SSC

You would be correct, that would make her a senior unless she started school late.

I am to lazy to go back and read the whole thread who criticized their daughter? I tend to agree with you, Steve and Patti deserve a lot of credit for what has happens at Ryle, both the good and the bad. They find a way to win every year, of course most people would say they have the most talent. They also have had several girls not play and have one of their better players very unhappy. What kind of drama would they have if they didn't win. Winning solves most problems.

Sure sounds like we are getting many stories on this. What grade is Mckell in? I was thinking she was only a Soph or Junior. That should put her in the 16U class.

Thats awesome, I am glad to hear it. I talked to someone at the sparkler today and they said they didn't see a coach. Glad to hear they were just there at the wrong time. CO and ASA/USa nationals and premier nationals are two of the better weeks of the year for sure.

Softballfan, let me know where your daughter ends up next school year...maybe we can team up and take Ryle down!!

NKU was a D2 school last year!!! So Connor missed the season, I didn't know that...I guess I don't know everything.

Allie Conner is not the starting catcher for NKU, she started 18 of 59 games and had 50 ab's on the season. Most of that came in the first couple weeks of the season while there #1 catcher was recovering from an injury. The #1 ended up starting 41 games. She will be a junior next season. What were the big tourney's they played in? Can't believe parents would tell coaches where to play their kids, but I guess it happens. Its not easy coaching a travel team, I think that is one good reason not to have HS travel ball teams why risk the drama. Don't know what happened but my guess would be that the drama came from both sides here.

Errors happen at all levels, I saw 2 college games this season where both teams combined for 10 or more. One of those games was the UK/Radford game. Seems like the team that can play pitch and catch the best usually wins.

Beverly Bandits ended up not playing in Bloominton this past weekend. If you win a qualifer you can't play in another, Since we are not going to OK City I figured we could turn the birth down. I guess there was some confussion so we just sat out. Went to Chicago instead and practiced 6 hours. How fun!! Girls left for CO today, hopefully they do well.

So why not do it again, almost all their girls are still 16U.

Here is a link to the college coaches that attended the 2011 Louisville Slugger Boulder Independence day tourney last year. It list 382 coaches that signed in from 270 colleges. http://www.bouldersoftball.org/2011_Coaches_Attending.pdf There are 3 tourney's going on in CO this week, I think the list above is just for the coaches that signed into the Boulder tourney which is said to be the best of the 3. Either way I am sure most coaches bounced around between all 3 touney's. I know the Sluggers and the NKY Bandits are going out this week. Hopefully all the girls get some good looks.

Porky I would also like to see this tournament grow but I feel like its past it's prime. Unless a major org takes it over like the Sluggers or the Doom I would say its all but done as far as a college showcase goes. Lawnboy or someone else could answer better than I bc I wasn't there but I would be surprised if any coaches from any level was there.

You can't sign before your senior year you can only verbal before that. I understand what you are saying. I get that most D2, D3, NAIA and juco schools really don't start looking at girls before the summer of their senior years. Most those girls would have to play 18U at that point I would think. I would also agree that most girls won't play D1 ball but there are a lot more girls out there that would have a chance if they played on better teams and did things to put themselfs in front of coaches. We have had several girls in this area this year alone that probably could have went to a higher school or got more money to a school if they would have put them self in a better situation. To go back to the orginal comment about is 16U better than 18U, I would still say no, my daughter is very young for her grade, she is only a couple weeks from being a junior instead of a senior she has been playing in 16u and 18u events for several years now. I would think the compeition is better at 18U, and in all those years I am not sure we have faced a girl that is already in college. That being said we haven't played a game in KY since 13U so things may be different around here.

Sounds like the Xplosion had a nice day, congrats. I heard the Sluggers rolled Saturday and then had to leave for CO. No disrespect to any of the teams but I think the Sluggers are just on another level than the rest of the field.

Depends I guess I would say most 18U teams are better than most 16U teams, We were lucky enough to do well in a Gold tournament this past week that was mainly 18U gold teams. I guess it just depends on which tournaments you play in. Most D1 recruiting is done now a days at the 16U and 14U level but you still see a ton of coaches at the big Gold and Premier tourney's.

You very well may be right, still don't seeing them being challanged to much.

I would say that is correct, most teams just use the name of the area where the team is based out of. There have been a lot of nky kids on OH team and so on.

I am really only familer with the Sluggers, Would be surprised if they didn't win it. A little surpised they didn't play in the 18U division for better compeition.

What about Holy Cross, played St Henry and Dixie about even last year losing both games 1-0, lost in a shoot out to BBHS. And in the District's against NDA probably played them as tough as anybody had for the first half was leading 2-1 going into half time before they put it on them. In districts, regions and the state tourney NDA only gave up 4 goals and HC had 2 of them. HC has a team full of seniors with a lot of experience and 2 of the better players in the area. Not sure they will beat any of the teams you mentioned but should be right there.

Maybe, maybe not. Most good freshman play varsity or at least JV. Their freshmen team could have been filled with 7th and 8th graders and that would be something to look out for.

Dixie made it to the final 8 this year and they are not always strong, St Henry won state 2 years ago they are usually good but not always one of the top 5 in the area. Holy Cross went deep in the state about 10 years ago. NDA and HHS just have been on one heck of a run the 10 years. I would say the winner of the region this year should at least be one of the top 2 or 3 favorites to win the whole thing. And their is a good chance it won't be NDA or HHS.

Brittney is a real nice player, if she can put everything to together she will be a nice college player somewhere. She caught for our cincy Doom team when she was younger and was one of the better catchers in the state of OH through 12U and 13U.

I think that was the name of Ryle's summer team last year. Are they still playing? I haven't heard anything about them. I also heard their daughter is playing for the sluggers.

U16 1. Kentucky Softball Club (paid) 2. Louisville Lady Sluggers (Paid) 3. Renegades, Pittsburg PA (Paid) 4 Kentucky Explosion 5. West Side Thunder (paid) 6. Cincy Magic 16U 7. Columbus Phoenix (paid) 8. EMR 9. OFC Heat (paid) 10. Central Kentucky Slammers (paid) 11. Ohio Hawks (Lauer) 12. Lady Mustangs U18 1. Hot Shots 2. Cincinnati RBI (Paid) 3. Columbus Phoenix (paid) 4. Madco, Richmond, KY 5. Lady Wizards 6. Cincy Static 97 7. Bluegrass Blaze 8. Kentucky Outlaws Field is way down from years past but there are still some real nice teams. Might be worth the trip to check out some ball. It would be nice to see some HS coaches that are not involved in travel ball stop by and check out some games.

I have no idea about her but I would say according to most your posts this season the team underachived.