Is H.S. ball worth the time?

vicimus said:

Feel free to reread every response of mine, but you will not find anywhere that I said DD coach promised her anything. He's just the opposite. He's the one that gave her a dose of reality that there are not many D1 pitchers shorter than 5'7", and asked her if she wanted to play D1 or pitch D1? He's the one that set the expectation that she's got a helluva lot of work to do to have a chance at D1, and if she did, it would probably most-likely be due to her bat more than her pitching.

Now, what I'm saying is that at least in our area, DD's club coach has the *most* proven track record of any other club coach around, and given that he (YES HE!) was the one that developed (at least the last 4 years!) the freshman who got a full ride to my DD's #1 D1 school, I'm 1000% sure that *IF* DD follows the same path, it will be due to her club coach and ZERO percent due to her HS coach.

However, DD's HS coach is a clueless offensive idiot who's only credential is that she graduate from DD's school many years ago. What coach tells a hitter who goes 5 for 5 two games in a row with the lion share of RBIs that, "you don't have to hit a HR at every at bat." Same HS coach that tells another girl that, "Her pitching is sh!t!" And, her clean up hitter that she's "too fat and too slow!" Very constructive considering between her and my DD, that's 90% of her offense! Same HS coach that has my DD intentionally walk the #3 hitter to put the tying run on 1B in the 7th to pitch to the clean up hitter! Thankfully, DD got out of that one! Same HS coach that let the umpire give the batter 1B even though he called a strike but the batter said it touched her elbow! Obviously, a HS coach that hasn't read the rule book!

As far as *crappy* conferences, like I said, DD's #1 selection criteria is computer science, which is why her #1 choice is #14 in the nation for computer science, and many other schools in these conferences have excellent computer science programs even though only a couple of them made the top 50 softball teams. So, if she plays softball for *ANY* D1 school with a decent computer science program and graduates with a $80k+ job, then *MISSION ACCOMPLISHED*!

And, let me assure you it's *HER* dream--not mine, since if it was up to me she would be playing lacrosse! ;-)

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obbay said:

Notre Dame pitcher (Holloway) is 5’-3”.
Just sayin

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spleen1015 said:

My DD had some major struggles early in her freshman season as a pitcher. Her confidence in the circle was at an all time low. 8 games into the season I was pretty sure the HS coach was ruining my DD by not calling DD's best pitches and calling pitches she hadn't mastered. It was ugly at times. Like giving up 6 HR in one game ugly.

By the end of the season, DD was throwing those pitches a lot better and I think her earlier struggles help her pitch better down the stretch. They lost to their big rival 10-0 during the regular season but beat them 4-3 in the opening round of the state playoffs and ended their legit state title hopes. DD was not the pitcher she was in that first game.

I actually think DD got better playing HS softball. I didn't think that would happen and I definitely didn't think it was possible 8 games into the season.

Good luck to your DD no matter what you guys decide!

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Softball scholar said:

Vicimus, you're DD High school situation is obviously not the best. I know you pointed out some of the negative incidents by your high school coach. "The worst one was calling a player fat and slow" which is very unfortunate. But on the flip side, there's some learning experiences your DD gaining here. Based on your description, theres some meaningful games which your DD is playing in. That's good for her experience. Also, she's learning to play in some adverse situations, and she probably learning how to gain skills on how to play and react to those situations. With these skills, she might be able to better adapt to a college situation. Even though playing college ball will be great, but your DD will be challenged by a lot of circumstances. A lot of college coaches are intense and can be abusive also and can be perceived as unfair. You probably wont agree with their tactical decisions either, but I recommend you not say a word about it. And earning and getting playing time will be a challenge for all new college kids. And who knows how teammates react to a kid under competitive circumstances.

Advice is cheap, but I would just recommend your DD do her best, keep a positive attitude, and sometimes being a good teammate might be more important than any wins or losses you have on the team.

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inthunder said:

To me HS ball can be fine, it will not get you recruited at least where we live. It likely will not help your travel ball season as the pitching is bad as is the overall hitting so when you go play real softball your pitchers forget what happens when they hit spots and your hitters forget that pitchers really can throw 60. The main issue is kids not getting opportunities due to last names and how much families donate to program etc. Coaches are more less inferior to the high level travel ball coaches and cant handle the outside pressure so non deserving kids get reps. This is not a fair nor enjoyable experience. Some may life is not fair, but I refuse to teach my kids that accepting unfair treatment is OK. In life in softball no matter, either be weak and accepting or strong and unyielding. It just sucks that where we live you are stuck with what you get in HS ball, cant transfer nothing. I don't advocate team hopping or quitting (my daughter has played on the same TB team 4 years now) but I also don't advocate settling for less than what you EARN! HS softball, in our area is political and really not worth playing. My daughter plays only because I am not sure how college coaches would react to her not playing. She is being recruited currently just finished her sophomore season, so we do not want to rock that boat. Once that is done, which looks to be very soon, her HS days are DONE ! They lost in the playoffs recently, she was soooo HAPPY,,,,,and that is SAD !!!! It is not a player issue, it is a HS COACH issue. I know some are fine, most I know are simply wannabes, not ALL, Just the ones I know !

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chevy706 said:

I feel I have to respond in a way that may not be well received, but here goes. I've read the initial question, the responses, and the responses to the responses and after 8 pages I feel like the question was posed in an insincere manner. I don't feel you were actually looking for answers from the members as much as you were looking for affirmation for your opinion that HS softball is not "worth the time" to your daughter.

If I interpreted this thread incorrectly (wouldn't be the first time that I misinterpreted an internet conversation) than I apologize. Even if I got it right, I'm not necessarily being critical as I've done similar on more than one occasion. Maybe I'm only responding because I had a preconceived notion that I would find a decent discussion about the relative merits and drawbacks to HS softball. As a noob to the sport (my daughters are in 8U and T-Ball) I was unaware until recently how different softball is from say HS football.

Eh, perhaps I shouldn't have responded, but since I took the time to type all this, here goes...

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