Sparkler review $$$

[Orange Socks]

For us, this year was a tale of two different answers.

-For the tournament itself, it was not worth it. Seven days, seven games. Eeesh.
-For the extracurriculars, yes it WAS worth it.

The tourney was OK, nothing spectacular. DD's team was in the 16u power pool. They won the first two then lost to VA Unity and Birmingham Thunderbolts in the TV bracket. The college coaches were out for those games, then kind of disappeared for the rest of the week. The team easily won their first in the champ bracket on Friday, then lost the next two.

The valuable stuff was the camps and the Future Stars game. DD's org held two events. Monday they had a run-of-the-mill org workout. A couple hours, nothing too special, some coaches came but many other orgs were doing the same thing at the same time.

The day before, they held a skills camp for like 5 hours. What was different was we had coaches from 12-13 schools come and coach the skills and the scrimmages. They were compensated for their time, but it gave them lots of time with the players and a real chance to interact. Several of the schools are on DD's short list, so that was great, and worth the trip on its own.

The real fun came at the Future Stars game on Thursday night. It was so cool to see her play on TV. She had a great game, doubling in two runs and she STOLE HOME on freaking ESPN. That memory is totally priceless.

So overall for us the trip was worth it for sure, but mostly because of the extras. There sure is a lot of sitting around unless you head to the mountains. If you plan on going for the camps and various special events it can be a great event.

I watched the 16U Unity vs Hawaii game for a bit and I also watched some of the All star game too. How does the TV bracket thing work? It's different than the power pool right? I would think there would have been different teams playing based on reputation alone. Not to bag on the V Unity Left pitcher, but she was wild and couldn't find the strike zone. The catcher was working her butt off to fend off passed balls. However, I think she'll be a good pitcher. Could've been the stage that made her nervous.

 

[BRsoftballDad]

I watched the 16U Unity vs Hawaii game for a bit and I also watched some of the All star game too. How does the TV bracket thing work? It's different than the power pool right? I would think there would have been different teams playing based on reputation alone. Not to bag on the V Unity Left pitcher, but she was wild and couldn't find the strike zone. The catcher was working her butt off to fend off passed balls. However, I think she'll be a good pitcher. Could've been the stage that made her nervous.

If it was Jayden Heavener, she is going to be a GREAT pitcher someday. I got to see her once when my DD and her were at an LSU camp together and her stuff is nasty. Upper 60's speed and a great curve ball. Struck out my DD in 3 straight pitches....lol. It might have been the stage. Also, I hear the ball doesn't quite grab the air as well in Colorado, with the thinner air and lower humidity so maybe she was trying to make something happen and forcing it.

 

[Orange Socks]

If it was Jayden Heavener, she is going to be a GREAT pitcher someday. I got to see her once when my DD and her were at an LSU camp together and her stuff is nasty. Upper 60's speed and a great curve ball. Struck out my DD in 3 straight pitches....lol. It might have been the stage. Also, I hear the ball doesn't quite grab the air as well in Colorado, with the thinner air and lower humidity so maybe she was trying to make something happen and forcing it.

Yup. Apparently, she was not happy with her performance during that game. Glad to see she took the time to work on adjustments.

 

[LEsoftballdad]

If it was Jayden Heavener, she is going to be a GREAT pitcher someday. I got to see her once when my DD and her were at an LSU camp together and her stuff is nasty. Upper 60's speed and a great curve ball. Struck out my DD in 3 straight pitches....lol. It might have been the stage. Also, I hear the ball doesn't quite grab the air as well in Colorado, with the thinner air and lower humidity so maybe she was trying to make something happen and forcing it.

She will be fine. I believe she's the top ranked 2024 in the country. She got hammered in a game against the LD on Friday night in her last inning. They were up 13-0 before she lost it. She gave up 7 runs in 2/3 of an inning before being pulled to get the last out. I watched a home run hit by a 2025 off her that might have landed on one of the mountain peaks.

That Colorado air was brutal for pitchers, JH included. I saw more HR in that 5 day span than I've seen in 5 previous tournaments combined.

