How Important is High School Softball

[MNDad]

Talked with a coach of a power 5 D1 program and he said if girl is good enough it doesn't matter what they play. Meaning he had several girls on the roster that did not play an inning of travel ball and still were good enough to play college. If they can play college coaches will find them whether that be playing only high school or travel.

There aren’t ANY P5 programs with “several” girls that never played travel. Sometimes you’ll see one or two girls, usually solely pinch runners, but by no means several. I know of a couple schools in northern Minnesota that can’t find enough kids to field a team and who will take just about anyone. That’s a far cry from P5 though.

The notion that “if you’re good enough coaches will find you” is also just plain wrong. Even travel girls need to market themselves if their goal is to play in college. It would be incredibly poor planning to expect to play in college without finding a travel team and just waiting around to get noticed.

 

[Rocketech1]

IMO, I wouldn't listen to me when it comes to HS ball I can't hardly watch the train wreck my dd plays on. My dd isn't a big strike out pitcher, more of a ground ball inducer. One game they had 7 errors in the first inning from booting the ball off the glove, to some where over the rainbow throws to first, to chucking the softball to the outfield throwing to second. The coach wants to hug the girls all the time not stand up for his players. To down right kissing the buts of the coaches they're playing. If I get any further away from the field to watch, I'm going to be in another zip code.

But think about how bad the HS team would really be WITHOUT your DD playing. My DD is a freshman and starting pitcher on the JV team and only half the girls have played travel ball and the other half have an average of two years experience (think bad rec ball players). The last game of the season was yesterday and DD was asked to play catcher since the starting catcher had a family emergency and no one else on the team can really play the position (DD played catcher sometimes in 10U rec). My DD actually enjoyed the experience and even has a foul tip strikeout that she held on to. My point is accept HS ball for what it is, an opportunity to play for and represent your school, to play with school friends, and to help contribute to make the softball program better.

Whether or not it helps a player get into college is really not the point of playing a high school sport.

 

[BobInMadison]

Exactly!! We had a pitcher who was on JV for two years then quit. First she was behind a superstar her Freshman and Sophomore year then one year behind her was another superstar who jumped her on the depth chart. So she just did not bother any more. She watched other teams varsity pitcher playing while these were the same girls she was beating in TB and the two other pitchers on her TB team were varsity starters for their school but she was just in the wrong school at the wrong time.

Well, what bothers my DD 3 and her catcher, is that they are better than a lot of the girls on Varsity, and they would be on Varsity if they were, say, infielders or outfielders. My DD 3 has played on TB teams with the starting SS and 3B for Varsity, and when DD 3 wasn't pitching, she would start at SS or 3B ahead of those girls. Interesting to see DD 3 and her catcher absolutely dominate the JV team. What was even more interesting was watching them last night play in a JV2 game. Miles ahead of their teammates. They lost the game, but the coach thanked them for getting the game through 7 innings instead of the usual loss by run rule.

 

[flipper14]

I am pretty sure this has been discussed before but how important is playing high school softball to college coaches?

My daughter will be a sophomore next year and at this point doesn't want to play for the high school team. As a freshman she played on JV, starting every game at catcher. The JV was 15-2-1 but much of the competition was very weak and the level of play was not challenging. If she plays again she will still be on JV. If she doesn't play softball she would run cross country, do strength training, and work with her travel team and private coaches. Softball is a fall sport here but tryouts are in May with an optional but not optional summer preseason.

She hasn't made a final decision yet and is still weighing the pros and cons of playing high school softball. I am sure she would appreciate any additional perspectives.

Thanks-

Not trying to be a jerk but why can't she play varsity as a sophomore? She's not going to make varsity so she just isn't going to play? How about working to make varsity?

 

[boyer80]

Thanks for the responses and discussion. It gives my daughter a lot to think about.

To provide a few more details - high school tryouts were held yesterday and Monday, and she found out last night that she would be on JV. The varsity team is pretty stacked compared to other years. Last year was the first year in recent memory that varsity made it to the Elite 8 in playoffs. However once they made it to that tournament, they went 2 and out. There were only 2 seniors on that team and one sophomore decided not to play next year; therefore, they only lost 3 players. My daughter is a catcher and the varsity has one stud catcher and one who can catch if she needs to but absolutely despises it. That person is also the starting 1st base. Next year varsity will lose at least 11 players including all 9 starters.

The conflict is between wanting to play and try to make the best on the JV or take the time that h.s. ball would take up and work on things that would make her a better athlete and more recruitable. She also doesn't want to appear to be a quitter and was concerned that it would lead to questions on why she didn't play after her Freshman year. On the other hand she really loves running. In the spring she does track and field.

Thanks again for the discussion.

