Carolina Miners

This weekend at the Copperheads Clinic I was approached by Mrs. England who has a 14 year old daughter that plays baseball. She is in the process of starting a womens baseball team here in the Charlotte area. For those of you who aren't familiar, this is a concept that is catching on around the country. Team USA now has a womens team. I met some of these young women while working a camp for USA Baseball last spring, and let me tell you, they can really play.

She is starting this program from scratch and has some really big plans. After talking with her, I can assure you that this is a well thought out endeavor. However, she is looking for some help in a few different areas. She has started this program with no money, no equipment, etc. She already has this program affiliated with AWBF so any donation is tax-deductible. She is also needing to get the word out to as many young women as possible, as well as looking for coaches. I told her that I would be willing to help her out and I couldn't think of a better place to start. You can check out her website which is still under some construction at www.carolinaminers.com. Also, if you have any questions, you can email Mrs. England at [email protected].

 

As the great game continues to grow....

Put Stretchlon down for sponsoring the fee to their first tournament. Now I wonder if any of my Lady Stars softball girls might be interested in playing. Good luck to Mrs. England and the Miners.

 

Is the game modifide? I know guys. I want to know base distance, mound , led off, steal. Very different from softball rules. Age groups?

 

From what I understand, everything is the same.

 

Is it age group?

 

4-6-3, you know I am not asking this question to be upsetting or rude, but isn't this going to conflict with the ladies that play softball? or can they do both? The reason I am asking this is the struggle the softball girls have had to get recognition for their sport. They are now just starting to gain the attention they deserve, plus softball is an avenue the girls have to gain an athletic scholarship.

If we can help them in anyway...great! But it would be nice to have someone explain what their mission is.

Again, I'm not trying to be argumentative, I am just trying to understand why?

 

I have emailed Mrs. England and ask her to join us to explain this a little better. I really don't know a lot about it other than what she told me on Saturday. I just knew this would be a good place to help her get started. In the meantime, I have copied the misson statement off of her website and copied it to the bottom of this post.


Mission Statement
The Carolina Miners Girls Baseball Program is all about providing opportunities for girls to play baseball with their peers of similar age and gender. Girls playing Little League or high school baseball who want the additional experience of playing in an all girls setting, girls who are playing softball and want to play baseball, or girl’s that want to play baseball but have never been given the opportunity to try are invited to join us.

 

I will be the first to welcome her to the board and if there is anything I can do to help, I will.

But I run a softball forum as well. And those players, parents and coaches take their sport very seriously. They have worked very hard to force softball to become recognized as an important sport and the college talent has been on the rise exponentially with the growth and interest.

As most HS age baseball players are wanting to play at the next level, so do the HS softball players. This lends itself to ask the question, why would an athletic and talented softball player risk the exposure of playing in softball showcase tournaments to play in a start up baseball concept?

I'm not trying to be the killjoy, but I know those softball people pretty well and this will be something they will resist....strongly!

But she is more than welcomed on TBR and she will be treated respectfully.

...and I love pioneers...whether they are ladies, gentleman or athletes at Watauga.

 

Age Group

The age group is 10 and up. My plan is to have local teams for ages 10-12 and ages 13-15. Girls (and women) ages 16 and invited to play on the travel tournament team. If there are enough youger girls interested, we will have a youth travel team for girls ages 10 to 15. There is usually 5-6 tournaments a year around the USA and Canada.

 

Baseball vs. Softball

I have nothing against softball. I have another daughter who plays softball. I have met many girls over the past year that prefer the sport of baseball. Most of them played softball for a number of years prior to finding baseball. Many of them still play softball because they were never given a choice. Many of these girls play on all boys teams and in all boys leagues. They are from all over the country. I just want to give them another choice.

A few girls have been awarded college scholarships to play baseball. Most recently, Molly McKesson, at Christian Brothers University in Tennessee. We now have a National Women's Baseball team. Who knows where this may lead in 10 years or so.