How many A level teams?

[grcsftbll]

I watched every FURY game I could find on YouTube. 81-2!
Even contacted one of the only teams in the country that beat them in 12u to discuss that win. Youngest verbal player ever was the catcher. DD played against her in Florida. A different level of play and I'm a fan here!

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A couple of our players know her. My DD pitched against her when she (player in question) was on the team before she went to the Fury. Her dad and I joked that my DD's main goal in life was to strike his daughter out (she didn't - one out by catch in CF, one single). And afterward he found me and said she'd get her next time. Good people.

 

[BT3100]

This is long and rambly-I apologize. My espresso is kicking in.

This a pretty good synopsis of high level softball. The rankings methodology for the 18U division is a 3 year rolling average. For a team to be considered, they can't be a one and done team. There has to be some history and staying power. DD's team doesn't travel in the fall and only travels to 3 of the major tourneys in the summer yet they are ranked...although they have been slipping. We play enough top 10 teams in the Texas area that doesn't require the travel. There are some teams we can compete with, but other teams just have our number every time we play them.

Our first time to Colorado IDT was eye opening at the talent that abounds across the country in places that I didn't think were fastpitch hotbeds. Talent is not relegated to Ca, Tx, Fl, GA. It is everywhere! I think the key difference is that some of the teams can recruit ALL of the best kids in their state and surrounding states. So the talent is not as diluted. Just think if there was one team in the Houston area that could claim the VERY best talent. That team would be dominant. But there are 7 or 8 key teams that kids bounce around. Impact Gold, Aces Express, ScrapYard, Tx Bombers, Diamond Hotshots, Cy Fair Intruders, Tx Storm, Firecrackers etc. Then you have DFW area with Tx Glory, Tx Glory Adkins, Vision, Excel, Rapid Fire. Then don't forget Austin/SA area. Tx Blaze, Bombers, Impact Gold.

When you face team like Rhode Island Thunder, Louisville Lady Sluggers, TC Stars, NW Bullets and they have solid D1 talent you are left amazed and also proud that this sport doesn't know where you live and will reward you for hard work.

As your DD approaches 14U and above and they want to play in college, it does them no good by whipping up on inferior teams if no one is watching. Yes they get trophies, and it makes everyone feel good. I have a real good friend whose team is very good and rarely lose but they play in these podunk nowhereville tournaments with no one watching. However they played in TCS Nats in Atlanta last summer and they won one game. The parents were stunned.

If your team plays in the Sparkler or Fireworks you want to be in the Power Pool or at minimum the Supplemental Power Pool. If not, Boulder IDT is THE tourney to get in. Yes, I am biased, since that is my favorite tourney EVER. There is a local team that we beat every time we play them. They finished really high in the Power Pool last year which boost their club rankings. Whereas we laid an egg at IDT. They received more points, but who played harder competition? In reality all of these team would be considered Gold teams.

Maybe we need to discuss the differentiation between Gold, A, B, C-All Stars.

Gold-You have to qualify or be invited to the high level tourney
A-You are not quite at gold status-but do well against most teams
B-You would get demolished vs all Gold teams, but might beat an A team on occasion. You have one year out of All stars.
C-This is reserved for All Star teams only.

All great points... Not to mention these big orgs have 10-15 teams all at the same age group.
When it comes time for PGF they can "select" the best 15 girls and form a team.

 

[Ksphenom]

All great points... Not to mention these big orgs have 10-15 teams all at the same age group.
When it comes time for PGF they can "select" the best 15 girls and form a team.

RIGHT! It seems that the midwest and central states teams of the US could take note of this "talent pooling" and do what California and Florida have done forever.

Hard to do this in my part of the country unless in OK, TX which have done better in recent years. They have the #"s and talent.
Not enough kids playing softball in our state to build these super competitive teams. Now if KS, MO and IA would pool the top talent that would be something!

I can hear it now... (parent) Can't work this Saturday I have practice 6 hours away!

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[_MIA_]

RIGHT! It seems that the midwest and central states teams of the US could take note of this "talent pooling" and do what California and Florida have done forever.

Hard to do this in my part of the country unless in OK, TX which have done better in recent years. They have the #"s and talent.
Not enough kids playing softball in our state to build these super competitive teams. Now if KS, MO and IA would pool the top talent that would be something!

I can hear it now... (parent) Can't work this Saturday I have practice 6 hours away!

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My DD's org, Oklahoma Athletics, have done decent at the 18U level at PGF in recent years but as you alluded to, they bring the same team they competed with all year to PGF. It
isn't a National Org. Also a number of the top girls in Oklahoma actually play with National Orgs.

 

[MNDad]

All great points... Not to mention these big orgs have 10-15 teams all at the same age group.
When it comes time for PGF they can "select" the best 15 girls and form a team.

The summer DD guest played for one of the big orgs it was because they didn't want to gut their own teams. Made sense to me. If my kid was on their #2 team and come nationals they yank your best players I'd be pretty upset. How their programs pitchers felt about the #1 team going outside the organization for a replacement I can't say.

