ASA Nationals - Experience (bunch of questions)

[CrazyDad]

DD's team has never gone but may go in the next year or so. Can anyone give an overview of their experience at ASA Nationals?

Particularly what to expect at the 14U level. Is it a straight double elimination tournament? Or is there some sort of pool play? I saw some past results where teams were 0-2 which I guess means its double elimination. Is there any type of seeding? How far apart are the games? How many days does it last? How long do families typically book for? How many 60 mph pitchers are there?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Coachmom]

Hi CrazyDad....Been to 14U Nationals both of the years that my DD was in 14U. In 2009 it was held in Marieta, GA.
We were there for 9 days. They had pool play games into double elimination.
They had opening ceremonies with a team parade, pin trading and gift exchanges.
There was so much rain that week that we actually played one of our elimination games at 1:00am.
We got back to our hotel at 4:00am only to return that morning for a 9:00am game. (anyone driving by the lit softball fields at that hour must have thought we were crazy!!)

PS..there was an unconfirmed rumor that a pitcher for the Shamrocks was hitting 60mph consistently.

There were several college coaches there including Lu Harris-Champer of Georgia and University of Iowa scouts too.

Amateur Softball Association of America (ASA)
Sioux Falls Convention & Visitors Bureau

 

[FPMark]

To qualify for ASA nationals you have to win a "berth" at an ASA Qualifier tournament. The no. of Berths are given to each state and region based on the no. of ASA teams registered in your state.

We played the 14U Nationals last year held in Midland Texas. There are also other regional nationals for teams that don't qualify (Southern Nationals, Nothern Nationals, and others across the country).

At the Nationals, registration was on Sat., and Sun. was opening ceremonies. Monday started pool play and I think we had 2 pool games, 1 on monday and 1 on tuesday. There were 4 teams in each pool and you drew for your slot in the bracket based on finishing position in pool play. #1 got a 1st round bye, #2 played #3, and #4s had to play each other, winner played a #1 in second round. Bracket games were double elimination. The championship game was on sunday afternoon. Games are spread out pretty good, although, if you get in the loser bracket, friday and especially saturday are long days.

The competition is some of the best in the country, so yes you will see 60 mph pitchers, and hitters that can really crush the ball. One of the things to take notice of, is the strength of the arms. Stealing 2nd on a 1st and 3rd is not automatic, and if tagging from 3rd on a fly ball, she better be running.

There was no required Motel reservations through ASA, so if you are planning on going, make reservations early (now would not be too soon). You can always cancell or give them to annother team if you don't qualify.

Basically, it was alot of fun. Lots of D1 college coaches/scouts there, mostly looking at pitchers and homerun hitters, so it was cool just being there. This year we moved up to 16U and are hoping to go again.

 

[crystlemc]

We played the 14U Nationals last year held in Midland Texas. There are also other regional nationals for teams that don't qualify (Southern Nationals, Nothern Nationals, and others across the country).

Woooo! Lady Lasers Gold from Ohio took home that Championship!

On a related note, when our oldest (now almost 21yo) played, it was regularly a week long excursion. A lot of people plan it as their "family vacation" for the summer since you generally have plenty of time to do touristy things as long as the weather cooperates. I can't wait till my 12yo dd's team qualifies. Hopefully, the team chooses to go.

 

[livingontheroad]

Lasts about a week for the best teams. You might need 9 days hotel stay.

Often you CANNOT make a hotel reservation until you are offically accepted into the National. The local hotels will not circumvent the guidelines. If they did it would create mass confusion. We end up getting last choice hotels most yrs because our qualifier is so late in season, only a couple weeks before Nationals. You might have to stay 30 miles away or more from the field you play on.

You could lie and make reservations as a "church group" to hold a block of rooms, then cancel and immediately reserve as a team if you get in. I suspect some do something like this sometimes.


There is pool, and you can select to play practice games too.

 

[joemcq51]

Here was my first ASA Nationals experience for you. 1983 or 84??? 12U Nationals in Las Cruces, NM. 54 teams. I was 13 at the time and kept the scorebook. We had a great pitcher for our area. She was clearly the best pitcher in the NE (PA, NJ, NY, VA). We figured she had to be in the top 5 in the nation. Our team played a total of 25 games that year before going. I remember the coaches draw/luncheon. We were sitting with teams from California. They all knew each other and were saying how they played over 100 games a year. Yeah right, we thought. The draw came and we drew a team from Tn. We thought, alright an east coast team first round. We lost 7-0 and didn't get a hit. Hmm, not going like we planned. BTW, every team we watched had a pitcher as good as ours. Now we go to the losers bracket. Next two games we win, combining for 1 total hit. The difference was the other teams struggled with strikes and we were able to play small ball and get a few across the plate. Lost the 4th game, can't remember the score. We were out Friday morning. Total hits for 4 games was 2. At that moment, we realized what the difference between a travel team and a nationally competetive travel team really was. The best night there was Friday night. It had rained and there were games starting at midnight. Our girls have never even heard of such a thing. It was the round of 8 games being played in the winners bracket. We watched a team from California (Gamblers?) against a team from Arizona. Saw the best 12U play I have ever witnessed. Incredible. I know for a fact the girls on our team carry that experience with them today. Changed everything I thought I knew about softball and made our coaching staff (Mom and Dad) rethink our entire training program. We finished 27th that year. 3 years later, we finally broke the top 10, and were in the round of 8 games that everyone was watching. But that is another story.

 

[FPMark]

Lasts about a week for the best teams. You might need 9 days hotel stay.

Often you CANNOT make a hotel reservation until you are offically accepted into the National. The local hotels will not circumvent the guidelines. If they did it would create mass confusion. We end up getting last choice hotels most yrs because our qualifier is so late in season, only a couple weeks before Nationals. You might have to stay 30 miles away or more from the field you play on.

You could lie and make reservations as a "church group" to hold a block of rooms, then cancel and immediately reserve as a team if you get in. I suspect some do something like this sometimes.


There is pool, and you can select to play practice games too.

I wasn't the one who made the reservations for our team, but talking with some of the other teams, they claimed to have made their's in January and February. It's funny you mention using a "church group" to make reservations because the Friday before we checked out, a big "church group" checked in to our motel, as well as another motel some friends were staying in.

Woooo! Lady Lasers Gold from Ohio took home that Championship!

On a related note, when our oldest (now almost 21yo) played, it was regularly a week long excursion. A lot of people plan it as their "family vacation" for the summer since you generally have plenty of time to do touristy things as long as the weather cooperates. I can't wait till my 12yo dd's team qualifies. Hopefully, the team chooses to go.

I had a chance to watch the Lady Lasers play a couple of games, they are a good team! I believe it was them that I saw win one game with a first inning HR, and then no score the rest of the game (Ga. Force maybe?). They also doubled up on the Tennessee Fury to win it all from the losers bracket. Congrats to them, they played great!!

 

[Coachmom]

No they did not count pool play games for final results. The pool play games are really meaningless. Just an excuse to keep you in the city longer spending your money...

 

[starsnuffer]

The pool play games were added in recent years due to complaints of traveling so far for 2 games. The pool games give a 3 game minimum, but yes, they are meaningless.

-W

 

[Coachmom]

2 pool play games to double elimination.