ntinsitee

Man, really sounds like Brossart has the best at every position. I look forward to following them to their state title! They should go undefeated this year! Do they not have a third outfielder...because i'm sure she'd be the third best in the region! Go ponies!

Texasdad and JMU...do your daughters play any other sports competitively?

Ashley Grosser WILL have a break out year for the birds. she's a centerfielder with lightening speed, extremely athletic and will most likely lead off or hit second in a pretty stout birds lineup. expect her to steal several bases as well. she is a junior. Payton Leighty is another one for the birds. she pitches, but I think she told the coaching staff she'd like to focus on outfield. If that's the case, they will have a very solid outfield. she is fast, athletic and has a very good arm. Both girls play competitive summer ball and train for softball year round. (hitting and fielding lessons, etc)

sadly it does

not trying to call the young lady out. Great player. But on that comment, I saw a team over play her to the right and made her go left. She seemed to really struggle with that. I've only seen her once. Can anyone that has seen her multiple times fairly confirm or deny that? Just curious.

Not putting your way down at all. I posted my thoughts and you guys answered. I just don't think your way is the way for everyone or even the majority. A lot of great information, but parents also need this side of it to keep them grounded. Not every Susie is a superstar and when people see success, they feel if they mimic what the success story did, they are guaranteed the same success. (agreed it happens a lot in soccer and even more in the cult of volleyball-false promises) There is a lot of knowlege in "the other side of the story" as well. Obviously, you two and Far Beyond Driven have or will benefit from your way, but that is a very few out of several that will take that route and be successful. Again, I see it all the time where people feel Susie is a superstar and waste time and money. Susie still has to have talent and skill, no matter how hard she works or how much money they pay or what tournaments they choose to play in. If a girl has talent and skill and wants to get exposure she can with a little bit of online research and playing on any select team. In your cases, it sounds like it was your daughter's dream. In many cases, it's mommy and daddy's dream! Yes, the kid may want to play in college, but the parents often think that anything below D1 is a failure. Not all, but a lot because they live through their kids. I just like to keep the reality factor that very few are as fortunate as your daughters and get to pursue their dreams. And others get pushed too hard and its because of the parent and it causes damages instead of good.

As far as the cost to travel to one tournament you're right. Couple dollars more. However, local teams may only go to 1-2 travel events. When you look at it as 1-1, then yea. But when you travel every weekend as an elite club vs me only traveling 1-2, now how much is the difference. Hotel, gas, flights, food (you tend to eat out more when traveling), etc. then your cost is way more than mine and we still have a shot at scholarships and yes, even D1. Not every kid desires the same thing. They all go out and put their time in. Some may work extremely hard, but never get anything out of it. I would say this topic has very few viewers that have the reality of getting a D1 scholarship. My whole point is I see all kinds of people listening to advice of a very few that it worked for. And then they follow that advice, only to find out years later that they wasted a lot of time and money for nothing. There are more stories like that than there are successful d1 stories. I'm saying there are many other options than flying around the country and paying large amounts of money to get a scholarship. It might work for a few, but not the majority. You did it your way, I'll do it mine and the girls will end up in the same place in life 6-8 years from now. Mine will have memories, established relationships, and played in college. All without dragging the family all over the place every weekend and paying the elite costs.

First bolded - if it's their dream to play D1. Second bolded - If you're just talking about a scholarship, I bet your daughter could have received a scholarship (maybe not to Texas) without the entire amount of spend over those same 9 years. If she wanted to go to high D1, then it worked for you. But if it was just a goal to get to play in college and get your schooling paid for, was it necessary to do all that? Third bold...If D1 is important. You can go to school if you are a good athlete, are smart and do your homework on how to get exposure. I just think we shouldn't generalize that just getting a scholarship requires all that time and money and that you must play for one of the elite organizations. Maybe getting a high level D1 does, but not all scholarships. And not even all of D1.