 

[ang2bmd]

She’s battling some injuries, had to stop pitching in KC a week or so before. These kids play too much and their high school coaches ride them all season. I’ve barely slept in my own bed since the beginning of June and I can only imagine how my kid feels. Played against Her since we were little and she’s always been wild. Effectively wild we used to say. Pegged my kid in the head a few years ago lol. Good kid too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DryHeat]

I watched the 16U Unity vs Hawaii game for a bit and I also watched some of the All star game too. How does the TV bracket thing work? It's different than the power pool right? I would think there would have been different teams playing based on reputation alone.

As far as i could tell, it was the same power pool teams. Each pool played 2 games Tuesday, which set the A's, B's etc who played each other on Wed. The A teams that won both games on Tues went to the TV game. I think.

The A,B,C rank also applied to the Fri-Sun bracket seeding, which was double elimination, basically a whole new tourney at that point for the plastic trophy.

 

[DropcityUSA]

. If given the opportunity to go again, unless we were in the Power Pool, I would say no and spend my money on college camps instead. For the record, I saw way more top coaches at the airport on Saturday evening than I did at the fields.

I hope everyone who did attend had a great time. What were your experiences?

Do orgs/teams actually let you say “no” to going to a big tournament like this?

 

[bsbs]

Do orgs/teams actually let you say “no” to going to a big tournament like this?

Gosh, I hope so!

 

[LEsoftballdad]

If you have a good reason, yes. This year, it's HS graduation for us.

 

[DryHeat]

For us, this year was a tale of two different answers.

-For the tournament itself, it was not worth it. Seven days, seven games. Eeesh.
-For the extracurriculars, yes it WAS worth it.

The tourney was OK, nothing spectacular. DD's team was in the 16u power pool. They won the first two then lost to VA Unity and Birmingham Thunderbolts in the TV bracket. The college coaches were out for those games, then kind of disappeared for the rest of the week. The team easily won their first in the champ bracket on Friday, then lost the next two.

The valuable stuff was the camps and the Future Stars game. DD's org held two events. Monday they had a run-of-the-mill org workout. A couple hours, nothing too special, some coaches came but many other orgs were doing the same thing at the same time.

The day before, they held a skills camp for like 5 hours. What was different was we had coaches from 12-13 schools come and coach the skills and the scrimmages. They were compensated for their time, but it gave them lots of time with the players and a real chance to interact. Several of the schools are on DD's short list, so that was great, and worth the trip on its own.

The real fun came at the Future Stars game on Thursday night. It was so cool to see her play on TV. She had a great game, doubling in two runs and she STOLE HOME on freaking ESPN. That memory is totally priceless.

So overall for us the trip was worth it for sure, but mostly because of the extras. There sure is a lot of sitting around unless you head to the mountains. If you plan on going for the camps and various special events it can be a great event.

Replying to myself here, with another year behind us.

The skills camp that I mentioned in the older post resulted in multiple offers, one of which DD accepted fall of jr year and a year later she is now signed.

Between then she moved up to the 18u National team. Their Sparkler was much more exciting than the prior year. They were in the TV pool (didn't make the TV game) and ended up T5 in the Power Pool. Should have advanced another round but had to go to ITB because a ball that for sure would have scored the runner from first rolled under the temporary fence and the next batter was out to end the inning.

We got to see their sister 16U National team play in the TV game until lightning canceled the rest of it.

Assessment after 3rd year there: It is a 12 hour drive for us, so not too bad. I still maintain the value is in the camps. 9 games over 6 days plus two more days of travel? Not terrible but not really that great either. This year we saw lots of coaches (Aurora mostly), and had one kid commit while we were there. More coaches were at the 16u games vs 18u.

I am a nerd so I took notes of the coaches I saw:

Penn st
Michigan
Arizona
N Carolina
Texas A&M
Utah Valley
Florida
UCLA - Fernandez
Stanford
Oklahoma
Utah
Central Arkansas
Kentucky
Ole Miss
Minnesota
Cal
Louisville
South Carolina
Tarleton
Nevada
Boston college
UIW
Northern Colorado
New Mexico
Utah State
Abilene Christian
Weber st
Miss State
Alabama
Ball st
Georgia Tech
Grand Canyon
Notre Dame
Nebraska

The parents on DD2's 14u team were very lukewarm, so they ended up not going last year, I think for the best. They are going this year so we will be there with both, but probably an hour+ away from each other (mediocre 14u vs Power Pool 18u team). I'm sure their experiences will be very different.