RALEIGH- As usual, pitching and defense should be featured as the top fast-pitch softball teams in the state prepare for the North Carolina High School Athletic Association state championships this weekend. But there are also a number of players with spectacular offensive statistics in the eight-team field.
            For the first time in many years in fast pitch, the Eastern and Western champions in each classification will face off in a best of three championship series at the Walnut Creek Softball Complex.  All four of the championships are scheduled for Friday and Saturday.
            This will mark the 18th annual fast pitch championships and the 38th year for NCHSAA softball. The Raleigh Sports Consortium and the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau are among the host city sponsors.

The North Carolina Coaches Association has announced the rosters for the 2012 East-West Women's All-Star Basketball Game to be played July 16 @ 6:30pm in the Greensboro Coliseum.

The North Carolina Coaches Association has announced the rosters for the 2012 East-West All-Star Basketball Game to be played July 16, at the Greensboro Coliseum. Click the link below for full rosters.

The North Carolina Coaches Association has announced the rosters for the 2012 East-West All-Star Football Game to be played July 18, at Grimsley's Jamieson Stadium in Greensboro, NC. Click the link below for full rosters.

• adoption of a "mercy rule" in soccer; if a goal differential of nine is reached by halftime or at any time in the second half, the game shall be terminated, to go into effect for 2012-13; at least one half of game must be completed
• approved going back to 12 weeks to play 11 football games, starting with 2013 season, and approved two-year football calendar for 2013 and '14

Smoky Mountain	Western Highlands
Andrews	Avery County
Blue Ridge	Mitchell
Cherokee	Madison (2A)
Hayesville	Mountain Heritage (2A)
Highlands	Owen (2A)
Hiwassee Dam	Polk County (2A)
Murphy
Nantahaha
Robbinsville
Rosman
Swain County
Southern Piedmont	Mountain Valley
Bessemer City	Alleghany
Cherryville	East Wilkes
Christ the King	Elkin
Comm. School of Davidson	Starmount
Highland Tech	Ashe County (2A)
Thomas Jefferson	North Wilkes (2A)
Lincoln Charter	West Wilkes (2A)
Pine Lake Prep	Wilkes Central (2A)
Northwest	Yadkin Valley
Atkins	Albemarle
Bishop McGuinness	Chatham Central
East Surry	East Montgomery
Mt. Airy	Gray Stone Day
North Stokes	North Moore
Walkertown	North Stanly
Winston-Salem Prep	Queens's Grant
	South Davidson
	South Stanly
	Union Academy
	West Montgomery
North Central Athletic	Tar Roanoke Athletic
East Wake Academy	Granville Central
Franklin Academy	KIPP Pride
Kestrel Heights	Louisburg
Raleigh Charter	Northwest Halifax
River Mill Academy	Southeast Halifax
Roxboro Community	Weldon
Voyager Academy
Woods Charter
Two Rivers	Atlantic Ten
North Edgecombe	Camden County
Northampton	Cape Hatteras
Riverside-Martin	Columbia
Rocky Mount Prep	Creswell
South Creek	Gates County
Tarboro	Manteo
	Mattamuskeet
	Ocracoke
	Perquimans
	Plymouth
Coastal Plains	Carolina
East Carteret	Hobbton
Jones Senior	James Kenan
Lejeune	Lakewood
Northside-Pinetown	Neuse Charter
Pamlico	North Duplin
Southside	Princeton
	Rosewood
	Spring Creek
Three Rivers	Four County
East Columbus	Trask
South Robeson	Pender
West Columbus	Union
Whiteville	Wallace-Rose Hill
Fairmont (2A)	Clinton (2A)
Red Springs (2A)	East Bladen (2A)
South Columbus (2A)	Midway (2A)
St. Pauls (2A)	West Bladen (2A)