I should add it had nothing to do with bringing in a ringer. They just needed an extra arm in case the team made deep runs in a tourney.

 

[MNDad]

.


Maybe we need to discuss the differentiation between Gold, A, B, C-All Stars.

Gold-You have to qualify or be invited to the high level tourney
A-You are not quite at gold status-but do well against most teams
B-You would get demolished vs all Gold teams, but might beat an A team on occasion. You have one year out of All stars.
C-This is reserved for All Star teams only.

Is Gold a thing anymore? Back when ASA Gold Nationals were the place to be Gold meant something. Seems like now it’s mainly middle of the road teams that slap Gold to the end of their names. I agree there should be a classification for National level A teams. With so many competing bodies I don’t know what we call it though. I also agree with your classifications. Nobody wants to pay $2k-$3k to be on a B or C team though so they’re all A. It gets pretty silly.

 

[erniekru]

RIGHT! It seems that the midwest and central states teams of the US could take note of this "talent pooling" and do what California and Florida have done forever.

Hard to do this in my part of the country unless in OK, TX which have done better in recent years. They have the #"s and talent.
Not enough kids playing softball in our state to build these super competitive teams. Now if KS, MO and IA would pool the top talent that would be something!

I can hear it now... (parent) Can't work this Saturday I have practice 6 hours away!

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DD plays on a very highly ranked so cal 06 team and in my experience, I think in so cal the opposite of talent pooling is taking place. In the younger divisions, there are so many great players spread out all over the place. As an example, look at the number of so cal teams in the top 20 (7 local teams) in 12u. In every upper division it consolidates more and more as the smaller orgs can't compete with the bigs in 18u (BB Stith, CA Tyson, FC Rico, etc) regarding college placement. This consolidation really kicks into high gear 2nd year 14's...

I compare that to what TN Mojo has done, I remember hearing a video of the head coach saying (paraphrasing).. "I'm really proud of how these girls have played together as we've never practiced as a team"... That is the definition of pooling to me.

FWIW, our team has two players that travel every weekend from the bay area to So Cal to practice/play. 11+ hours of drive time each and every weekend. Ugh

 

[Ksphenom]

DD plays on a very highly ranked so cal 06 team and in my experience, I think in so cal the opposite of talent pooling is taking place. In the younger divisions, there are so many great players spread out all over the place. As an example, look at the number of so cal teams in the top 20 (7 local teams) in 12u. In every upper division it consolidates more and more as the smaller orgs can't compete with the bigs in 18u (BB Stith, CA Tyson, FC Rico, etc) regarding college placement. This consolidation really kicks into high gear 2nd year 14's...

I compare that to what TN Mojo has done, I remember hearing a video of the head coach saying (paraphrasing).. "I'm really proud of how these girls have played together as we've never practiced as a team"... That is the definition of pooling to me.

FWIW, our team has two players that travel every weekend from the bay area to So Cal to practice/play. 11+ hours of drive time each and every weekend. Ugh

Definitely a difference between pool of kids and pooling of talent. Correlation between them can't be disputed.

CA has 1000's of athletes in the softball pool in any given TB age group.
USA, USSSA (44 12u A teams/ thats 10 times more than some states have), PGF, ELITE SELECT on and on.

If a kid was getting some attention from a large powerhouse organization chances are they would go. These large groups pool the best talent. No shortage of kids or talent and they have an over abundance and create multiple teams.

We've all witnessed a couple of non-California teams have really done a good job winning it all when pooling talent. Like TN Mojo you referenced.

Majority of the time it's about the numbers.
Smaller markets have player or $$$$ disadvantage. When small markets pool things get interesting.


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[erniekru]

We might be arguing the same thing, I can't tell. From what I see, the pooling of So CAL teams starts in earnest in 14/16... Elsewhere, it seems, the pooling of Premier (PGF chasing teams, TN Mojo, et all) start in 10's and 12's. The example I gave of my DD's team, only 2 girls are from outside of 40mi area on a roster of 17.

 

[Rambler34]

We might be arguing the same thing, I can't tell. From what I see, the pooling of So CAL teams starts in earnest in 14/16... Elsewhere, it seems, the pooling of Premier (PGF chasing teams, TN Mojo, et all) start in 10's and 12's. The example I gave of my DD's team, only 2 girls are from outside of 40mi area on a roster of 17.

I don't think it is fair to lump the Mojo into the "pooling" group. They do not pull kids from two or three teams together to head to PGF. It's the same team they played with all year. Does the organization have the top talent coming to them to play? Yes they do but the results speak for themselves. We have gone head to head with them (2021's) since 8U. They have been extremely tough since that time and still have more than one girl playing from them from the first year. The HC is a great guy that gets the absolute best out of those kids. Would I travel 3 hours to play for a team if my daughter wanted to? Probably. You are going to play in the same tourneys anyway and many of us drive at least an hour to practice with a local team.