Where the players in the top 25 hail from

[Lobster Birch]

My DDs, soon to be 11 & 9, were having a private hitting lesson last Sunday (their first) and I told the hitting coach about how we had been to see the University Of Washington play a local community college and how badly the Huskies beat up on them. He responded that it wasn't fair for a team of local girls to play a team made up of "all those California girls". He being a recent transplant got my Washington up a little bit. I knew there were a number of California girls on the UW roster, but could the whole team be imports? Well, no, they're not, but 8 out of 18 are from CA with 5 from WA, 2 from OR and 1 apiece from HI, ID and TX.

So, I got to wondering where are the players from the top schools actually from? I did some research and the results are below. This methodology may not be perfect (I used 2015 rosters of last years top 25 with one or two cases where only the 2014 were available) and I don't claim to have the best data entry skills, but this is what I found:

CA 127
TX 63
FL 43
AL 32
LA 27
AZ 25
GA 22
OK 20
VA 19
MO 18
MN 12
IL 10
NE 10
MI 9
TN 9
WA 8
NJ 6
OR 6
KS 5
SC 5
IN 4
IA 4
NM 4
KY 3
NY 3
OH 3
CO 2
HI 2
ID 2
NC 2
Aus 2
DE 1
MD 1
MA 1
MS 1
NV 1
PA 1
Can 1

Almost a 25% of the players from the top 25 schools come from CA.
Players from CA and TX account for a full third.
The top four states CA, TX, FL and AL have produced over half the players on top 25 teams.
3 top teams from last year have no CA players on their 2015 rosters: LA-Lafayette, Texas A&M, James Madison.
I have a new love for Texas A&M; all their players are from TX making my task a little easier.
Teams with the most CA players: UCLA 20, Arizona 13, Arizona St 12, Oregon 11, Tenessee 9, Washington & Notre Dame 8.

 

[JAD]

Thanks for the research! Will be interesting to see how the numbers change over time.

 

[Ajaywill]

Thanks for the research! Will be interesting to see how the numbers change over time.

Just a guess, but the number probably won't change that much, the great majority of the players will still be from California, with significant numbers from other warm weather states where they play year round.

I would also venture to say that if you went back and looked at top 25 rosters over the last 10 - 15 years, you would not see a great deal of difference from what was posted today.

 

[CLM265]

As to your hitting instructors point. On another day UW sure had a tough time against a Division II team made up of 21 Washington players and 1 each from CA and AZ. UW won 2-0 but didn't score until the bottom of the 6th.

I'm just guessing but I think you were sitting a few rows in back of us behind home plate.

 

[riseball]

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog." - Mark Twain

Last weekend my DD's little JUCO took SC to 10 innings. Previously lost to Tennessee 0-3 and Georgia Tech 6-7 after an ill advised pitching change. FSU in two weeks followed by Florida in early November.

 

[SoCal_Dad]

... So, I got to wondering where are the players from the top schools actually from? I did some research and the results are below. This methodology may not be perfect (I used 2015 rosters of last years top 25 with one or two cases where only the 2014 were available) and I don't claim to have the best data entry skills, but this is what I found:
CA 127
TX 63
...

The 2014 numbers came up last May in a spirited discussion - see rank the softball hotbeds in the U.S.. slingnit posted the top states in post #66 and SoAZDad posted all the states represented in post #87. SoAZDad also posted numbers from the 8 WCWS teams in post #82.

Almost a 25% of the players from the top 25 schools come from CA.
Players from CA and TX account for a full third.
The top four states CA, TX, FL and AL have produced over half the players on top 25 teams.
3 top teams from last year have no CA players on their 2015 rosters: LA-Lafayette, Texas A&M, James Madison.
I have a new love for Texas A&M; all their players are from TX making my task a little easier.
Teams with the most CA players: UCLA 20, Arizona 13, Arizona St 12, Oregon 11, Tenessee 9, Washington & Notre Dame 8.

Some interesting observations...

 

[SoCal_Dad]

As to your hitting instructors point. On another day UW sure had a tough time against a Division II team made up of 21 Washington players and 1 each from CA and AZ. UW won 2-0 but didn't score until the bottom of the 6th.

UW losing 5 of their top hitters from last year could have something to do with it. I'm kind of surprised the D-II team didn't score considering UW also lost their 2 pitchers.

 

[MNDad]

Very Interesting! Thanks for sharing.

I would expect over time the percentage of players from upper Midwest to increase. Over the last several years “domes” have become popular and more girls have the opportunity to play year round. We won’t ever produce numbers like CA, but we’ll see a significant increase from the current list.

 

[SoAZDad]

Very Interesting! Thanks for sharing.

I would expect over time the percentage of players from upper Midwest to increase. Over the last several years “domes” have become popular and more girls have the opportunity to play year round. We won’t ever produce numbers like CA, but we’ll see a significant increase from the current list.

I recall an interview of Jessica Mendoza from a couple years back. She opined the power shift from the UCLA / Arizona dynasties are over and other programs around the country are steadily gaining momentum chiefly because NCAA women's sports are getting more money to build better facilities and to recruit. More and more schools are building better facilities that allow their softball players to practice indoors year-round, evening out the advantage once held by the sun belt schools with relatively longer outdoor seasons.

 

[PEPPERS]

View attachment 6648

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog." - Mark Twain

Last weekend my DD's little JUCO took SC to 10 innings. Previously lost to Tennessee 0-3 and Georgia Tech 6-7 after an ill advised pitching change. FSU in two weeks followed by Florida in early November.

That is a tough schedule for a JUCO college, sounds they are doing well!