My daughter is dreading high school ball approaching

[Eric F]

Truth... contrary to California beliefs, there are 49 other states.

As I understand it, a large majority of those other states play softball in the spring, just like CA. This makes them subject to the same issues that keep college coaches from paying much attention to HS ball in CA.

 

[_MIA_]

Truth... contrary to California beliefs, there are 49 other states.

and 95% of them play HS ball in the Spring....

 

[Momo'sDad]

She was going to talk to her prospective college coach about it, get his opinion.

Everything is relative, I know, but on balance, that makes no sense whatsoever.

There's nothing you said about the HS program that makes it seem worthy of attending even a single tryout. I'd recommend another extracurricular or volunteer work in a field that interests her.

 

[Rambler34]

It’s sad. She’s a 2021. Freshman year she was at a different (private) school and the team was more structured and well run. Last year she transferred into a public school and it’s a train wreck. The practices are basically a giant goof session. No real work. Especially if you aren’t the starting 9. Then you are on the side practicing pop ups or doing tee work. Only the starting 9 get the field and even then it’s a bunch of fooling around. The coach even stated last year she didn’t care about the girls attitudes as long as they can play, and it’s not a team full of players either. At least one kid that was TB (3B) walked away from TB last year. Not even sure if she’s coming out. Another one that was TB (1B) might have quit. I heard she didn’t play Fall Ball anywhere. The others that are left fool around. It’s tough on my kid because last year she tried so hard to fit in but the coach wouldn’t change her line up. It’s like she didn’t even give my daughter a chance to even compete for a spot. She’s serious about getting recruited and most of the ones playing couldn’t care less. Also last year my daughter was working through some swing issues. She was transitioning from a linear swing to that darned launch angle swing that most everyone hates. Her hitting coach told her to trust the process. That was last winter when he started that. He got my DD convinced to try it and she totally believes in it. So basically last Spring for high school and last summer for TB she wasn’t hitting well. So on the high school team, the combination of a terrible atmosphere and not hitting added up to her being miserable. She hung in there and kept cheering on her team. I was proud of that. Thankfully she did well on defense for her TB team so the summer wasn’t bad.

Now, her hitting is coming together. Something clicked and she got her swag back. It started coming together at the end of the Fall season. Right now In practice she is crushing it and her confidence is back. She’s got the swing down, and it shows. We aren’t sure who is returning to the school softball team. I’m encouraging her to go to the tryouts and check it out. She still isn’t thrilled about it. I told her to show them she can hit, last year was a transition period/slump. The other girl who was playing ahead of her apparently isn’t returning (or so she says). She’s supposedly playing a different sport. So I told my daughter that should open up some room. She still says the overall vibe from some of the girls and the terrible practices don’t make her thrilled about it. She was going to talk to her prospective college coach about it, get his opinion. It’s not really the fact that she might not play, it’s the lack of real practice even if she doesn’t. Its like she’s just doing nothing. Off to the side hitting off a tee. That’s fine but you can only do that so much. It’s basically a waste of time. She’s wondering if she should pick up some rec ball before the summer TB starts. Her best friend plays on a rec team. She (her friend) won’t even consider the school team. She’s not that serious about it. Rec ball is fine for her. She doesn’t want to put up with the school team. Too unorganized and crazy for her. I have a feeling my daughter will end up going out for the team, but if she doesn’t she has to find something to keep in shape.


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Don't sweat it at all. HS ball really isn't that important in a lot of places. DD plays for a great HS program and only two college coaches have attended a regular season game. One was a DI coach who has now retired and was there because she has a daughter on the team and the other was a JUCO coach with a signee on the team. The only other time you see coaches are at regionals and the state tournament because the talent is concentrated at a couple of parks especially the region we play in. Coaches understand the talent level and focus isn't the same as TB. Not all schools are like ours and there are maybe 50 schools statewide across all classes where softball is taken very seriously.

 

[Hillhouse]

They come in Georgia! The State Tournament in October in Columbus, GA was crawling with college coaches. We had an SEC coach at one of our games to watch our stud SS.

Again, Georgia is one state the plays softball in the fall when coaches are allowed to recruit. I was referring to MOST states where it's played in the spring and coaches cannot recruit.

Bill

 

[Hillhouse]

The point being made was how HS softball has little to do with college recruiting. You can talk all day long about how great your league is, your conference is, and how many students from your area go on to play in college. The point is, college coaches don't recruit from HS ball played in the spring. MOREOVER, I payed little attention to HS stats sent to me.

1. HS softball usually has a "haves" and "have nots" in the same league. Sally can go 4-4 with 3 HR's and pitch a no hitter but the competition she's playing can barely field 9 kids.

2. Often times a pitcher's dad is the scorekeeper and a 200 mph line drive off the 3rd baseman's ankle is called an error when it's really not.

3. Some high school teams are the mercy of politics where the principal's kid is the shortstop no matter how many errors she makes.

Bottom line, HS softball doesn't give you the same metrics for judgment as a decent travel ball tournament. Yes, I know there are lopsided games in travel ball too. That too is not my overall point.

Bill

 

[MNDad]

Understood, but a generalization was made upthread about how college coaches don't follow or watch HS ball, which is not the case in every state.

I’m not sure about the current calendar, but 5 yrs ago it was common to see a coach or two at bigger MN HS games. Often it was D3 or D2, but saw several D1 as well.

 

[Rolling Hard]

From a recruiting standpoint, even those schools are irrelevant. Yes, they are very strong teams playing high-level ball, but those players are getting seen and recruited based on what they are doing with their TB teams. As was mentioned previously, the college season and the HS season (in So Cal) are at the same time. College coaches aren't looking at players in HS games. They scout/recruit in fall and summer.

Safety tip: RAD is not a man

I know RAD is not a man. My DD has taken lessons from her and if it was more geographically feasible she would take more. Just a phrase stating disbelief. For recruiting, maybe so cal HS fastpitch is not that important, unfortunately. Cant believe when CIF rolls around no colleges are watching. This is high level ball.

 

[Eric F]

1. HS softball usually has a "haves" and "have nots" in the same league. Sally can go 4-4 with 3 HR's and pitch a no hitter but the competition she's playing can barely field 9 kids.

Truth ^^^.

Our league has one team in the top division in So Cal, and one team in the bottom division. My DD's team will beat the snot out of the weakest teams, but get curb-stomped by the top team. It's a FAR bigger spread of talent level than we see in TB. The top teams have all TB players on their roster. The bottom teams might have 1...maybe. Most of the middle teams are a mix of TB players, experienced rec players, and players that have only played in HS.

 

[So Cal Seth]

" Almost irrelevant" ?????? Come on man!

Huntington HS, Edison HS, Los Alamitos HS, Mater Dei HS, Orange Lutheran HS, Santa Margarita HS, Cypress HS and many more teams are extremely competitive. Most have a starting pitchers and many of their players committed to a D-1. CIF games are insanely intense and will have 200 to 300 plus spectators easily. Far from irrelevant. Orange County takes their HS softball pretty seriously.

2019 top ranked team was Norco in the Inland Empire, and Corona Santiago takes their team very seriously.