USSSA Nationals in Salisbury, MD 2023

[Youngabunga]

We are thinking of registering for the USSSA Nationals 18U in MD this coming summer. Looking for any general advice on housing, activities, and food.

Also, I read about the $600 housing waiver, which is wacky. Did your families stay over at the sanctioned hotels or did you pay the waiver?

I will appreciate any any info/stories.

Young

 

[Orange Socks]

Which Organization is hosting?

 

[Youngabunga]

Which Organization is hosting?

USSSA

 

[Gags]

If it's Salisbury, I'm going to assume it's USSSA.

Salisbury is about 30-40 minutes inland (west) of Ocean City, MD. Several turf fields, so it gets hot, but what place doesn't in July?

The upside / downside is the beach. You can stay on the beach, and drive 40 mins each way morning and evening, and pay $200+per night, or stay in Salisbury (limited hotels), which is, well, Salisbury, and definitely not the beach.

Depending on the draw, you may get fields for pool or bracket play that are actually in Ocean City - but I've only done 10U and 16U there - not sure how 18U works regarding field assignments.

On the plus side, no gate fees. And 3 years ago, the dugouts at the Salisbury complex were equipped with misters and fans.

 

[inumpire]

This will not be a true National…..just a money grab for the TD at hat is putting it on……save your money and go play where there will be more quality teams.

 

[Youngabunga]

If it's Salisbury, I'm going to assume it's USSSA.

Salisbury is about 30-40 minutes inland (west) of Ocean City, MD. Several turf fields, so it gets hot, but what place doesn't in July?

The upside / downside is the beach. You can stay on the beach, and drive 40 mins each way morning and evening, and pay $200+per night, or stay in Salisbury (limited hotels), which is, well, Salisbury, and definitely not the beach.

Depending on the draw, you may get fields for pool or bracket play that are actually in Ocean City - but I've only done 10U and 16U there - not sure how 18U works regarding field assignments.

On the plus side, no gate fees. And 3 years ago, the dugouts at the Salisbury complex were equipped with misters and fans.

Thanks for info. Very helpful.

At first i was disappointed about playing on turf in the summer but after thinking about it, I'm not sure it's worse that playing on sunbaked hard clay. At least on turf, we get truer bounces.

Hmm. Hot field vs lumpy field...

 

[Youngabunga]

This will not be a true National…..just a money grab for the TD at hat is putting it on……save your money and go play where there will be more quality teams.

Interesting. That explains why many of the teams from last year had losing records. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Cougars]

We played in the 16u-B division last July, as our season ending vacation tournament.

Did the housing buyout. I hate that stay-to-play is even a thing, but divided by all the families, $600 isn't a huge deal. Most of our families stayed in AirBnB type condos in Ocean City. The one day, we played on the Ocean City fields, so drive wasn't too bad. It is a decent drive to the Salisbury fields. If you stay in Ocean City, being close to where 50 comes over the bay, shortens the drive to Salisbury a little and puts you close to the boardwalk.

The main complex has 8 fields. 4 are turf, 4 are dirt. Turf is available as soon as rain stops. They are hot though. One of the games we played on turf was about as hot as I've ever been during a game. The dirt fields are really sandy, and we played games a little bit after some rains that would have closed our local fields for a day or 2. We didn't play very much at some of the other parks that are used. They did seem to stay closed longer after rains.

Maybe it was just an unusual week (my first time in Maryland, so don't know), but it did rain a lot. Some teams missed pool games because of it, but bracket was completed. Biggest issue for the girls was the rain completely screwing up their "free time". Also made it difficult to plan any type of group dinner. We had a day where last game was scheduled to be done early afternoon, so they were hoping for some beach/boardwalk time, and after rain delays and reschedules, we finished the game at 11pm. Another day where we sat at the main complex in Salisbury a few hours waiting out the rain/drying out time to get the game in. But that's weather.... Could play again this summer and maybe it doesn't rain once all week.

I don't know what level you are considering (Open or B)? One issue that did come up for some teams is that if a team hadn't played many USSSA events, there was the possibility of being moved from B to Open, in order to help fill the Open divisions. Could make for a really long week for a lower level B team.

 

[NJZoo]

Where are you located? This past Summer, about 80% of the teams in the 12U bracket came from NY, NJ, and PA. Throw in CT, MD, and DE and you're up to about 90%. So yes, it is more of a "regional event" than a true national event. That event has definitely become more of an A and B level tournament rather than a tournament that you would need to qualify for. That said, there were still a lot of great teams there, and the girls always have a good time at the Ocean City boardwalk.

 

[LEsoftballdad]

It's great for 14U and under, but any team showcasing normally doesn't go there. We did it in the summer of 2020 with my daughter's 14U team and had a lot of fun.