High School Softball ,No Thanks I'll pass

[SCDad]

What does this really even mean?

If you might think I am not part of this TB crowd PLEASE ask me directly.
I could even show you the odometer on my car!!!!

To answer the many questions, my DD is not a nationally recognized travel ball player. She is a tier 2 type player. Good enough to hit against the best pitchers in the nation, has done so, and had game winners, has been a hero for the brief seconds it took to hit a 70 mph grooved fastball out. I am not here to promote my DD, only that we are honored to have the opportunity to play with and against some of the best softball players in the nation. Whether it is playing with a simple 'A' Level team, against a true Gold Level team, and losing. Or doing it in high school against the best. It is having the chance to hit against the best. My player is only average. This is not about her.

In language a travel ball parent would understand?

A great high school team is usually composed of two or three GOLD players. The rest are just "tier 2" players. Whether they are "tier 2" because they are too young and have not matured enough, or older players who show flashes of brilliance, but are not 5 tool players. More like 3 tool players.

So all understand the make-up of a very good high school team? 3 GOLD players, 9 others.

Most Gold Travel Ball players think they are the key to winning in high school, play better than the other Gold players on the other teams. They focus on what they can do to be a better softball player, for if they are better than the other Gold players, you win right? Not necessarily so as my stories point out.

The truly "great" Gold travel ball players accept this role, but understand the game at a much higher level, and are usually upper-classmen. These great Gold players not only work as hard as they can to get their game better, but they also know they must go above and beyond to help elevate the players who are not as good as she is. Mentor them, bond with them, be friends with them, be modest. Treat the lesser players as EQUALS for this important high school season. THESE are the great Gold travel ball players.

Before the season is over, the Gold players will cancel each other out against the fellow Gold competition players. They are all great, they play great every game. The teams who win are the ones who have elevated the "tier 2" players. Many games are won and lost by these lesser players. These lesser players hold the key to a championship season, or not. Before the season is out, some of the young "tier 2" players BECOME true Gold players.

This is the essence of high school softball. And really for ANY team.

So when I hear parents not understand, and only think it is about how THEIR child plays, I point out they are probably wrong, and really only half way home. It is when you go the extra mile to elevate the players around you are you considered GREAT by everyone around you. I mean everyone, and the glory for this behavior shows up in stories by reporters throughout the land.

But people won't listen and think I have some ulterior motive. I do not. Other than having the perspective to watch my DD elevate because her Gold teammates helped elevate her and be a champion, or watching my DD be smothered, put down, by fellow Gold players, personally play like crap and lose. Its effect is unmistakable.

 

[MsDinosaur]

My bad. Took SC to be Southern Cal.

I did too! When folks are talking "big time" softball and I see SC in their tags, I just tend to assume it stands for Southern California, same way I assume horses instead of zebras when I hear hoof beats. LOL.

By the way, I was somewhat amused when that college search site returned USC (meaning the Trojans) as an option (I had softball as a must-have), because it's the other USC (the Gamecocks) who actually DO have a varsity softball program (they seemed like a fairly nice team IMO).

Maybe someone can explain this to me, because it's just never made a lick of sense to me. Why doesn't USC (the Trojans) have a softball team??? There they sit in the very heart of softball country, where it would be a snap to recruit an awesome team. The University of North Dakota has managed to field a competitive varsity softball team in the cold, rugged boonies, for crying out loud, and that can't be easy. I just don't get it.

 

[MsDinosaur]

In language a travel ball parent would understand?

A great high school team is usually composed of two or three GOLD players. The rest are just "tier 2" players. Whether they are "tier 2" because they are too young and have not matured enough, or older players who show flashes of brilliance, but are not 5 tool players. More like 3 tool players.

So all understand the make-up of a very good high school team? 3 GOLD players, 9 others.

--snip---

The truly "great" Gold travel ball players accept this role, but understand the game at a much higher level, and are usually upper-classmen. These great Gold players not only work as hard as they can to get their game better, but they also know they must go above and beyond to help elevate the players who are not as good as she is. Mentor them, bond with them, be friends with them, be modest. Treat the lesser players as EQUALS for this important high school season. THESE are the great Gold travel ball players.

Before the season is over, the Gold players will cancel each other out against the fellow Gold competition players. They are all great, they play great every game. The teams who win are the ones who have elevated the "tier 2" players. Many games are won and lost by these lesser players. These lesser players hold the key to a championship season, or not. Before the season is out, some of the young "tier 2" players BECOME true Gold players.

This is the essence of high school softball. And really for ANY team.
---snip---

I don't know. We've all talked before about how there's only so much a high school coach can do. He/she has to take whatever girls attend that school and in just a few short weeks, make them into a team and start playing. If an adult coach, who probably has years of coaching experience, can't be expected to turn a pig's ear into a silk purse, how can a high school girl be expected to? And if those 3 GOLD players are a 3B, a LF and a 2B, say, are they really going to be able to do much to help a team that's shaky everywhere else?

