Whats after 18U?

[RADcatcher]

I'm familiar with the team she played for. They've been around for a long time. I'm surprised they would let her play, or that the competition would let her play. But, I can tell you this, it's getting harder and harder to find 9 guys who want to play ball these days. Heck, it's getting harder and harder to get anyone to do anything outside!!! When's the last time you drove by a city park and kids were having a pick up game?? So, it's entirely possible the team told their opponents about her being on the team and if they don't like it, they won't have enough players for the game.

To be fair, it probably doesn't hurt that she plays for the mighty Oklahoma team. That may have carried some weight. That said, I doubt there are many pitchers in the league/tournament she played on where pitchers would be under 45-50 yr old. So I doubt the pitching she'd see would be considered too much better than that of some of her college opponents. Still though, I give her mad props for getting out there and playing ball. And even more props for the guys letting her do it.

Why are you surprised they let her play?

 

[_MIA_]

all the time?

Baseball/softball? Nice..I see it at the park during tournaments where little brothers and sisters do it..that’s it.

 

[_MIA_]

To be fair, it probably doesn't hurt that she plays for the mighty Oklahoma team. That may have carried some weight.

Well she transferred from OU after the season

 

[_MIA_]

Why are you surprised they let her play?

She has cooties..

 

[The Man In Blue]

I wish I could figure out why there are amateur baseball leagues for adults but it just seems like women are expected to be done once they get to college if they're not playing for their school.

Yes, leagues exist, but they're not easy to find. And like others have said here, a lot of those 23U leagues are college players, so the woman who just wants to keep playing but may not be at that level probably wouldn't be a fit there.

There's always slow pitch, I guess.

Because the men have several more years of “opportunity” at the professional level. Simply put, more opportunity, more interest, more opportunity. Unfortunately, in the United States, college is the pinnacle of most softball careers. There isn’t much after that, let alone dozens and dozens of amateur/pro leagues feeding into a pro system.

I know the Northwoods League is launching softball.

 

[Hillhouse]

Why are you surprised they let her play?

a few reasons, and don't shoot the messenger!!

1. mostly ego.

2. because women don't invite us to play in their games!

3. ego again.

4. tradition. The world club tournament still uses a WHITE ball!! I think they only have the white ball for 1 or 2 more years, then Worth is discontinuing it all together.

5. I'm guessing there'd be some safety concerns if she was a pitcher, line drives, etc.

6. Needing a female on the team is another reminder of how far the men's game has dropped in participation. Not being able to get 9 able body men is becoming harder and harder. My hometown league folded up after 2018, in a city of 250-300,000 people we couldn't get 18 people to play fastpitch softball on a Tuesday night. The apathy for the game is incredible.

7. Ego.

 

[Hillhouse]

She has cooties..

I'll take your word for this one, I haven't met her.

 

[coachdennis]

My DD and her 18U team are playing her final travel tournament next week.

My daughter will play in college but for players not playing in college, is this the end of their fastpitch journey?

I saw that there's a 23U recreational league for baseball. Do leagues like that exist for fastpitch?

Just curious.

Young

You may be able to go out on social media and look for others looking to form a team. What we had here in SW Ohio was a couple teams made up of college players from JC to DI that played together in 2-4 summer adult events.
There were also teams made up of a mix of college players and ladies not playing in college Now most adult events we played in were generally one day round robin type of play 3-4 games. Most are open roster just show up and play. We do have a 18+ world series in Columbus Ohio that is more of a weekend event but most events take into consideration the adult factor and keep it to a day or two sat/sunday play. Some areas also have women's fastpitch beer leagues you can search for from you area park listings.

 

[Hillhouse]

all the time?

if you live in a neighborhood where kids are still playing ball at parks during the daytime, consider yourself lucky. I don't think you'd find too many others who have the same thing happening. I know my own neighborhood is empty of kids playing any form of ball at a park. Once in a while, I'll see a dad and kid doing some hitting stuff somewhere but, I can't remember the last time I saw a whole bunch of kids playing a pick up game of something the way my generation did.

 

[FP26]

I’m in SE PA - not too far from Philly.

I'm in central PA. DD's team played 23u in 2018 and played in several tournaments between Lancaster, Reading, and Allentown. I still get emails from some of those tournament directors, so I assume they are still running. Some of DD"s college teammates also played in a summer league in the Allentown, PA area.

Overall I found the competition to be pretty good. College players from all types of schools. Some are mostly D3 (our team was a mix of D2 and D3). Some higher than that. The one team we played had several players from Virginia Tech. A couple of the tournaments had a 23u division and a 23+ division. If they didn't get enough teams, they would combine the two divisions. Interesting note... At one tournament one of our pitchers (Junior at a D2 at the time) had the opportunity to pitch against her pitching coach (She was in her mid-30's at the time). Some friendly trash talk going back and forth...