Western NC Athletic	South Mountain Athletic
Brevard	Chase
Franklin	Draughn
Smoky Mountain	East Burke
East Henderson (3A)	East Rutherford
North Henderson (3A)	R-S Central
Pisgah (3A)	Shelby
Tuscola (3A)	Burns (3A)
West Henderson (3A)	Crest (3A)
	Kings Mountain (3A)
Big South	Southern District 7 Athletic
Stuart Cramer	Bandys
Hunter Huss	Bunker Hill
Lake Norman Charter	East Lincoln
Ashbrook (3A)	Lincolnton
East Gaston (3A)	Maiden
Forestview (3A)	Newton-Conover
North Gaston (3A)	West Caldwell
South Point (3A)	West Lincoln
Western Highlands	Mountain Valley
Hendersonville	Ashe County
Madison	North Wilkes
Mountain Heritage	West Wilkes
Owen	Wilkes Central
Polk County	Alleghany (1A)
Avery (1A)	East Wilkes (1A)
Mitchell (1A)	Elkin (1A)
	Starmount (1A)
Western Piedmont Athletic	PAC-6
Carver	T.W. Andrews
Forbush	Eastern Randolph
North Surry	Providence Grove
South Stokes	Randleman
Surry Central	Trinity
West Stokes	Wheatmore
Rocky River	Central Carolina
Monroe Central Academy	East Davidson
Forest Hills	Lexington
Monroe	North Rowan
Mount Pleasant	Salisbury
Parkwood	Thomasville
West Stanly	West Davidson
Mid-State	Northern Carolina
Bartlett Yancey	Bunn
Carrboro	Durham School of the Arts
Cummings	Franklinton
Graham	NCSSM
Jordan-Matthews	Roanoke Rapids
Reidsville	South Granville
	Southern Vance
	Warren County
Northeastern Coastal	Eastern Plains
Bertie	Beddingfield
Currituck County	Farmville Central
First Flight	North Johnston
Hertford County	North Pitt
Holmes	Southwest Edgecombe
Northeastern	Washington
Pasquotank County
Eastern Carolina	Three Rivers
Ayden-Grifton	Fairmont
Goldsboro	Red Springs
Greene Central	South Columbus
Kinston	St. Pauls
North Lenoir	East Columbus (1A)
South Lenoir	South Robeson (1A)
	West Columbus (1A)
	Whiteville (1A)
Four County	East Central
Clinton	Croaton
East Bladen	Dixon
Midway	East Duplin
West Bladen	North Brunswick
Heide Trask (1A)	Northside-Jax
Pender (1A)	Southwest Onslow
Union (1A)
Wallace-Rose Hill (1A)

Western NC Athletic	Mountain Athletic
East Henderson	Asheville
North Henderson	Enka
Pisgah	Erwin
Tuscola	North Buncombe
West Henderson	A.C. Reynolds
Brevard (2A)	McDowell (4A)
Franklin (2A)	T.C. Roberson (4A)
Smoky Mountain (2A)
Big South	South Mountain Athletic
Ashbrook	Burns
East Gaston	Crest
Forestview	Kings Mountain
North Gaston	Chase (2A)
South Point	Draughn (2A)
Stuart Cramer (2A)	East Burke (2A)
Hunter Huss (2A)	East Rutherford (2A)
Lake Norman Charter (2A)	R-S Central (2A)
	Shelby (2A)
Northwestern	North Piedmont
Fred T. Foard	North Iredell
Freedom	North Lincoln
Hibriten	South Iredell
Hickory	Statesville
Patton	West Iredell
St. Stephens	Alexander Central (4A)
South Caldwell (4A)	Lake Norman (4A)
Watauga (4A)	Mooresville (4A)
South Piedmont	Southern Carolina
Carson	Anson
Central Cabarrus	Cuthbertson
Concord	Marvin Ridge
Cox Mill	Piedmont
East Rowan	Sun Valley
Hickory Ridge	Weddington
Northwest Cabarrus
South Rowan
West Rowan
Mid-Piedmont	Mid-State
Asheboro	Eastern Alamance
Central Davidson	Eastern Guilford
Ledford	McMichael
North Forsyth	Morehead
Southern Guilford	Northeast Guilford
Southwestern Randolph	Northern Guilford
Western Guilford	Rockingham County
	Western Alamance
	Williams
Big Eight	Cape Fear Valley
Cardinal Gibbons	Byrd, Douglas
Cedar Ridge	Gray's Creek
Chapel Hill	Lee County
Northern Vance	Terry Sanford
Northwood	Southern Lee
Orange	Union Pines
Southern Durham	Westover
Webb
Two Rivers	Big East
Cleveland	Fike
Corinth Holders	Hunt
Smithfield-Selma	Nash Central
South Johnston	Northern Nash
Triton	Southern Nash
Western Harnett	Rocky Mount
Eastern Carolina	Mideastern
Aycock	South Brunswick
Eastern Wayne	Topsail
Southern Wayne	West Brunswick
D.H. Conley (4A)	Ashley (4A)
New Bern (4A)	Hoggard (4A)
J.H. Rose (4A)	Laney (4A)
South Central (4A)	New Hanover (4A)
Coastal
Havelock
Jacksonville
Richlands
Swansboro
West Carteret
West Craven
White Oak