 

[CoogansBluff]

I had a chance this week to talk with a high school senior baseball player who could be taken in the first round of the MLB June Draft. He's having a huge HS season and thinks that could get him drafted 3-4 spots higher than he would've been.

That sounds ridiculous, that HS ball could be a factor in where you're drafted and that MLB teams care, but he reminded me that the high draft picks draw lots of scouts during their high school games, especially those players who get into showcase tournaments. There's one near me at USA Baseball in Cary, NC, for example. A top HS player might play before MLB scouts several times a year.

He didn't say this, but the other factor is that if you play on a really good HS baseball team in a good area for HS softball, you're playing pretty good competition. Not the same as travel ball, but still pretty solid. I know where I was living in Georgia a few years back that some teams had college-bound players on the bench. So how you do on certain HS baseball teams can be telling.

This phenomenon doesn't translate into HS softball, IMO, because softball doesn't have the same depth of talent. There just aren't that many really good HS softball teams top to bottom, too many mismatches, not enough good pitchers, etc.

If there's a point to this, it would be that if HS softball doesn't matter to coaches, it's not simply because it's high school. It's because the sport hasn't developed to the point where HS ball matters. It matters in football, baseball, basketball (boys & girls). And in sports where a score or time speaks for itself (golf, track, swimming).

Softball is possibly the hardest sport to properly evaluate a college prospect.

 

[riseball]

I had a chance this week to talk with a high school senior baseball player who could be taken in the first round of the MLB June Draft. He's having a huge HS season and thinks that could get him drafted 3-4 spots higher than he would've been.

That sounds ridiculous, that HS ball could be a factor in where you're drafted and that MLB teams care, but he reminded me that the high draft picks draw lots of scouts during their high school games, especially those players who get into showcase tournaments. There's one near me at USA Baseball in Cary, NC, for example. A top HS player might play before MLB scouts several times a year.

He didn't say this, but the other factor is that if you play on a really good HS baseball team in a good area for HS softball, you're playing pretty good competition. Not the same as travel ball, but still pretty solid. I know where I was living in Georgia a few years back that some teams had college-bound players on the bench. So how you do on certain HS baseball teams can be telling.

This phenomenon doesn't translate into HS softball, IMO, because softball doesn't have the same depth of talent. There just aren't that many really good HS softball teams top to bottom, too many mismatches, not enough good pitchers, etc.

If there's a point to this, it would be that if HS softball doesn't matter to coaches, it's not simply because it's high school. It's because the sport hasn't developed to the point where HS ball matters. It matters in football, baseball, basketball (boys & girls). And in sports where a score or time speaks for itself (golf, track, swimming).

Softball is possibly the hardest sport to properly evaluate a college prospect.

I have been to Olympia High School down the road from us and it is not uncommon to have a few MLB scouts in attendance. When kids like Walker Weickel are being recruited there may be a dozen or more.

Then again aside from the stick, the ball, and the glove baseball and softball are as different as night and day.

 

[wjdempkowski]

I think HS matters for this reason.

VIDEO: Louisiana coach goes viral with ‘Daddy Ball’ speech on toughness | USA Today High School Sports

 

[obbay]

I have found a way that HS can matter- if it shows something good-or bad. If there is something in a players bio that says she was all-state or selected all-conference/allstar multiple times etc. but the biggest thing is if the high school coach can provide a great reference.

Our HS coach is a dope but when it comes to speaking up for his players to scouts/coaches, he is the bomb! A few years ago, he had a coach call him to thank him for his asessment of a recruit in which he described the intangibles that she brings which are not readily noticeable. The college coach was unaware but came to see this kid was a gem and brought a lot more to the team than just hitting and fielding

So play or don't play, but whatever you do, give 110%

 

[Phathead]

To the question does it matter to college coaches, I think everyone pretty well covered and it seems to just depend. Are you in a power area with great compentition and colleges frequently look there. Are you in a rural area. If you want to be recruited TB gives you a better chance in a lot of a instences. On the flip side there are a lot of good HS programs with good coaches that can help with recruitment. Really boils down to what your school has to offer and what sbe wants. DD seems to have waivered on college ball. So I'm sitting back and taking pics of the train wreck for the picture album. If she truly wanted to play college ball I would encouget her to find a TB during HS season here. In the last 3 years I have truly saw her go backwards from start of HS to finish with her bat. She pitched in TB against teams far better than anything in our conf and held her own. School ball she has no freedom and pitch calling is short of pathetic. Now if she could go to the school of some of the coaches on here I would reverse that thought. What does she want, in my DD case is to finish out playing with her friends and enduring the coaching pain so I just support her by doing my bucket time and enjoying the last of the ride.