Personal Observation of D3 Softball

[softball dad 6]

Great to hear about the terrific softball being played at D3. DD loves the game, but she’s on the small side so I’m guessing that’s going to be her path. I’ll just be happy if I get to watch her play for a few more years.


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From watching dd and many of her tb teammates partipate in college softball, I am sure there is a softball team for every girl out there no matter the size or skill level. The key is too balance softball with college costs, education, school size etc. DD suffered a season ending injury last year and one that looked like it was near the start of the season. Luckily she just missed a couple of weeks. If DDs softball journey ended tomorrow at this school she would be disappointed but there is no way she would transfer. No more I could ask for.

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[clarity]

My daughter is a freshman at a D3. She also played in the Spring Games where they played multiple ranked teams. Our takeaway after the games down there was that D3 is a lot like high school, except the pitching isn't as good.

 

[MNDad]

So glad Vertigo started this thread.

This is also my DD's first year playing in college, at a D3. And I agree 100% - the level of play is much higher than I expected. Like every team would be a solid club from SoCal or the Midwest or the East Coast.

Which got me to thinking - who exactly plays D3?

So far, being brutally honest, I've come up with
- players who chose academics over higher level softball
- players who want to stay close to home
- players whose families could not afford or chose not to play high level TB, but who have a ton of talent
- players who opted out of D1/D2
- players who have one really great skill, but are mediocre or below average on other skills
- players who are long on skills but short on speed/athleticism
- players with a physical disadvantage, such as height

Any others?

These could all apply to any division. There’s so much variety of schools within each division it’s impossible to make blanket assumptions like D3’s are better academically or D1’s have better softball. It really depends more on the school and what the student athletes put into it.

 

[Dandan111]

We have a small D3 that we’ve been around forever. It’s in our small town and has been a big part of Dd pitching experience. University players coached her on pitching for about 4 years in off season. The biggest things I noticed are D3 practice a lot. Maybe just as much as the higher levels. Not to slam but the other thing I noticed is not normally as athletic/gifted and body types as I would expect to see. Out of shape kids but practice a lot. The basketball team is full of short players. They do have heart and that’s what makes it fun.

 

[Shiloh]

These could all apply to any division. There’s so much variety of schools within each division it’s impossible to make blanket assumptions like D3’s are better academically or D1’s have better softball. It really depends more on the school and what the student athletes put into it.

Ah, um,

The top collegiate softball teams in the US are all well-funded D1 programs.
And except for the Ivy League (which is quasi-D1) and a few others (Duke, Stanford, Cal), most HA schools are D3 (MIT, Univ of Chicago, NESCAC, UAA).

But more to the point - D1 and D2 provide scholarships; D3 does not. So we know what might make a player choose D1/D2 over D3.

What I’m asking, in a thread about the high level of D3 play, is what might make a potential D1/D2 talent choose to play D3 instead? And, more broadly, what other types of players are in D3 that make these teams so good?

There are as many reasons to do something as there are people to do it. But the decision to attend a certain college and play softball at that college is deliberate. I’m looking for commonalities among D3 athletes.

 

[Dandan111]

It’s all about play time for some kids. Some of the kids are basically at college to play ball. Why? I don’t know. If you have a D1 player that will sit the bench. Would you rather see sweet girl be the stud on D3?
I bet a good D3 team could beat a crappy D1.
I heard a local travel team 16u beat up on a local naia. I’d not been happy if my girl was in college getting beat up on by good kid travel teams. =embarrassed to me

 

[_MIA_]

Ah, um,

The top collegiate softball teams in the US are all well-funded D1 programs.
And except for the Ivy League (which is quasi-D1) and a few others (Duke, Stanford, Cal), most HA schools are D3 (MIT, Univ of Chicago, NESCAC, UAA).

But more to the point - D1 and D2 provide scholarships; D3 does not. So we know what might make a player choose D1/D2 over D3.

What I’m asking, in a thread about the high level of D3 play, is what might make a potential D1/D2 talent choose to play D3 instead? And, more broadly, what other types of players are in D3 that make these teams so good?

There are as many reasons to do something as there are people to do it. But the decision to attend a certain college and play softball at that college is deliberate. I’m looking for commonalities among D3 athletes.

I would be pretty happy if my kid was in the Engineering program at UMich or UT Austin or Purdue or University of Illinois or Georgia Tech or Texas A&M or Northwestern or...ok you get the point

 

[Vertigo]

My daughter is a freshman at a D3. She also played in the Spring Games where they played multiple ranked teams. Our takeaway after the games down there was that D3 is a lot like high school, except the pitching isn't as good.

Not surprising if you come from an area that fields a lot of very good high school teams full of higher level TB players.

What has surprised me is the extreme disparity among D1 teams. I’ve been watching a lot of softball thanks to ESPN+ as several of my friends’ kids or local kids are playing D1 ball. The amount of errors I see is the most surprising observation. P5 is truly a class of their own for the most part.

 

[Vertigo]

What I’m asking, in a thread about the high level of D3 play, is what might make a potential D1/D2 talent choose to play D3 instead? And, more broadly, what other types of players are in D3 that make these teams so good?

Dd did it for the academics and the internship/research opportunities available to her as an undergrad that she probably wouldn‘t be able to do if she played for a D1 program. She has several teammates who have traveled abroad during the fall semester. I could be wrong, but I don’t think you would be afforded that opportunity while playing for a D1 team on scholarship.

 

[ang2bmd]

So glad Vertigo started this thread.

This is also my DD's first year playing in college, at a D3. And I agree 100% - the level of play is much higher than I expected. Like every team would be a solid club from SoCal or the Midwest or the East Coast.

Which got me to thinking - who exactly plays D3?

So far, being brutally honest, I've come up with
- players who chose academics over higher level softball
- players who want to stay close to home
- players whose families could not afford or chose not to play high level TB, but who have a ton of talent
- players who opted out of D1/D2
- players who have one really great skill, but are mediocre or below average on other skills
- players who are long on skills but short on speed/athleticism
- players with a physical disadvantage, such as height

Any others?

People who can get a tremendous amount of need based financial aid. I 100% can not afford for my child to attend a D3. Don’t qualify for a dime if need based aid but don’t make enough to have 150k saved for tuition


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