Mountain Athletic	Northwestern
McDowell	South Caldwell
T.C. Roberson	Watauga
Asheville (3A)	Fred T. Foard (3A)
Enka (3A)	Freedom (3A)
Erwin (3A)	Hibriten (3A)
North Buncombe (3A)	Hickory (3A)
A.C. Reynolds (3A)	Patton (3A)
	St. Stephens (3A)
North Piedmont	Southern Meck 8
Alexander Central	Ardrey Kell
Lake Norman	Berry
Mooresville	Charlotte Catholic
North Iredell (3A)	Harding
North Lincoln (3A)	Olympic
South Iredell (3A)	Providence
Statesville (3A)	South Mecklenburg
West Iredell (3A)	West Mecklenburg
MeCka	Southwestern
A.L. Brown	Butler
Hopewell	East Mecklenburg
Hough	Garinger
Mallard Creek	Independence
North Mecklenburg	Myers Park
Robinson	Porter Ridge
West Charlotte	Rocky River
Vance
Central Piedmont	Piedmont Triad
Davie	East Forsyth
Mount Tabor	Glenn
North Davidson	High Point Central
Parkland	Northwest Guilford
Reagan	Ragsdale
R.J. Reynolds	Southwest Guilford
West Forsyth
All Metro	PAC-6
Dudley	East Chapel Hill
Grimsley	Hillside
Page	Jordan
Ben L. Smith	Northern Durham
Southeast Guilford	Person
Southern Alamance	Riverside
CAP-8	Greater Neuse River
Broughton	Clayton
Enloe	East Wake
Heritage	Garner
Leesville Rd.	Harnett Central
Millbrook	Knightdale
Sanderson	Rolesville
Wake Forest-Rolesville	Southeast Raleigh
Wakefield	West Johnston
Southwest Wake	Eastern Carolina
Apex	D.H. Conley
Athens Drive	New Bern
Cary	J.H. Rose
Fuquay-Varina	South Central
Green Hope	Aycock (3A)
Holly Springs	Eastern Wayne (3A)
Middle Creek	Southern Wayne (3A)
Panther Creek
Mid-South Athletic	Southeastern
Jack Britt	Hoke County
Cape Fear	Lumberton
Overhills	Pinecrest
Pine Forest	Richmond
Seventy-First	Scotland
E.E. Smith	Purnell Swett
South View
Mideastern
Ashley
Hoggard
Laney
New Hanover
South Brunswick (3A)
Topsail (3A)
West Brunswick (3A)

List of the 61 NCHSAA schools changing classifications either up or down starting in August 2013.

8 New 1A Schools (old)
Atkins (2A)
Granville Central (2A)
Louisburg (2A)
North Stanly (2A)
Northwest  Halifax (2A)
Starmount (2A)
Tarboro (2A)
Whiteville (2A)

24 New 2A Schools (old)
Ayden-Grifton (1A)
Central Academy (1A)
Currituck (3A)
Dixon (1A)
Franklin (3A)
Goldsboro (1A)
Hendersonville (1A)
Hertford (3A)
Hunter Huss (3A)
Lake Norman Charter (1A)
Midway (1A)
Monroe (1A)
Mt. Pleasant (3A)
North Lenior (3A)
North Rowan (1A)
North Wilkes (1A)
Parkwood (3A)
R-S Central (3A)
Red Springs (1A)
South Stokes (1A)
Southern Vance (3A)
Southwest Onslow (1A)
Washington (3A)
West Wilkes (1A)

21 New 3A Schools (old)
A.C. Reynolds (4A)
Cedar Ridge (2A)
Central Davidson (2A)
Corinth Holders (2A)
Cuthbertson (2A)
East Gaston (4A)
Lee County (4A)
North Henderson (2A)
North Lincoln (2A)
Northwood (2A)
Piedmont (2A)
Pisgah (2A)
Richlands (2A)
Smithfield-Selma (4A)
South Iredell (2A)
Southern Durham (4A)
Sun Valley (4A)
Swansboro (2A)
Terry Sanford (4A)
Topsail (2A)
Western Guilford (4A)

8 New 4A Schools (old)
A.L. Brown (3A)
Berry Academy (3A)
Charlotte Catholic (3A)
Conley (3A)
Harding (3A)
Overhills (3A)
Robinson (3A)
South Central (3A)

New NCHSAA Schools (Class)
Community School of Davidson (1A)
Pine Lake Prep (1A)
Stuart Cramer (2A)
Rolesville (4A)