Utrip vs triple crown OKC tourny

[4 girl's dad]

We are in OKC this weekend playing a Utrio tourney. Our fields are junk. We are 10uA but I see a lot of older teams also playing here this weekend. They are playing on baseball fields with actual mounds behind the pitching plate. Our field had the pitching rubber at least 2 feet to the right of the line from home to 2nd. At the same time, another team local to us is here playing a triple crown event are on very nice high school fields.


What is the general consensus of Utrip vs triple crown?

I am certain our team will not be back for this event. Seems like Utrip would want to have happy customers but they really didn't seem to care when told of the issues. And seating and hopirlaity was not good. Our field might have been 160 ft to the fence at the foul poles. Another field here was less than 150 and the ump was basically against the backstop for the 10uB.

 

[CoogansBluff]

We are in OKC this weekend playing a Utrio tourney. Our fields are junk. We are 10uA but I see a lot of older teams also playing here this weekend. They are playing on baseball fields with actual mounds behind the pitching plate. Our field had the pitching rubber at least 2 feet to the right of the line from home to 2nd. At the same time, another team local to us is here playing a triple crown event are on very nice high school fields.


What is the general consensus of Utrip vs triple crown?

I am certain our team will not be back for this event. Seems like Utrip would want to have happy customers but they really didn't seem to care when told of the issues. And seating and hopirlaity was not good. Our field might have been 160 ft to the fence at the foul poles. Another field here was less than 150 and the ump was basically against the backstop for the 10uB.

Depends on what area of the country you're in. I've lived and coached in Georgia and North Carolina, and I've gone to the USSSA World Series in Orlando, and my experiences with USSSA have been largely good. Doesn't sound so great in OKC right now if mounds are present in the infield.

 

[canyonjoe]

We have a few Triple Crown events here and they are always well run. The do play on the same fields we play some other tournaments on, but they prep them
very well.

 

[junkball]

We are in OKC this weekend playing a Utrio tourney. Our fields are junk. We are 10uA but I see a lot of older teams also playing here this weekend. They are playing on baseball fields with actual mounds behind the pitching plate. Our field had the pitching rubber at least 2 feet to the right of the line from home to 2nd. At the same time, another team local to us is here playing a triple crown event are on very nice high school fields.


What is the general consensus of Utrip vs triple crown?

I am certain our team will not be back for this event. Seems like Utrip would want to have happy customers but they really didn't seem to care when told of the issues. And seating and hopirlaity was not good. Our field might have been 160 ft to the fence at the foul poles. Another field here was less than 150 and the ump was basically against the backstop for the 10uB.

Someone posted on FB about how bad the USSSA event was there this week, got stuck on a baseball field, lights being out on poles, etc. Also we have some friends playing in the Triple Crown event this week and complaining too. They played one game on a football field.

Money grabbing going on trying to piggy back on WCWS.

 

[4KidsDad]

We played in a U-trip this past weekend--Washington State.

Fields were horrible. One ump per game--each ump worked 5 consecutive games. I was actually impressed as they did ok give the conditions. Tourney fee was only slightly less than other tourneys with two umps and much better fields.

We played 14u at these horrible fields while the 10/12's played at much nicer fields. Not prejudiced against age brackets, but the assumption is the higher ages are more "senior" so should receive better conditions.

Having said all this. . . I haven't been that impressed with NSA or ASA tourneys this year, either.

 

[jbrannum02]

We are in OKC this weekend playing a Utrio tourney. Our fields are junk. We are 10uA but I see a lot of older teams also playing here this weekend. They are playing on baseball fields with actual mounds behind the pitching plate. Our field had the pitching rubber at least 2 feet to the right of the line from home to 2nd. At the same time, another team local to us is here playing a triple crown event are on very nice high school fields.


What is the general consensus of Utrip vs triple crown?

I am certain our team will not be back for this event. Seems like Utrip would want to have happy customers but they really didn't seem to care when told of the issues. And seating and hopirlaity was not good. Our field might have been 160 ft to the fence at the foul poles. Another field here was less than 150 and the ump was basically against the backstop for the 10uB.

You must have been at Davis. I was shocked when I found out they were hosting a big time tournament out there. I'm sorry to hear you had a bad experience.

 

[crystlemc]

In our area, UTrip is considered bottom of the barrel. Only the lowest level TB teams, or the trophy hunters play UTrip around here. But I know in other areas, it's huge, so what do I know? PGF and ASA rule in Ohio/WPA.

 

[CoogansBluff]

There's a difference between running tournaments that are frequented by lower-level teams and running tournaments that are shoddy. In N.C., you've got 5 tournament organizations (NSA, ASA, GotGame, USSSA, TopGun). NSA and ASA get higher-quality teams on average, but I wouldn't say they were better run. I haven't test-driven all 5, but they play in the same facilities. I don't think the quality of management is significantly better or worse in any. If I were to guess, ASA probably has the most events that fail to make and cancel.

 

[junkball]

There's a difference between running tournaments that are frequented by lower-level teams and running tournaments that are shoddy. In N.C., you've got 5 tournament organizations (NSA, ASA, GotGame, USSSA, TopGun). NSA and ASA get higher-quality teams on average, but I wouldn't say they were better run. I haven't test-driven all 5, but they play in the same facilities. I don't think the quality of management is significantly better or worse in any. If I were to guess, ASA probably has the most events that fail to make and cancel.

I think part of the issue about the tournament in the OP's post is that both the USSSA and Triple Crown in OKC this past weekend bill themselves as these big epic events beyond the typical tournament you play most weekends. I know a lot of teams come from far away to play in OKC this weekend with the WCWS being the draw, and for some it is one of their "big" tournaments they go to.

And then to have the facilities be as poor as they are leaves a bad taste in people's mouths and makes a lot of people wonder if these tournament orgs really do it "for the kids" as they like to proclaim, or if it's just a money grab. I know my DD's team was considering going to one of these OKC events next year as we wanted to see the WCWS, but after hearing about the experiences this year I think if we go it'll be strictly to watch the WCWS.


EDIT: We've played in our share of crappy tournaments in USSSA, USFA, ASA, NSA, ISA, etc. But those were usually local or maybe an hour or two away and you learn to stay away from those tournament directors or fields pretty quick. Going 500+ miles like some of these teams to OKC this weekend would tick me off to play on a football field or a 90' baseball field with a pitchers mound in the middle of the field.

 

[marriard]

USSSA tournaments are run best in South Florida (which is sometimes saying something... sometimes not). If anything they are getting bigger and better over time.

ASA is truly awful in terms of organization. But the team quality is usually very good (not necessarily better teams - just that only the good teams enter).

Triple Crown in South Florida is limited to Rising Stars tournaments - they used to be really good, then people realized that certain teams were benefiting and if you were not one of them, you were not, so it isn't as good as it was.

NSA try once a year... so does USFA... but haven't made a dent yet. ISF even gave it a go this year. NSA has presence in North Florida and are generally OK though they don't like to see us 'Southerners' come in and win their tournaments.

PGF is non-existent.

I expect it will stay USSSA for the week-by-week tournaments and ASA for the better quality tournaments - with the possibility that USSSA end up dominating if they continue to invest like they have been and start to concentrate on putting on the Elite/A type events more and more.