Class of 2008 commitments

Congratulations to Maleah. She sounds like a terrific player and one to watch for the future. It's kind of neat to have a connection to Wisconsin. What a beautiful state and the environment at the campus is unbelievable! I hope she packs some Underarmours

 

Congrats! It will be really cold up there, kind of like Franklin?

 

no HS playing

On the Maleah Cousineau girl, hate to see a player forego the HS playing "experience", but a great explanation was given and can understand when it's this type of focus for a goal I suppose.
I know of the fact of west coast and SW players not doing HS ball; instead go to travel clubs exclusively.

Are we starting to see the highest level / top-notch HS-age players dream of playing on TV in college softball with more & more games being televised?
Does that go into recruiting?

How important is playing for a winning team? Wisconsin's doing better, but not exactly top 25 yet.

 

Way to go MALEAH!

Our daughters played TB with Maleah a few years back. This could not have happened to a finer young lady or better family! I remember Maleah's passion for the game and her parent's passion for their daughter's success at whatever she chose she to do..

Congrats to you all from old TB friends; Ronnie, Lisa, Melissa and Kristin Cantrell

 

The Process

Braves has some valid comments, thoughtful questions and sound advice. As for he Cousineaus, I assure you that Troy and Sonya were intimately involved in the decision making process. Their trip to Madison for an unofficial visit was done in a thorough manner. Maleah is one of those special kids who has a degree of maturity beyond her age. She could articulate to me in the ninth grade what her goals were academically and athletically. She carries on a conversation with a depth of thought surprising for a high school age kid. I have enrolled and worked with three exceptional ninth graders in five years of being a college scout. Maleah, Courtney Davis from Erwin and Rebekah Huff from Madison. Through the recruiting process these young women and their parents were methodical and focused. In the end they all made the right decision, with input from their parents, and are today thriving in their respective college settings. Courtney was just named CVAC player-of-the-week as a first baseman atg Erskine and Rebekah is excelling for David Williams as a second baseman at Mars Hill. It is rare that kids so young can navigate the complicated recruiting process so well, but there are those with the intelligence, maturity and family support to pull it off.

 

Impact of TV

To answer East of Raleigh's question regarding the impact of television coverage on high school recruiting, it has not been a topic raised in any of the homes we have visited, nor is it something our scouts from around the country are mentioning or discussing. However, I believe it is only a matter of time. When fast pitch softball begins to draw substantial crowds for the professional league and ESPN, FoxSports and others begin giving softball more and more attention, it will be a factor. For now, though, it is not an issue. Note: Wouldn't it be great for area softball if one of those networks televised a Tarheel/Wolfpack double header? That would be fun.

 

You know nsrtopscout, in this day and age there is no excuse not to be able to make an informed decision. If a player and their parents do not have the time or willingness to do their homework during the recruiting process, there are programs like yours that can help and guide them through that process.

 

Colleges resisting fp teams

There is no doubt that fp softball is growing in popularity. Noting that the coverage this sport gets through ESPN not only during WCWS but more and more through headliner games, ie: AZ vs UCLA etc. and yes UNC VS NCSU would be great. But how are there still colleges such as Clemson, Wake Forest, Miami still resisting having softball programs at all. Especially when these same schools have such a rich history of baseball programs?
Just a thought.

 

Title IX

It's all about Title IX. If a program is in compliance with it, they are borrowing trouble by starting up a softball program. In most cases, doing so would skew their numbers causing the university to also have to add a men's sport and another expense. Since most of these "minor" sports do not generate revenue and are not self-funding as a result, the money has to come from somewhere. Before you can say television contract, though, remember that only the top 125 DI programs in the country get a piece of that big ol' money pie. The others are on their own to stay on the black side of the ledger. While I think that Title IX achieved its objectives such as equalizing facilities and budgets, and especially opportunities, for female athletes and women's college sports, it regretfully happened at the expense of losing some men's sports such as wrestling, swimming and gymnastics at many institutions. The cuts had to be made to make the numbers work and keep from losing Federal funding. That is a stiff price to pay, but there was no viable choice at the time. Today, colleges remain mandated by that Supreme Court ruling in the early 1970's to sustain a strict balance among women's and men's sports.

 

hEY sOFTBALL nUT--- You need to thank all the opponents that Morgan whooped up on without those kids she wouldn't have been seen---LOL !!!

Love ya---- Guru.... Congrats Morgan you deserve it !!!