This may or may not be true...depending on who is hiring. If I'm the hiring manager and I played in the band or were into the arts, I could care less if someone played a sport. That wasn't important to me. But I do agree that many have exposure to sports and understand the attributes sports bring to the table. But I would ask this...again, not talking about D1. But let's say your daughter gets her D1 scholly Arizona and mine goes to Georgetown in KY. In 4 years, is one better off than the other? Mine got to play in college, probably got her education paid for, will be able to put it on her resume and has a great chance to make it to Gtown by not spending all that money traveling and training fees. Heck, I know some that played at gtown and NKU by only playing high school ball. My point is, in the same time frame when they are ready to get on with life, they will be in the same place! My daughter will have great memories of growing up playing softball. The memories of "where" won't make a difference. It will be how much fun she had and the relationships she developed along the way. She won't think that it wasn't fun or a success because she never went to Colorado, Geogia and Florida to play. She won't have less relationships or contacts because she played local. So unless your daughter's number one goal is to play D1, then is it worth the chase? You can get the same things (except you may not play D1) by playing on local teams that travel within 2 hours and pay significantly less in money and time. I'm not saying its not fun to travel, but it's also not a nesessity to get recruited. If that's her goal, then I'm all for chasing it with her. I just question if it's really always the daughter's goal to chase D1 scholly's at all cost. Not saying it's not right for you and your daughter. I'm speaking in general.

It may be right for you and your daugther, but how many do the same thing with a very different outcome? Or, how many chase it and spend all the money and then quit when it comes time to play. How many come back after their first year in college and give it up? How many are burned out by the time they are ready to play college? How many are doing it because mommy and daddy want them to? Yes, most kids playing after that age may want to play in college, but most are not talking about D1. They just want to play in college. So if you eliminate D1 for almost all of them, then is it necessary to do all that? Where 2 hours from here?...I'm not talking about clubs. I'm talking about events. You can play on local teams and go to events with plenty of recruiters. We went to a WS in Columbus with a lot of scouts. We also went to a "showcase" up there a little later in the season. I'm saying that if you want to get in front of scouts, you can within 2 hours. Columbus, Indy, Louisville, etc. Do the scouts get drawn to the better teams, yes, but if you do your homework and tell them you'll be there, you can get looks. Again, not trying to go to Arizona.

so let me ask this. i always hear that some kids travel all over the place and pay a huge amount of money to play. is there really value in that? Can't a kid play more local and get the exposure they need for a lot less money? do we let our peceptions get the better of us? If it's the goal of the KID to play at a very high level D1 school, it may make sense to travel all over the country. But is that really the goal of all these kids or is it just to have an opportunity to get their education paid for? would they really just like to get their schooling paid for and play a sport they love while doing it. lets face it, not one of the girls will make a career out playing softball. just not going to happen. it's really about education and making their dreams come true. I would also say that when it comes to education, i would say that several small schools provide just as good or a better education than some of the D1 schools. And, if you spend all your money traveling, paying absorborant fees and training fees, couldn't you have saved that money over the years and just help pay for college? (unless it's really YOUR DAUTHGER'S DREAM to play D1). So if we agree that it's very hard to get a D1 scholarship, if it's about education and you can do that at ANY school, a kid won't ever get paid to play softball and it's very expensive to travel and play at an elite level...is it all worth it? I know some will say the exposure the kid gets from playing at the elite level. some truth to that, but there are plenty of local (within 2 hours) of places to get exposure if you want it. If you are going to some of these huge event, how many looks do you really get? they are big events, but that also means a ton of kids! it's more about marketing yourself in the end and their are 1000's of resources on the internet that can educate you on how to market yourself. So do you really need to spend all that money and travel all that time to get looks? I don't think so.

Wasn't able to make the event, but heard it was a success! Great for them!

