WPNCR PRESS BOX. Special to WPCNR From Kristen Zimmerman. June 17, 2004: Dina DeAquino, the Nauts' Pitching Coach, has been appointed Manager of the New York New Jersey Juggernaut, effective tonight, and Carol Kashow, also assistant under former manager Linda Derk,  has been appointed her assistant, the Juggernaut announced today.

DeAquino, former Assistant Coach at Princeton University will take over tonight in the Nauts' Akron Racers game at MSU Softball Stadium. The Juggernaut announced the termination of Linda Derk, the teams’ Manager and VP of Softball Operations on Sunday. Paul S. Plemenos, Principal Owner and CEO of the Juggernaut cited philosophical and ideological differences.

"I have the utmost respect for Linda. She is a very knowledgeable coach and a wonderful person,” Plemenos said. “There can only be one philosophy on how this franchise proceeds and that philosophy needs to be embraced by everyone.”  

Plemenos served as the interim manager for the three game series against the California Sunbirds but says that the coaching was handled by DeAquino and Kashow. DeAquino’s first game as manager of the Juggernaut will be tonight’s 7:35 home game against the Akron Racers.

 "We received a lot of resumes from coaches all over the country,” Plemenos said. “But Dina has proven that she is very capable of handling this responsibility, she knows our system and embraces our philosophy."

 Before her assistant coaching job with the Juggernaut, DeAquino was the assistant coach at Montclair State University from 2000-2001 and at Princeton University from 1990-1998. At Princeton she helped the Tigers to two consecutive appearances in the Women’s College World Series in 1995 and 1996. DeAquino also played for Montclair where she was a two-time All-American pitcher and won three regional championships with the Red Hawks.

 The second-place Juggernaut are currently 9-4 which puts them half a game behind the Texas Thunder in the NPF standings. They continue their home-stand at 7:35 tonight with the second game of a three-game series against the Akron Racers.