Select players playing rec ball – does your league ban it?

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Aug 10, 2016
686
63
Georgia
DD played rec this spring and joined a tb team in March as well. We ended up having 3 tb players on the team - two sisters (one who was on DD's tb team - both pitchers) and DD. We were accused of being a full tb team at our EOS because we beat their team. It was fun being called cheaters. Meanwhile they had a pitcher who apparently played on two different rec associations - not sure how that works... (her dad was the coach of one - not the one we beat in the championship)

We've played against other teams who had tb players as well. It sucks to have them be the pitcher but def not something I would call cheating. DD will be playing on the same tb team this fall and hs so this may be the first season she doesn't do rec - she still likes rec a lot because she has so many friends who still do it. It's strange at our park because we have a big set of girls who are good but don't want to do tb - but at other parks - most of the good girls have left for TB so our competition has gone down a bit. There's one other park who has a similar scenario - just girls who have stayed with rec so they're the only ones who challenge us. The only teams we lost to last season were our park's other teams.
 
Apr 28, 2019
1,423
83
I know most users on this site are involved in travel ball, rather than rec leagues, but if you know the rules of your rec league, please respond.

The reason I ask is because my DD plays outfield on a select team, but wants to pitch. I signed her up for the local rec league, but was told she’s ineligible to pitch because she plays select ball. Never mind the fact that she’s never even pitched batting practice on her select team, much less in a game. This seems absurd to me, but maybe it’s common practice?
Rec in our area is LL. No restrictions.
 
Jun 7, 2019
170
43
Our local rec league's only restriction is that travel players - regardless of their travel team position - can only pitch a total of 2 innings during the game.
 
Feb 20, 2019
109
28
Our local rec league's only restriction is that travel players - regardless of their travel team position - can only pitch a total of 2 innings during the game.

I like this rule and can understand these restrictions. I actually proposed the same rule to our rec league but they declined to change from the all out ban.
 
Jul 24, 2013
91
6
many leagues it depends on the level played A B etc.. not on the name of the level, travel select etc...

We have a select program...but it is B ball... same as rec. I would make sure the rule says exactly what they think it says...

Our regional league that my rec league is in, once you go A, you are A for that year. Can petition to return to B ball (rec) but not guaranteed.
 
Feb 20, 2019
109
28
I can’t speak for all areas ... but the people I still stay in contact with from the local rec programs said they have seen a resurgence, particularly of 14u players, the last two years. Essentially, kids are getting burnt out on the demands of travel at 10u and 12u OR mom and dad are getting burnt out ... either way, they are coming back to play for 6-8 weeks in the summer at home with less stress and less cost.

This is good to hear. I hope that trend continues and spreads. Our 14U rec division no longer exists because they don't have enough players. Still, with the rule our league has in place, no 14U TB player could ever pitch on a 14U rec team, so we're back to walking runs in and using the run rule limit to get out of innings. That's not softball, IMO.
 
Aug 7, 2017
21
3
The title says "select", not travel. In our area those are two totally different things. Our rec program runs select teams in parallel with the spring season. Basically it's the All Star teams on the select teams playing on Sundays, and then those same players are spread out via the draft and playing on their regular spring rec teams on Saturday. This way the rec league still benefits from having good players still playing and helping the other kids get better. And the more advanced players get to be challenged on the select teams.
 
May 29, 2015
3,731
113
This is good to hear. I hope that trend continues and spreads. Our 14U rec division no longer exists because they don't have enough players. Still, with the rule our league has in place, no 14U TB player could ever pitch on a 14U rec team, so we're back to walking runs in and using the run rule limit to get out of innings. That's not softball, IMO.

I was glad to hear it as well ... when I was there we saw the death of 16u and were struggling to barely hold onto 14u. One year we actually went ahead and combined 14u into 16u (with limits on how many of each a team could have) to try to keep some of those girls active.

Agreed, pitching is the hard part. Any girl who can pitch halfway decent is going to go to travel ball. On the other hand, you don’t travel ball pitchers coming in and mowing everybody down. Strikeout after strikeout after strikeout is just as bad as walk after walk after walk.
 
May 29, 2015
3,731
113
The title says "select", not travel. In our area those are two totally different things. Our rec program runs select teams in parallel with the spring season. Basically it's the All Star teams on the select teams playing on Sundays, and then those same players are spread out via the draft and playing on their regular spring rec teams on Saturday. This way the rec league still benefits from having good players still playing and helping the other kids get better. And the more advanced players get to be challenged on the select teams.

I like that ... the key to the success of that is still having control as an organization. We were attempting a model like that with a PONY program when I (and several others) finally got fed up and left our respective organizations.
 
Aug 12, 2014
644
43
That is an issue within your league. There has to be a draft to split talent amongst the teams. Travel teams using rec as a warm up/feel good League is also no good.

Yes, it is a problem. There aren't any leagues around her, softball or baseball, where they draft players and try to create even teams. There is some random distributing of players at 8U since a lot of players haven't connected with teams/coaches yet. But then teams start becoming established and move up through the age levels, and the disparity widens. It becomes totally ridiculous at 12U.
 

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