Do we play 23U ball?

[Ken Krause]

Here's an odd question. We have a group of girls who have essentially finished their competitive softball careers, but still want to play a little more fastpitch before moving into slow pitch softball. The thought was play two tournaments in June for fun, then be done.

We were going to go into 18U again, but have come across a couple of other girls who would like to play but have aged out. So we thought maybe of going 23U, which would also give us access to a couple more pitchers.

My question is, what is 23U like? Is it filled with players who are just there to have a good time and play ball, or is it filled with serious college players looking to hone their skills and get ready for next season? I have no experience with that level so will be interested to hear.

 

[WinThemAll]

I think it depends on the area.

We did tried to do it one year and it was really hard to get enough players and then find tournaments that were a "go". I think we only ended up doing one tournament. The next year DD just filled in for a team that got together for just one tournament.

Overall, the teams were players that wanted to play a little ball and basically have a good time. There were a few that were just trying to stay "in tune" for their college season.

For most of the 23Us, it sounds good when it is being planned out, but in reality things come up and a lot of the players who said they wanted to play just couldn't work it into their schedules.

 

[MTR]

Unfortunately, you are correct. Many people involved in JO don't buy this, but young ladies not playing college ball tend to have other interests that they could not or were not allowed to have when playing travel ball.

I'm sure there are some who just said, "bullshit!", but softball just isn't as important to some at that age especially if they have a full time job. There have been three attempts in the past decade in this area to establish a simple 4-6 team league. Pretty much an open roster because they were aware of the participation information. Each attempt failed less than halfway through the scheduled season due to a lack of interest. And that is really a shame. Last year, those who wanted to play ended up with whatever pick-up games they can find and it ocassionally involved a drive up to 100 miles for a double header in midweek.

 

[sluggers]

My DD tried to do this after her second year of college and she quit after a couple of weeks. It wasn't fun.

The girls who played at college were exhausted at the end of the season. They were playing games every weekend and practicing 5 days a week since October, so they were physically exhausted.

The level of play was really inconsistent. The girls are from a bunch of different schools, so they all have different bunt coverages, relays, and back up plans. And, you can't get them all together to practice, because they just won't do it. In other words, it is exactly the same as a men's beer league, except they are girls playing fastpitch. The girls from highly competitive teams didn't enjoy playing "pick up games" of softball.

As for me...after driving/flying all over the US to see her play (including a trip to the garden spot of the southwest, Yuma, AZ) during the college season, going to Rockford didn't seem like such a good idea.

 

[amanda_cake]

We have a couple of teams nearby (the closest one is an hour away) and it is full of a lot of girls who hope to make it into college through this, college players, and some who are just there for fun. Regardless, all of them are talented.