Softball Today Magazine Article (reprinted with permission, © Softball Today Magazine)

Friday, February 01, 2008
Carolina Cardinals Soar as 18U 'Team of the Year'
By Sara E. Wacker

With a commitment to furthering the sport of fastpitch softball, working to position their players to maximize opportunities to play at the collegiate level and a recent ASA National Championship win, the 18-under (18U) Carolina Cardinals were named this year’s Softball Today Magazine’s 18U ‘Team of the Year.’

When the Carolina Cardinals were first organized in 1989, North Carolina high schools still offered only slow pitch softball, which meant that no North Carolina high school players were being considered for college softball scholarships. After learning what college coaches were looking for, Coach Ray Chandler started laying the groundwork and the Carolina Cardinals were the first 18U fastpitch ASA team registered in North Carolina.

With its slow pitch history, North Carolina was always behind the Western and Midwestern states, when it came to fastpitch. Bringing the ASA National Championship crown home to North Carolina speaks volumes of the progress the state has made in youth fastpitch softball.

This past ASA Nationals in Owensboro, Kentucky, August 1-6, 2006, wasn’t the Cardinals first visit. Actually, the team has quite a few notches in the record book – the 2003, 2005 and 2006 ASA N.C. State Championships, 9th Place in the 2003 ASA National Championship, 2004 North Carolina State Games Championship, 9th Place 2005 ASA Nationals, and the list goes on.

“Anytime we have been fortunate enough to earn a berth to participate in the ASA National Tournament, we felt so honored just to be there,” said Chandler. But in 2006, the Cardinals had what Chandler terms “the closest thing to a dream team I’ve ever had.” Ten of the 2006 Carolina Cardinals are playing in college now, and seven more have committed to schools for the fall of 2007.

At the National Tournament, the pitching duties were shared in a two-pitcher rotation of Mendy McKenzie, who is now attending Western Carolina University, and Faith Sutton, supplemented by North Carolina’s High School ‘Player of the Year’ Gina Allen. Brittany McKinney and Brittany Robinson shared the catching duties, giving up one stolen base with six pickoffs. Eryn Teague, who is attending Villanova University, had several clutch hits while playing “flawless defense” at first base. Anna Roberts and Ellen Scott, who is currently attending Princeton University, shared duties at second base. Destiny Covington, who is now playing for Virginia Tech, and sister Chasity, led the team in hitting. Chasity hit four home runs, while sister Destiny consistently maintained a 2.5-second sprint speed to first base. Whitney Williams, who typically batted second, did an “excellent job getting bunts down and slapping successfully to get on base,” shared Chandler.

Additional Cardinal standouts include: shortstop Sam Murad; outfielder Jessica McFadden; third baseman/catcher Jessica Boni; Amber Walker, who is now attending Roanoke College; Krystal Hawkins, who is now attending North Carolina State University; Brythe Blankenship, who is now attending Furman University; and Jenna Eatmon, who will be attending Liberty University in the fall of 2007.

Roberts and Murad are currently attending the University of North Carolina this school year; while their Cardinal teammates – Robinson, Sutton, McKinney – will meet them there in the fall of 2007. Williams will join teammate Gina Allen at the University of North Carolina Charlotte. And Chasity Covington will join sister Destiny at Virgina Tech next fall.

Nine players off the first Cardinals team earned scholarships or signed a National Letter of Intent to play softball at the collegiate level. In the organization’s history, the total number of Carolina Cardinals recruited for collegiate teams is 87. Additionally, 11 former Carolina Cardinals players have coached or are coaching at the collegiate level. “From the very beginning of the 2006 Cardinals season, it was obvious that this team had something more,” said Coach Chandler, the only youth fastpitch coach in the state of North Carolina to receive the North Carolina Amateur Softball Association’s Hall of Fame/Hall of Honor for his significant contributions to the Amateur Softball Association program in the state.

“Their expectations were high,” he continued. “Nothing seemed out of their reach. They expected to play well. They expected to win. These girls put forth so much effort to play the game the way it’s supposed to be played. It was as if they knew they could do it from the time we qualified for the Nationals and they expected to do it. They set their focus on winning the National Tournament and never lost sight of that goal.”