Fall Softball - How is it done?

[dbronstein]

In Colorado, last fall practice started August 14, regular season ended Oct 7, and the state finals were Oct 21.

 

[CoachJD]

It may be a no-brainer if you live in Chicago next to Lake Michigan. I don’t. Illinois is a pretty big state. My climate is different than yours and both of ours is different than central Illinois which is different from southern Illinois.

I’m still going to pass on fall softball. I still prefer to be in sync with what most of the country is doing and with the college softball world. Think I would rather roll into fall exposures and camps after playing good competition in tb all summer and early fall instead of the spotty play and pitching that is most of hs softball. We all have preferences, that is mine.

High school softball is a nice little spring pastime to be enjoyed for different reasons than tb is enjoyed but honestly I could care less if half the season is cancelled. If hs games are cancelled, what really is lost? Just because it works better for other, (warmer), states does not mean it will work better for us.

All this arguing is pointless. Next year the weather will be different. IHSA wouldn’t consider this any more than they would consider moving football to the spring. IHSA would never consider allowing hs players to have contact with tb teams during the season like other states will. It’s moot, man.

I actually don't really understand your first point. It's a no-brainer because the weather is better everywhere in the state in the fall.

I understand that people here hate HS sports, and that's fine, but there are probably, what, 10 times the HS athletes as high-level travel athletes? 50 times? 100 times? I'm not sure we should cater exclusively to the .001% of athletes who are going to a Power 5 university. That actually seems like the exact opposite of the purpose of youth sports.

Most of the TB players you're talking about don't play HS ball or only play HS ball because TB isn't doing anything at that time anyway.

The weather will be different next year. But it will, on average, always be much worse in the spring than in the fall.

 

[Joseph Sciara]

It won't happen. I don't see the NCAA switching their schedules. Fall is a prime recruiting time for college coaches. Given the huge disparity in talent levels, the coaches would not be interested in watching many HS games. They want to see players competing against travel level competition. The warm weather states would not agree to it. They gain nothing from the move. With the current NCAA recruiting calendar they have an advantage over the cold weather states. There is no upside for them.

Volleyball would have to move and I don't see them wanting to do so for similar reasons.

While HS ball can feel important. In the overall recruiting picture it is not. This spring has been very frustrating for HS ball. Even some MLB games have been cancelled due to the cold. The switching topic comes up every time there is a bad spring. Nothing new. Just the date changed.

You would need an overwhelming benefit for everyone and there's none I can fathom.

Actually, D-1 schools are only allowed to attend high school games in the fall until the weekend of Oct 15. They are not allowed to attend travel ball games before that.

Second, you actually get better weather in Aug-Oct than you do in Feb-May. Many, many more rainouts in the spring(right now we have snow outs).

We play fall HS in Missouri. As a travel ball coach, I selfishly wish that we played HS in the spring, because of the great weather in the fall vs the spring. However, as a parent I am happy that our HS season is 1 of 5 states that participate in the fall.


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[Westwind]

Coach JD, I don’t hate high school softball.

It may not be my first priority, but I do enjoy watching dd and all our local kids.

CoachJD, I can tell you don’t understand. It’s ok. Our weather warms up quicker because we don’t live next to a giant lake of cold water. No brainer, as you said before. I lived in a suburb for three years. I sympathize. I remember that the weather could pretty much be described as “gray” from roughly November to April. Better days and sunshine are coming for you my friend!

Playing spring softball does not cater only to the high level player. It does, however work out better for pretty much every kid that wants to play college softball in my opinion. Our little 2a school has more former students playing college softball than football, volleyball baseball or wrestling so I do think it’s worth thinking about.

I’m on year six of hs softball. The weather has never been this bad. It is the second coldest April on record. What would the second coldest October be like? Awesome or Not Awesome? Just remember, it will get better. There is no reason to panic.