Our Staff

Coach Justin Feist

Coach Feist began his coaching career in 2015, working with a couple athletes in individual lessons. That spring he began coaching with the West Fargo Packers where he was an assistant coach for two seasons. He has also coached the West Fargo United 16U team for three summers. For the past 3 seasons. Coach Feist has been the head coach of the Diamond Academy 16U Travel Team, and has lead them to 2 state titles. In the winters he works with Diamond Academy assisting players from all over the region to obtain their goals.

Coach Feist began playing men’s fastpitch in 2009, primarily as a catcher. Today Coach Feist also pitches for his men’s team, though his biggest attribute is his hitting. Coach Feist has been selected as a All-World player at the NAFA World Series twice, including in 2015 when he won a National Championship. He has also had the honor of playing in the distinguished ISC World Tournament.

Coach Feist prides himself on his mental approach to the game, and believes it is one of the biggest weapons a young player can have when playing.

Coach Feist earned his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in Dec. 2018 and currently works as a Quality Engineer at Doosan Bobcat in Gwinner.

Coach Matt Gable

Coach Gable has coached softball and baseball for a combined 11 years. He has coached athletes ranging in ages 6 through 18 and has spent time coaching for Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton, Fargo Shanley, and West Fargo school districts. Coach Gable is excited to be part of the Diamond Academy team and helping area athletes obtain their goals.
Coach Gable has played men’s fastpitch since 2007 as a pitcher, infielder, and outfielder. In 2007 he won a national championship in the NAFA 23U division and was selected to the NAFA All-World team as a hitter. Gable has also played in 3 ISC World Tournaments and in 2014 was selected to the ISC II All-World team as a hitter. He has also competed at the ASA Men’s Major event and currently is President of Fargo Fastpitch.
Coach Gable earned his Bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science with minors in Coaching, and Strength and Conditioning from MSUM in 2012.

Coach Vance Christianson

Coach Christianson is in his 2nd year with Mayville State University as an Assistant Coach. Previously he was with Shanley Softball as their Head Coach. Coach Christianson took the Shanley Deacons from 10th place to 4th place in the regular EDC season in his 1st year at Shanley. He began his coaching career in 2013 with West Fargo Baseball for 1 year, and then he moved over to Moorhead High School and was JV Coach for 3 seasons. Coach Christianson was apart of the Moorhead Crush for 4 seasons. He was their 18u league and travel coach all 4 seasons. He was also the Program Director from 2016-2018.
Coach Christianson has 10+ years experience of playing many different levels of Men’s Fastpitch. He played and managed his Fastpitch team. He was also the President of the Fargo Men’s Fastpitch League for 2 years as well. Majority of Coach Christianson’s playing time was at Catcher and 1b.

Coach Courtney Walsh

Coach Walsh is now the new Head Coach of Fargo Davies Softball. Coach Walsh was a 6 year starter in Centerfield for Fargo North. Courtney was selected to All-East Region Team and All-State Team in 2012 & 2013, and nominated for Senior Athlete of the Year in 2013. After graduating in 2013, Coach Walsh was the first North Dakota native to play Division 1 collegiate softball at NDSU. She played from 2013-2017, and contributed to the Bison winning 4 Summit League Championships and 4 NCAA Tournament appearances. During her time at NDSU, Coach Walsh and the Bison beat ranked teams such as Stanford, Washington, Auburn, Alabama, and Oklahoma.

Coach Walsh graduated NDSU in 2019 with Bachelors in Social Science Education and Public History. She has been working in the Fargo Public Schools System since fall of 2018 at Fargo South and Fargo Davies.

Coach Cory Erickson

Cory Erickson is the current head coach of the Hillsboro-Central Valley fastpitch softball team.

A native of Hillsboro, N.D., Erickson began his coaching career with the Burros in the spring of 2012, the first season in program history. The 35-year-old newspaper publisher and photographer enters the 2021 softball season with a career prep record of 76-73 in eight seasons. In 2019, Hillsboro-Central Valley placed fourth in Class B, securing the team’s best finish in program history.

Two years earlier, the Burros advanced to the state tournament and took 7th after previously reaching the state tournament in 2012, when they took fifth. Cory Erickson won state Class B coach of the year in 2016 and Sub-region 1 coach of the year in 2017. He also coaches the Hillsboro Recreation District’s 10U and 12U as well as the Cass-Traill Blazers 14U and 18U fastpitch teams in the summer. The programs have won four state tournaments and placed runner up twice more. He has coached eight players who have gone on to sign with area colleges for softball. He went on to earn a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of North Dakota in 2008 in the field of communication, with an emphasis on visual communication. He earned the school’s Thomas Deats Award for Excellence in Journalism in 2006 and has since won more than 80 awards for writing, ad design, and photography through the North Dakota Newspaper Association.

Contact

Diamond Academy

PO BOX 6563
Fargo, North Dakota 58109

Email: [email protected]

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