Best team in WI for getting exposure

My daughter is moving to 16u this fall. We are starting to get into recruiting. She is a pitcher that is an incoming freshman. We are looking for the best teams in that gets kids exposed. I realize we need to do a lot ourselves.
Thank you

Where are you in Wisconsin?

There really aren't that many teams in Wisconsin that give a lot of exposure. A lot of the girls near the borders play for out-of-state teams.

The 16U B.A.T.S. team, north of Milwaukee, has one really good pitcher who is rumored to have already committed to a D-1 school. I think she will still be 16U another year, but I'm not sure. These days BATS may give the most exposure.

The Madison area doesn't really have many 'A' level teams. The best program IN Madison is Crush. My DD 3 is on their 2002 team. They have a 2000 team that is good, with the same coach, but they are a strong B team, without that much exposure. Girls from as far away as Dodgeville and Platteville will play for Crush. Seems weird the Platteville girls are playing for Crush, since there is a good program in Dubuque.

The best programs NEAR Madison are the Wisconsin XPlosion in Columbus and a good team in Fort Atkinson.

A lot of the best players in south central Wisconsin go across the border to Roscoe, Ill for the State Line Fury.

Many people use the Wisconsin Bandits in Horicon. There are people from the Bandits organization who regularly post here, so they can provide contact info. My poor DD 3 will have to play against 2 different 14U Bandits teams in an upcoming tournament, just in pool play.

We live in Appleton but are willing to drive. Northern Chicago would be an option.

RubberBiscuit lives close to there. His DD played for the Wisconsin Bandits. You should send him a PM

For Illinois border teams, you can probably get a look by the Illinois Chill if your DDs a high-level pitcher. If the Bandits don't know you already you're probably out of luck. Northern Ice at times have good teams, you'd have to see what they have to offer next year in terms of coaches/teams. Among other Wisconsin teams, we've seen the Wisconsin Lightning around this year at exposure tournaments in Chi-town area.

Nationals in Watertown starting next Wed would be a good place to look around.

RichK said:

For Illinois border teams, you can probably get a look by the Illinois Chill if your DDs a high-level pitcher. If the Bandits don't know you already you're probably out of luck. Northern Ice at times have good teams, you'd have to see what they have to offer next year in terms of coaches/teams. Among other Wisconsin teams, we've seen the Wisconsin Lightning around this year at exposure tournaments in Chi-town area.

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Just for clarification -- I assume when you talk about Bandits, being Chicago area, you are referring to the Beverley Bandits, and not the Bordertown Bandits nor the Wisconsin Bandits or any of the other Bandits.

I think a strong pitcher would be able to get onto the Wisconsin Bandits, but they have 3 teams in every age group, so you would have to be careful as to which team your DD plays on, since not all are showcase.

With all due respect there aren't going to be any exposure teams in Watertown at ASA B Northern Nationals.

B.A.T.S. sounds like a good one in your area. They've got a couple of girls going to DD's school. Looks like Chicago is about three hours from you. Several good programs there. There's a few decent programs four hours away in the Twin Cities. Midwest Speed or Midwest Lady Lightening Gold would be the best ones.

Just curious reading this - how do girls (or parents I should say!) handle being on a team that is 3-4 hours away!!!! My DD has to find a new team unfortunately and the best teams are approx an hour away and I'm stressed !


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Acatchersmom said:

Just curious reading this - how do girls (or parents I should say!) handle being on a team that is 3-4 hours away!!!! My DD has to find a new team unfortunately and the best teams are approx an hour away and I'm stressed !


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You train in your hometown and travel with the team to tournaments. It’s not as hard as it sounds. DD was invited to a couple of teams hundreds of miles away and we always said no because I was worried about missing out on bonding or training. Last summer at 18U she finally tried it and I wish I’d have said yes years ago. When you don’t live in a softball hotbed it can be hard to find a team where all the girls have the same goals.