Team pick.
In her high school career, she has 247 at-bats, 82 RBIs, 14 doubles and 13 triples.
As a pitcher in her sophomore year, Kennery recorded an 18-5 record with five shutouts, two saves, 1.20 ERA, 154 strikeouts and 163 innings pitched.
Kennery will attend Canisius on a partial scholarship.
Also signing a letter of intent was North softball teammate Corrin Genovese, who committed with Missouri.
Genovese verbally committed to Missouri last year and was excited to finally sign with the collegiate softball powerhouse.
Robin currently plays travel softball for the New Era Diamond Girls and Corrin is a former Diamond Girl who still helps out her old team when she is not traveling.

Lancaster resident, Sacred Heart senior, signs National letter of intent

Sacred Heart Academy senior Caitlyn Colucci, far right, signed a letter of intent to play softball at Gannon University on Tuesday, Nov. 16. Also pictured are Sacred Heart seniors Emily Litwin and Sarah Pawlak.
Caitlyn Colucci, a Sacred Heart Academy senior and Lancaster resident, signed a letter of intent to play softball at Division II Gannon University on Tuesday, Nov. 16 in the school’s library.
Colucci chose Gannon for its physician assistant program as well as its Division II softball.
“I really wanted to pursue both of those things in my future, so I thought it was the best choice both academically and athleticall y, ” said Colucci.
There is a good chance Colucci will see playing time on the softball team.
“Their first baseman is going to be a senior when I’m a freshman, and he said defensively and offensively, I can fill that hole once she leaves,” said Colucci.
Colucci batted .412 as a third baseman for the Sharks but plays at first in travel softball with the New Era Diamond Girls. The 2010 16U summer team was runner-up at the ASA national championships.
Colucci carries a 3.72 GPA and is a member of the National Honor Society. She will attend Gannon on a partial scholarship.

Diamond Girls Launch New Web Site

The Diamond Girls are launching a new web site that will conatin all teams in every age group!

The site will be located at www.eteamz.com/neweradiamondgirls

Eventually the site will move to it's own domain, but for now enjoy and follow us as we continue to develop our site and team's.

NCAA 2011 Approved Softball Bat List

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind - The NCAA will be developing its own approved bat list that will replace the ASA Non-Approved Bat List for the purposes of the NCAA game. This will be effective January 1, 2011, and will be used for 2011 NCAA competition.

In correspondence sent to manufacturers October 1 from Ken Eriksen, chair of the NCAA Softball Rules Committee, the NCAA has asked manufacturers to provide names of bat models for possible inclusion on the new NCAA approved bat list. Bat models can be added to the list after the initial submission “which will allow time for your company to be confident that each model is in compliance with the less than 98 mph exit speed standard and appropriate for the college game.” The listing will be updated as frequently as necessary.

The letter goes on to state: “The NCAA Softball Rules Committee was very disappointed with lab compliance test results from the 2010 postseason. Institutions that had a bat(s) that failed have been notified. Failed bats included team-purchased and student-athlete-purchased bats, program bats, composite bats, alloy bats, older and new model bats, and the bats were from across all three divisions.”

The letter also states that in 2011, mandatory barrel compression testing (BCT) will be conducted at select in-season tournaments, as well as at postseason sites for all three divisions. “When a bat fails BCT, the model could end up being removed from the NCAA Approved Softball Bat List.”

NCAA 2011 Softball Bat Compliance program outline

2011 NCAA Approved Bat List