Florence Showcase

Shade/playing times

I was just thinking of the fact that on the upper fields, they have the small areas that have the covered tables, granted they are not a lot, but they are better than the none that were available on the lower fields. As for playing times, I totally agree about not having large amounts of down time, it sucks when you have to just sit all day. BUTT, we were stuck with 8AM games both days, so oh well.

 

marketable teams..

...refers to ALL the teams in a pool. Your team is definitely one in that category.

 

This is why several of the older players on the 18-U Blues Gold team wanted to travel and play in the Gold tournaments. They were TIRED of playing against the same teams most of the summer.

 

Travelling too

yeah, we have spent the majority of the summer out of state also. Just seems a shame to have to do this not to end up playing the same teams over and over when there are sooo many around.

MD

 

Games

We had 8am games both days and had a 5:30 game on saturday but that is tournament ball. I do not see a great deal of differences than when we were playing NSA, USSSA, etc. when the Blues first began. We spent all weekend at the fields and we still spend all weekend at the fields. Major difference, we are hopefully getting the kids exposure and college assistance for our time and not just a trophy for our shelves.
Sounds like U guys played very well.

 

HOT?

I think it would have been hot anywhere, upper or lower fields, and I agree you can't make scouts come, I think overall it was a good tournament, as far as being there all day, we have been at regular nsa, ussa, tournaments and played early and not play again until late that evening, I'm not saying it was perfect but which ones are? One thing I will say is I think they could maybe get some younger umps, we had one that could hardly walk. looked to be about 75

 

Not an optical illusion...

Mama Duck,

The ball may never be found, but hopefully this will serve as a souvenir for the Lady Lightning player that hit this monster home run.

Rich Davis

 

As someone who spent equal amounts of time on the upper and lower fields (had one at each) i can tell you for a fact i saw as many college coaches on the lower fields as on the upper. saw three watching the denver dazzle/attitude game and the Plemmon's attitude was getting alot of attention. an observation as far as fields go is this. It's that way at every showcase. If you look at the teams on the upper fields, it was the out of state teams and the LONG established teams. Teams like the Lady Blues, the Cardinals, the triangle lighting, Cape fear, Fuquay, etc. have been playing in these tourneys for years. Can't expect to be playing in showcases a year or two and have no younger teams and be put on the good fields with all "the big dogs". If the talent is there the coaches will find it no matter what field you play on. seen coaches walk to fields on the other end of walnut creek to watch one kid. as far as # of coaches i think the new quiet period for D1 schools this time of year really hurt that and will hurt alot of fall exposure tournies. jmho and what i saw for the weekend. sammie

 

A different take on the situation

As one of teams that gets dumped into the so called "Good Ole Boy" category, I would like to remind those teams that want to whine about where they are placed in these tournmaments: Most of these showcase tournaments have a pretty long waiting list to get in. If you don't want to pay the dues that we have paid, play somwhere else. I spent several years on the lower fields and brought our level of play up to the level that got us on the so called upper fields. Unfortunately, as in most aspects of life, we all just want what we want handed to us without working at it. JMO

 

hey just wanted to say thanks to LDFRDGUY i enjoyed this weekend very much. i have heard that many hr were hit this weekend but i think we all know what really matters at the end of the day is how the team did as a whole!

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