North Carolina State University Athletics
PEELER: Campana To Host Special Game
4/23/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. – When Lindsay Campana's internship supervisor at Maxim Healthcare suggested she choose something she was familiar with for her senior project, she turned to softball, the sport she has been playing since she was 10.
It had brought the senior pitcher all the way from California to NC State, opening up doors for a successful college athletics career and accomplished academic work in Applied Psychology. Surely, she thought, it could help boost the s
Campana has been working on her project, a two-inning adapted softball game for children with developmental disabilities and delays, since last fall and is anxiously awaiting Monday afternoon's first pitch.
The concept for the game is based Miracle League baseball program, a national organization that introduces America's Pastime to children with special needs. Every player on the team will bat in both innings and everyone hits, scores and wins.
Each participant – open to anyone in the area between the ages of 4-18 with developmental and/or physical disabilities – will get the assistance of an NC State student-athlete that Campana has recruited to be a "buddy" for the event.
The game is slated to begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Curtis and Jacqueline Dail Softball Stadium.
The event will also feature a silent auction with various prizes to raise funds, which will be donated to a local organization for the purpose of raising awareness of the developmentally disabled population.
Campana, who has spent the past academic year working as a rehabilitation technician for Maxim Healthcare, worked closely Phil Moses, the executive director of NC State's Academic Support Program, to organize all aspects of the event.
The theme of her project is the correlation between positive self-esteem and team sports, something she has learned a lot about during her successful athletic career.
"The whole project is for positive self-esteem and I really want that to shine through," Campana said. "I want it to be a really positive thing that these kids can come to and hopefully meet some new people. A lot of the participants are used to working just with their care-providers and don't have the opportunity to be social with their peers.
"That's another goal, for them to meet new people and expand their social network a little bit."
Campana, a native of Templeton, Calif., came to NC State three years ago after a successful junior college career at Cuesta College, in San Luis Obispo, Calif. She's been the Wolfpack's top pitcher ever since, going 19-18 with a 1.23 ERA as a sophomore and 13-11 with a 1.86 ERA and 160 as a junior.
So far this year, Campana is 16-8 for the Wolfpack, with a 1.00 ERA and a career-high 215 strikeouts.
She's gearing up for a big three-game series this weekend, as the Wolfpack (27-21 / 8-7 ACC) hosts ACC-foe Maryland, beginning at 12 noon on Saturday at the Dail Softball Stadium. But she'll be looking forward to her big event on Monday.
Her work through her internship and senior project has already paid dividends for Campana, who was recently named the NC State's Applied Psychology Student of the Year, an award that will be presented during commencement exercises in May.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