So the only person that ranked the pitchers was Porky. He has hoeh 7th. Behind Jonson who isn't pitching and spencer who I just told you became number 2 on the same team behind hoeh. So if my math is correct, that would move hoeh to 5 in his poll. So don't act like its out of the question to think she could arguably be in the top 5. At least one other thinks there is a possibility! I think we all agree on the 4, but I'd like to see who others would say is DEFINITELY better than hoeh...and if you haven't seen her pitch because she plays at Newport....don't bother.

You named 4 for sure and then threw two that she is definitely comparable to, so I'm still thinking she's arguably close! Your message doesn't distinctly sway me to believe she wouldn't be in the running for top 5. And I said definitely in top 10 and arguably in the top 5...which means one could make a case for it! Your case was not too convincing that she's not. put hoeh on nd, Ryle Conner or Boone and tell me she wouldn't get more respect with a better defense behind her. She is the only reason people even half worried about playing Newport. And she hits!!!

Ha ha.

Dude, if you haven't seen her, then you don't know what ur talking about. She played on the same summer team as spencer and is considered that teams number one. So, yes, she's very good and no doubt top ten! And arguably top five in the 9th. I'm disappointed! The way u talk, I thought u knew everything!

Depends on what ur definition if great is. If i throw out the word "elite" does that help downgrade what you think "great" means. If "great" is at the top of ur descriptors, then no she is not great. But if "great" is used in a term to mean a very good 9th region pitcher, than yea, she's great. It's just a descriptive word that I used to agree with him. So the next time you say "man, she is a great kid" ....is she really "GREAT!"? Or just a very good kid?? C'mon dude! Don't get all technical on me!!!

The newport pitcher is great. but not much behind her. But c'mon, you're smarter than that. They went to region because the 36th didn't seed and HHS and NCC played each other in the first round! No seeding this year!!!!! yay! And to say highlands isn't good this year, you lose your street cred. highlands will be good. possibly very good. Look at their schedule. No, they are not traveling too much, but take a look at who they play. The are not running from anyone. The new coach's philosophy is to play the toughest available around you and fill in with the rest. They are playing all the big dogs twice each this year. The first calls were to Conner (3 games against them), Ryle, Boone, ND, St Henry, Dixie (3 games against them), NCC. They also play Brossart, SK, Tates Creek, Nicholas Co, Boyd Co and Garrett Co out of region. I don't think that's too bad for a coach that is just getting his feet wet and has a young team with no seniors. He is challenging the girls and they will be tested come tourney time. can't wait to watch the birds this year........

Trust me "my little pony" the teams listed are very good and very competitive teams you need to get out more! One of the static teams listed has a national championship under their belt. The static is one of the best organizations in all of Oh. The nky naturals are extremely competitve at their age in Ky, and played in two World Series last summer, one in Myrtle beach. A world series is where all the competitive teams from around the country come to compete against each other. And Emr is another Ohio powerhouse. So don't try and down play because in 1978 you won the camp co league. In summer ball these days, it's competitive softball people are talking about, not your church league!! I hope the new coach has your ponies on the schedule this year so you can see the talent first hand!

makes no difference! no chance the regional winner comes from this district anyway. might be a good district tournament because they are all the same. regional teams with a chance, ND, HC, highlands

Ah...you're right.

Yuck! Well that explains it. I just keep hearing that numbers are down (which I believe), but didn't want to believe it's that bad at even the big schools!

Here's the Birds! Shelby Graybill HHS, Cincy Static, 9th Brennah Dutcher HHS, Cincy Static, 9th Bailey Spencer HHS, NKY Naturals, 9th Haley Coffey HHS, NKY Natural, 9th Whitney Quillen HHS, NKY Naturals, 10th Peyton Leighty HHS, NKY Naturals, 10th Kendell Turner HHS, Cincy Static, 11th Ashley Grosser HHS, Cincy Static, 11th

highlands will be good as long as JB has the reigns! looks like other sports can survive at highlands! baseball and softball coming alive!