Alternative to Travel

Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch

Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.

Apr 6, 2017
328
28
Sounds rec like. Find a competitive school. They will have a feeder team looking for a few players. Won’t be free but will be much cheaper than a private travel team looking for profit.
 
Feb 13, 2021
880
93
MI
Saying it sounds like rec league is like saying that Legion baseball is rec league. I think Legion softball will challenge TB orgs in that Legion has built in state and national tournament structures. Each Legion post has the opportunity to field a team. This provides natural regional competition pools for seasonal play leading to the State and National tournaments. Combine this with the lower cost and it is easy to see why some people would be fast to get on the 'sounds like a rec league' bandwagon since it could be a direct challenge to the monopoly on higher quality competition TB currently has.
 
Dec 15, 2021
25
13
I think many of the top players will stick with TB. There are a little over 100 Varsity Legion teams for baseball....you'd have to have almost that many for softball to cut down on travel. If even 10 teams sign up for next summer, that is a ton of travel to compete against the HS leagues out there that generally play double headers once per week. There are just so many less girls than boys committed to playing during the summer if they don't play travel ball, I just don't see this taking off. Its a good idea, but it will never cut into TB as they are going after two completely separate groups of players.
 
Nov 18, 2013
2,255
113
Saying it sounds like rec league is like saying that Legion baseball is rec league. I think Legion softball will challenge TB orgs in that Legion has built in state and national tournament structures. Each Legion post has the opportunity to field a team. This provides natural regional competition pools for seasonal play leading to the State and National tournaments. Combine this with the lower cost and it is easy to see why some people would be fast to get on the 'sounds like a rec league' bandwagon since it could be a direct challenge to the monopoly on higher quality competition TB currently has.

It sounds like a rec league because that’s how the article explains it. They also clarify several times it’s NOT travel ball.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
Legion baseball used to be pretty much the highest level of summer baseball you could play in HS up till the early 90's (at least in the Northeast; my Legion teams had 3 or 4 kids drafted) but has been severely diminished in terms of competitiveness due to Travel baseball. While it is nice to have low cost options which do offer the specter of some travel (to neighboring towns during District play and then to a State/Regional/National tournament if you make it) I unfortunately don't see this taking off in softball in 2022.
 
Last edited:
Feb 13, 2021
880
93
MI
It sounds like a rec league because that’s how the article explains it. They also clarify several times it’s NOT travel ball.
Couple of things. After going back over the article, just to make sure, I am not seeing where it says this will be a rec league. The only time Travel ball is mentioned is at the end of the FAQs when it states that you can participate in both Legion and TB exxcept for the post season (two weekends).

Second, even if it did mention rec league, there is a difference between something being A recreational league and being "rec league" used as an adjective.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
Couple of things. After going back over the article, just to make sure, I am not seeing where it says this will be a rec league. The only time Travel ball is mentioned is at the end of the FAQs when it states that you can participate in both Legion and TB exxcept for the post season (two weekends).

Second, even if it did mention rec league, there is a difference between something being A recreational league and being "rec league" used as an adjective.
The fact that you can play both would be nice in that kids that cannot afford TB could possibly play against TB level competition but the question is will TB players be willing to miss TB practice, lessons, etc during the week to play in a Legion game? I do think it is a nice option to have though, hopefully it works out.
 
Feb 7, 2014
547
43
I think many of the top players will stick with TB. There are a little over 100 Varsity Legion teams for baseball....you'd have to have almost that many for softball to cut down on travel. If even 10 teams sign up for next summer, that is a ton of travel to compete against the HS leagues out there that generally play double headers once per week. There are just so many less girls than boys committed to playing during the summer if they don't play travel ball, I just don't see this taking off. Its a good idea, but it will never cut into TB as they are going after two completely separate groups of players.

I'm curious, where did you come up with "a little over 100?"
 

Forum statistics

Threads
42,830
Messages
679,482
Members
21,445
Latest member
Bmac81802
Top