New Era Diamond Girls DelPrince Opens Season!

The New Era Diamond Girls DelPrince opened its season last week in the West Seneca State Championship Tournament.

This was the first outing of the season for the team as high school softball had officially come to an end.
The team was able to squeeze in one final practice during the week to get reaquainted with each other and get back to DG softball.

The Diamond Girls faced the Amherst Lightning, Chadwick Bay Exterminators, Penfield Cobras, Hamburg Breakers and the WNY Sting. They had given up one run through their first five games and scored 28. The team picked up right where it left off last season. Then came the championship game vs. the WNY Sting. The Sting got off to 3 run top of first only to have the DG's get 2 back in the bottom of the first. In the fourth inning the Sting had hit a bases loaded triple to score three runs and give them a 6-2 lead. The Diamond Girls never quit and battled back to within 1 run of tying. The Sting held off the attack and held onto their 6-5 lead to claim the championship. In the end the girls had played some outstanding softball and two bad innings had cost them the championship.

Members of this years team are, Jess Banning, Caitlyn Colucci, Michelle DelPrince, Ashley Fillmore, Katelyn Gruarin, Yanava Hawkins, Courtney Kadish, Robin Kennery, Ashley McCormick, Jen Mikolajek, Kyle Plimpton & Taylor Swiatek.

Next up is the 18U Aunt Rosie's July 1-4!
Good Luck Ladies!

NEW ERA DIAMOND GIRLS MUNI HAS STRONG SHOWING AT LADY RAIDER COLLEGE SHOWCASE

Undaunted by playing 4 games on Sunday, including three in a row, the New Era Diamond Girls Muni team  battled to a 3 and 1 record and an overall unofficial 3^rd place finish in the Lady Raider College Showcase in Horseheads, NY . Weather wiped out all of the team’s games on Saturday and delayed the Sunday start as well but the team battled on for victories over the Rochester Battery Lightning, the Amherst Lightning (Trippi) and the Homerun Softball team out of Syracuse. The team’s only defeat was a 2-0 loss to the New Jersey Rampage.

Keying the winning performance was excellent team defense (no errors in 4 games) and timely power hitting.  Outstanding performers included Ally Gay (hitting .666 with 3 doubles and an on base percentage of .800) Lauren Muni (2 over the fence homers, one of which was an absolute bomb to dead center), Ashley Lyman (.625 average with 3 doubles, 5 rbi and a .778 on base percentage), Jess Geary's speed was shown off again. Leading the team with 4 stolen bases she batted .429 and had obp of .700, Theresa Fleckenstein’s over the fence homer, and the consistent strong line drive hitting of Taylor Jezuit.  Sara Tauriello continued her run of outstanding pitching by throwing 7 shutout innings. Her scoreless streak now stands at 33 innings. on the young travel season.

We would be remiss in not thanking the grounds crew at the tournament for doing an unbelievable job of getting the fields ready for play in light of the incredible amounts of rain they absorbed. They put in a ton of work to make that tournament a success.

New Era Diamond Girls Muni Wins Evans!

TEAM NEW ERA MUNI RAN THE TABLE IN THE ELIMINATION ROUND TO WIN THE EVANS MEMORIAL DAY TOURNAMENT.  

 

THE LADIES OUTSCORED THEIR COMPETITION 22-0 IN THREE GAMES WITH THE OFFENSE BEING LED BY LAUREN MUNI WHO BATTED .450 WITH 1 HR AND 6 RBI'S, MEAGAN LEWIS CONTRIBUTED WITH 3 RBIS AND A .722 ON BASE PERCENTAGE AND ASHLEY LYMAN WHO BATTED .400 FOR THE WEEKEND.   

 

SARA TAURIELLO PITCHED 26 SCORELESS INNINGS WHILE STRIKING OUT 42 BATTERS AND PICKING UP 4 WINS IN THE TOURNAMENT.  A GREAT START TO THE 2011 CAMPAIGN.  CONGRATS TO EVERYONE!!!

New Era Diamond Girls Finish 1 & 2 at Hamburg Breakers NSA Qualifier!

