This is a kind of a "so...when did you stop beating your wife" question but for those who have been to some form of "B" Nationals, are they as bad as little league ?? I have been watching some of the boys LLWS games the past couple of days and wondered if girls b level nationals were as bad.
Llws vs asa b
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What do you mean by "bad"?
Lack of quality of play.
Actually, I thought some of the boys teams looked pretty solid, you see some good defensive plays, 12 (or, usually 13 by now) year old boys pitching in the low to mid 70's, and way too many (IMHO, from hot bats) homers.
The girls teams didn't look any better than our team that lost in the states last year or several other teams that I've seen in state tournaments, as far as pitching and defense, but they hit the ball a lot better than our team could (which is why we lost in the states
). You see lots of 12U teams at any decent tournament that would probably thrash most of the all-star teams...
But.....
You have to remember, LL teams are all from the same area, usually all of the kids will go to the same high school. My 14U travel softball team this year was a mediocre team, and we still had 5 different high schools represented.
The girls teams didn't look any better than our team that lost in the states last year or several other teams that I've seen in state tournaments, as far as pitching and defense, but they hit the ball a lot better than our team could (which is why we lost in the states
). You see lots of 12U teams at any decent tournament that would probably thrash most of the all-star teams...But.....
You have to remember, LL teams are all from the same area, usually all of the kids will go to the same high school. My 14U travel softball team this year was a mediocre team, and we still had 5 different high schools represented.
Oh, I know there are High School teams around that are extremely solid...but, usually, those girls probably played travel and not LL. Last year, our LL all-star team went to our state semi-finals, and played a total of 7 games over 4+ weeks. The state tournament, we played 4 games, and had to stay 5 nights (Got there Friday, left Wednesday) to do it.
Our first travel tournament this spring, we played 6 games in one weekend. The number of games for the time/money invested is just so much greater in travel (not to mention the quality of opposition, for the most part).
And, I know that most everyone posting on sites like this already know this
Our first travel tournament this spring, we played 6 games in one weekend. The number of games for the time/money invested is just so much greater in travel (not to mention the quality of opposition, for the most part).
And, I know that most everyone posting on sites like this already know this
Oh yeah. All of them. They just decided this year to play as a high school group. Kind of hurt some feelings with the timing of the decision but there's no doubt they could play. Very impressive for all kids from one high school.
DD played both LL and town travel this past year. Town travel events played in northern NJ were "B" tournaments. The town team was comprised on many of the LL all-stars girls, but not the full roster. Town travel team was competitve in the evnts entered and lost to ther A/B travel teams.
In this years LL tournament - the All-Star team got thru the Districts and was knocked out in the Sectionals by the eventual state championship team/program.
This particular program and another from NJ have both sent teams the the LL softball World Series in the past few years. Both of these LL programs are very solid; they have Fall ball, the option to work out in the winter, pitchers are encouranged to throw year round, etc. Maybe thes LL programs are not as structured as a fullblown travel team, but they have much more structure than the average LL program.
In this years LL tournament - the All-Star team got thru the Districts and was knocked out in the Sectionals by the eventual state championship team/program.
This particular program and another from NJ have both sent teams the the LL softball World Series in the past few years. Both of these LL programs are very solid; they have Fall ball, the option to work out in the winter, pitchers are encouranged to throw year round, etc. Maybe thes LL programs are not as structured as a fullblown travel team, but they have much more structure than the average LL program.
Going back to the original question, I think there is a definite difference between Little League (which is rec ball in most areas) and ASA B. There is a tendency, especially on message boards like this one, to think that anything that isn't ASA A or Gold is barely worth talking about. But what level you play depends on a lot of factors, some of which you can control and some of which you can't.
The big difference between A and B ball, at least around here, are the physical capabilities of the athletes. Both A and B teams tend to be well-trained, but true A team players are bigger, faster, and stronger. In most cases they're also more dedicated to playing at the cost of other parts of their lives. They don't think of it as sacrificing; it's what they want to do.
I have seen B teams that had maybe two or three A level players. But that's not enough to compete in A ball -- at least not if you want to win. You need a full team of A players, whatever A means in your area. (An A team in one area might be a B team in another.)
Rec ball players, on the other hand, are usually far less trained. Their technique is weaker as is their knowledge of the game. There are exceptions, of course, but generally that's what I've found.
When we did tryouts recently, there were a couple of girls who had played freshman ball in high school, and who had always been in rec league/Little League ball. I think they came out for travel ball because there wan't rec ball for them anymore. They were great kids and I loved them to death -- great attitudes, very sweet. But their skill levels were not where they needed to be for 16U travel softball -- even at the B level.
The big difference between A and B ball, at least around here, are the physical capabilities of the athletes. Both A and B teams tend to be well-trained, but true A team players are bigger, faster, and stronger. In most cases they're also more dedicated to playing at the cost of other parts of their lives. They don't think of it as sacrificing; it's what they want to do.
I have seen B teams that had maybe two or three A level players. But that's not enough to compete in A ball -- at least not if you want to win. You need a full team of A players, whatever A means in your area. (An A team in one area might be a B team in another.)
Rec ball players, on the other hand, are usually far less trained. Their technique is weaker as is their knowledge of the game. There are exceptions, of course, but generally that's what I've found.
When we did tryouts recently, there were a couple of girls who had played freshman ball in high school, and who had always been in rec league/Little League ball. I think they came out for travel ball because there wan't rec ball for them anymore. They were great kids and I loved them to death -- great attitudes, very sweet. But their skill levels were not where they needed to be for 16U travel softball -- even at the B level.
- Feb 8, 2009
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Thank you for a sensible explanation of the differences between A and B, and how the desire to commit real time by players plays a big role in what level they play. I've seen other posts refer to other organizations'(NSA) B designation as comparable to rec ball. In our area , the difference between rec and travel , no matter what the affiliation, is obvious. It's tough to watch those girls at tryouts at the older age groups trying to measure up with girls that have hundreds of games under their belt. Kids must start earlier and earlier to be able to compete.
