What happened to ASA/USA Gold Nationals?

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marriard

Not lost - just no idea where I am
Oct 2, 2011
4,312
113
Florida
Something to keep in mind though ... how much that is the sanctioning body and how much of that is the local folks? For example, my main complex has been all USA for a long time. This year they slipped a handful of USSSA tournaments in. Problem is, it is the same local people running it (the complex and the tournament) just as bad no matter what sanctioning body they have that weekend.

Absolutely - a lot is driven by the person running it locally. The PGF director in Florida is everything you could want to be the person running it.
But then a lot is to do with those that the overall org chose to represent them.

Oh and they have the better umps - because he only engages the umpires he wants from the other sanctions. Right now his UIC gets to pick and choose because a) he pays well and b) he treats the umpires well and that took all of 30 minutes for everyone to find out.

BTW, USSSA in Florida is the same. Great,. committed people running it - and for the local/next level travel they dominate across Florida. We are very lucky to have both in this state
 
Jun 12, 2015
3,848
83
It's been interesting to watch how things have changed over the past few years. All the best teams in our age group played USSSA 4 years ago, and USA Elite Select. PGF was nothing. ASA/USA couldn't even make tournaments here. I remember a qualifier we played in that had 4 teams once. Now, all the B teams play USSSA (they say they're playing A because the tournaments are called A, but none of the real A teams around here play them anymore for the most part, so it's actually a bunch of B teams playing in a tournament labelled A). And the A teams are moving to PGF, at least in our age group (just finished 12U). I've heard that the older teams are playing USA more, 14U+. There are so many national tournaments now too. It almost seems like PGF in CA is the only one that means anything anymore.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
Here in Oklahoma it is mostly USSSA at the younger ages (12U and below). Once they hit 14's (maybe 12's for a few teams), the best teams try to qualify for PGF (or qualify for Premier if they have a platinum birth already) but have to travel to do it..I don't think there was a single PGF tournament in Oklahoma this spring. Glancing at the team listings, there are no 12U teams from OK in PGF Nationals, 3 (Premier) in 14U, 4 in 16U (3 Premier and 1 Platinum) and 3 in 18U (2 in Premier, 1 in Platinum). There are very few sanctioned tournaments in Oklahoma which are not USSSA for any age group.
 
Last edited:
Jul 16, 2008
1,520
48
Oregon
Now as far as I can tell, it appears that USA Softball has teamed up with Triple Crown. It's now TC/USA Nationals.... hmmmmm
 
May 24, 2013
12,461
113
So Cal
It almost seems like PGF in CA is the only one that means anything anymore.

TCS puts on a lot of events in So Cal that get a very strong showing by good teams, and their events are generally really well run. That said, PGF Nationals is still everyone's ultimate goal.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
TCS puts on a lot of events in So Cal that get a very strong showing by good teams, and their events are generally really well run. That said, PGF Nationals is still everyone's ultimate goal.
Personally I think that having 1 tournament which everybody knows has the best competition is a good idea. It gives teams something to shoot for and there is a clear path to get there. Doesn't mean that other orgs shouldn't exist and that all teams should be run with PGF Nationals as a goal.
 
Oct 21, 2016
189
28
Very interesting to hear how this all works in different parts of the county. There is no PGF presence in the Pacific NW. USA pretty much has the biggest tournaments with the best teams followed by USSSA and NSA. USSSA tournaments are generally a bit soft with lots of B teams masquerading as A teams as another poster mentioned, and NSA tournaments tend to attract a lot of teams in the 10U-14U ages but not much 16U-18U. Starting to see more and more teams from this area traveling to PGF tournaments in other parts of the country.
 

marriard

Not lost - just no idea where I am
Oct 2, 2011
4,312
113
Florida
Personally I think that having 1 tournament which everybody knows has the best competition is a good idea. It gives teams something to shoot for and there is a clear path to get there. Doesn't mean that other orgs shouldn't exist and that all teams should be run with PGF Nationals as a goal.

The problem with the old ASA 'one national's was that it was totally an 'old boys club' and you don't to be part of it.

That is part of why PGF exists. Although a major part of it was also an 'old boys club' inner fight.

I honestly don't care who the national champ is at 14U or 16u or 8u because it is impossible to tell. Some teams don't want to travel to where ever. The game is bigger and wider -there are good teams from everywhere - not just California and a couple of other places any more.

I like all the 'nationals' - you can pick and choose somewhere that fits in with your team. It is just a bigger tourney to finish off your season and you get to play teams you haven't seen before. It is MUCH better than when it was just ASA/USA nationals.

We happen to be at TCS East this week - 87 teams in 16U from 32 states. We are good with that. We could have gone to PGF Nationals - we had an invite if we wanted it - but we didn't want to - doesn't fit in with our budgets to go to Cali. And we didn't try to qualify for ASA/USA for reasons I explained (i.e. ASA/USA is poor here).
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
I like all the 'nationals' - you can pick and choose somewhere that fits in with your team. It is just a bigger tourney to finish off your season and you get to play teams you haven't seen before. It is MUCH better than when it was just ASA/USA nationals.

We happen to be at TCS East this week - 87 teams in 16U from 32 states. We are good with that. We could have gone to PGF Nationals - we had an invite if we wanted it - but we didn't want to - doesn't fit in with our budgets to go to Cali. And we didn't try to qualify for ASA/USA for reasons I explained (i.e. ASA/USA is poor here).
This falls under:

Doesn't mean that other orgs shouldn't exist and that all teams should be run with PGF Nationals as a goal.
 
May 24, 2013
12,461
113
So Cal
Very interesting to hear how this all works in different parts of the county. There is no PGF presence in the Pacific NW. USA pretty much has the biggest tournaments with the best teams followed by USSSA and NSA. USSSA tournaments are generally a bit soft with lots of B teams masquerading as A teams as another poster mentioned, and NSA tournaments tend to attract a lot of teams in the 10U-14U ages but not much 16U-18U. Starting to see more and more teams from this area traveling to PGF tournaments in other parts of the country.

There was a PGF National Qualifier in Portland this year.
 

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