It was an all Diamond Girls final at the 12U Hamburg Breakers NSA Qualifier! The DG 11U played the DG 12U to a tie in regulation and lost by a run in a very exciting final. Both teams played great softball!!.
Karsen cotton pitched outstanding and went 2 for 3 at the plate. The 11U team played their hearts out all weekend, going 5-0 beating teams like PA Corey Posse and New york Connection. Every girl on the team played very well, Maggie Vesneske at shortstop had jaw dropping plays. Megan Meyer at 1st base catching everything, Erin Hufford fondly referred to as "mighty mouse" laying out unstoppable bunts, Heather Haberman was a rock behind the dish, Alex Sheey ripping the ball all weekend, Amanda Stockman, catching everything they hit to her, Jordan Stando with outstanding play at 3rd, Ali Gandy the other rock behind the plate and throwing girls out at will, Chase Gifford with her big hits and unfortunatley Jessica Weaver could not be with us this weekend.

Diamond Girls Opera Excels in Ohio!

The New Era Diamond Girls Opera played in an ASA Qualifier in Warren OH with many top teams last weekend. Many of which placed in the top 10 at ASA “A” Nationals last year including the National Champs. They needed to finish 1st or 2nd to get a Bid to ASA Nationals this year and this was their only opportunity to qualify. Wow what a great weekend! They were the talk of the town Sunday as they knocked off team after team to get to the championship game and receive an ASA bid.

 

The amazing thing about this accomplishment is that they did it with only 8 PLAYERS, they were missing 5 starters who were back in Buffalo proudly competing in their High School Sectional Playoffs. The 8 girls wanted it so bad for the entire team, they played flawless softball which ended in a well played 4-2 loss in the Championship game against an excellent Valley Extreme. That team knocked off last years ASA Champs in the Semifinals.

 

A few highlights include some GREAT defense from Morgan McDermott, Heather Tighe, Breanna Opera and Shannon Patterson who covered a lot of ground in the outfield. They road on the back of Alyssa Presutti’s pitching as she baffled the opposing hitters all day starting all 4 games on Sunday. Hats off to Sarah Mertowski who had to catch all 4 games Sunday in 90 degree temps and did a great job. Team Opera had clutch hitting (which they needed because they had to take an out when the 9 batter was up) from Shannon Patterson, Kayla Hahn, Heather Tighe, Emily Marcus and Breanna Opera who also hit out a 2 run Home Run over the left field fence in the Semifinals. This helped to secure the Nationals dream by sending the team to the Championship game. Breanna also hit a 2 run Home Run deep over the center field fence in the Championship game to give the Diamond Girls some life after being down 4-0 early in the game.

 

Although they fell short in the end, this was a great accomplishment for the girls.

12U-Cotton finishes 2nd in Evans Tournament!

Finishing pool play with a record of 1-1-1, the 12U-Cotton Diamond Girls entered Sunday needing to win 3 games to claim the 2011 Evans Memorial Day Classic Softball Game. 

In Game 1 Sunday, the girls' bats were working hard and they quickly jumped out to the lead behind timely hits by Heather Haberman and Ali Gandy among others, including Erin Hufford - whose innocuous bunt late in the game turned into a run with a couple of overthrows and some high quality base running...

Karsen Cotton pitched wonderfully and the girls won that game 6-0. 

Just like that, we were in the semi-finals where it was Jordan Stando's turn to shine on the mound - and shine she did. The infield was in full rhythm as Amanda Stockman and Megan Meyer collaborated to make the right side of the infield a trap for all hitters - nothing got by them.  The girls were able to advance to the finals after a good game, with the final score 4-2. 

As all teams know, you can't make it through "playoff sunday" without solid, deep pitching and a great supporting cast. We are fortunate enough to have both.  Alex Sheehy got the nod at pitcher for the finale, and she pitched wonderfully...  the opponents' bats were stymied throughout much of the game.  A couple deep balls were met with fierce resistance by Jess Weaver in the outfield.  Maggie Vesneske led the infield at shortstop with some timely plays, and a great tag-out at third base, Despite holding a 3-2 lead into the 4th inning, their opponents were just too much, and the 12U Diamond Girls lost a great game to a good Hamburg X-Treme squad.

We are looking forward to our next tournament adventure - Lancaster - June 3, 4, 5.  Won't you join us?