Maybe we're not that far away from another and it's just semantics that make it sound like we're further apart? What I think is that HS is firstly about pitching and which teams have the good fortune to get fine pitchers, after which, it's about hitters and which teams of those with fine pitchers also have the good fortune to get good hitters. I think a good pitcher will take a lot of the pressure off a fielding corps that has some holes and good hitters will help elevate all the hitters. Hitting is contagious and so is winning. Everyone feels better and plays better when they see success and believe in it.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

I probably enjoy HS baseball and softball more than anyone on this forum, it's a different animal for sure.

There are things you can and cannot control in the world of HS ball. Things you can control would be the development of local players prior to the HS years, thru travelball. Continuing that development during the HS years by playing in national/regional HS softball tournaments and travelball in the off-season. Things you cannot control would be players moving in/out of the school's zone, injuries to key players.

There are lots of variables in the HS arena. You could have a super dominate pitcher who can make up for a lot, of the less talented teammates. You can have a super dominate defense who makes up for less than par pitching. You can have a whole line-up of top notch hitters who pound their way to wins, making up for less than par defense. You can have good ( not great ) all around players who compliment each others strengths and weaknesses and win games. You can have a few "studs" that carry an entire team the whole season. You can have a few "duds" who cost a team the whole season.

Most importantly you have to be lucky. Those 1 run games when the season is on the line, luck plays a part. Maybe it's a close call that goes your way. Maybe it's the hit ball taking a bad jump in the infield. Maybe it's the girl who had a 1.000% fielding average dropping or mis-playing the game deciding ball.

Next of importance is the health of the players. I've seen many a team destin to win it all get plagued with injuries to key players.


SC, I assume your talking about Boiling Springs?

 

[SCDad]

I don't know. We've all talked before about how there's only so much a high school coach can do. Everyone feels better and plays better when they see success and believe in it.

This is a coaches board. I am a players parent. I firmly believe the players, and parents, are in control. The best thing the coaches can do is supply the message stated over, and over, and over again. That is what our coaches did. It took way too many years to sink in. But once it does, it is self enforcing, and will most probably continue. I am convinced having lived through it, it is the secret to winning. Some coaches are better than others, X's and O's matter.

As far as details about our team. I would tell folks who do the research from my strung out story if they are wrong. I have no problem stating names of players who are over 18 years old, or have been recognized by a 3rd party for achievements, if they are under 18 years old.

I fiercely try to protect minor players who are battling for their future. A bunch is at stake for them. Some are included in stories, and it is very difficult to not offend anyone. I am doing the best possible that I know how. I have offered to stop, but continue to be told by people around me to keep doing it, as it brings attention to their hard working young ladies, and to keep it up. There are local folks who follow, they are smart, it is not easy.

Thank you for allowing this forum to exist.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

As far as details about our team. I would tell folks who do the research from my strung out story if they are wrong. I have no problem stating names of players who are over 18 years old, or have been recognized by a 3rd party for achievements, if they are under 18 years old.

If I was right, we probably walked right past each other this spring at the Warrior Classic. My DD's team was there, but looking back over the schedule, we never played each other.

 

[nanotech14]

SCDad, I keep reading your post and it is the same incoherent story. These girls you know are the best players in the nation, maybe the world. Do you really think that these girls are the only ones that work hard at this sport? I guess all the other girls should just stop playing because no one could ever compete against your girls. I get it, you know all the teams in the nation and also that not one freshmen in HS could ever compete against any older girl at your HS. Your great coaches you talk about, really suck as coaches if that's really how they run their joke of a program.

 

[SCDad]

Yes ... Warrior Classic, the High School Tourney in TN. Yeah, we were there the last couple of years. What is it with Riverdale. Last couple of years, we were 5-0 each time to finish 2nd in the 50 team field.

SC teams are only allowed to play 5 games. Yet Riverdale TN (host team) plays 7 games. When the final games are tabulated it is always Riverdale #1 (7-0), ... us #2 (5-0).

I even looked at the individual games last year. It looked to me as though Riverdale LOST a game. But it did not show up in the final tally. Why does Host Riverdale not schedule a game with us ... ? Did they lose a game this year, but not show it so they could report them, in TN papers, as winners again???

I hope we go to Murfreesboro TN next year. I have no control. If we do ... do me a favor ... make Riverdale TN schedule a game with us. Great Tourney !!!

 

[GOINGDEEP]

If you're talking about Taylor Cabe's team, yes y'all were there.

 

[SCDad]

Check. That young lady was really, really special last year. Even a better person, than player. Harvard can win the Ivy if she elevates. Make the WS preliminaries again. Time will tell. Maybe make it past winning a couple games in WS prelim's like 2 years ago. She is a local hero.

We have an established Sophomore to rely on in the circle this year. Has all the pitches, and is showing real poise, this summer. A couple highly regarded freshman behind her.

Our hitters are there in spades. Instead of dominating on both sides like last year, we are going to have to find a way to win games differently, this coming year. A real challenge for us.

The defense will be a challenge too. Last year all the players fit in their favorite positions like a glove. This year, nothing seems to fit right. The coaches will have to move around some of the upperclassmen to different positions, so the youngsters can fit and be effective. A real challenge. That is why they coach, and I watch/report!!