Lady Lightning Teams Qualified for 2011 PGF National Championship

Won ASA 16U Qualifier

LLG girls won the ASA Central Atlantic Region 16U National Qualifier in Charleston, WV this past weekend. Playing without 4 older girls, this is the same team that qualified for the PGF 18HS National the prior weekend.

 

so they are going to turn down a trip to asa A 16U nationals to go to a high shcool tournament in california? if they do then they are being very badly misguided. every major college in the country will be at asa 16u nationals. ask any coach around. i am glad for those girls they must be really playing some good ball.

 

Our program has two main goals:

1). get girls the best scholarship opportunity available
2). get them ready to be productive as college freshman

As such, our organizational goal each summer is to compete against the best in the country for the National Championship. PGF is not just a "high school" tournament. The elite travel ball organizations in the country created it to compete with ASA and as long they are aligned with PGF, that will be our goal every season.

It's fine to not agree with our approach and in fact, one approach doesn't fit all organizations. However, I think it's inappropriate to call it "very badly misguided". Very few Carolina travel ball programs have ever had a player commit to an SEC school. We have two on our current roster. The current roster has commits to the University of Alabama, Auburn University, NC State, Radford, UNC Charlotte and UNC Greensboro. 3 of those players, Alabama, Auburn and UNCG commits are all 16U eligible.

As for college coaches, we've had the same discussion. I'll guarantee you that the majority of schools will be represented at both events. College coaching staffs have multiple coaches so "they" can be / will be in multiple locations at once.

Best of luck to you and your girls.

 

Here's why. Here's the list of teams who had guaranteed spots in this year's PGF 18HS National Championship. It's a who's who of the nation's elite TB organizations.

So Cal Athletics, Texas Impact, OC Batbusters, Corona Angels, Sorcerer, Georgia Elite, Teamsmith, AZ Killer Bees, So Cal Pumas, Combat Panthers, Texas Glory, Explosion, So Cal Choppers, Cal Cruisers, Wichita Mustangs, NJ Inferno, NJ Intensity, Worth Firecrackers, So Cal Breakers, Illinois Chill, Beverly Bandits, Team Florida, Miami Stingrays, East Cobb Bullets, Texas Magic, Cal Grapettes, AZ Hotshots, CA Lady Magic, Texas Storm, Texas Eclipse, NW Bullets, TC Stars, Irvine Sting, Victory USA,Minors Gold, Gold Coast Hurricanes

 

Wow!! That's hard to beat!!

And they play full 7-inning, undiluted, no time limit softball? To determine the best team in the tournament?

 

HS Federation rules

Except both feet must be on the rubber.(no step back)

They use the HS rules because of the battle that insued between them and the powers at ASA national once they became competitors.

Congratulations to John and The Lady Lightning teams! We wish you the best.

PGF Nationals, like the ASA Nationals, is an awesome experience. Great teams and competiton at that level of play.

 

Hate its come to this

Our team received a good bit of attention from the Premier folks to flee ASA last week. I feel like its the California Word Series with a few teams showing up to pay the bills. This tournament has more than 50 percent west coast teams that wont have the travel costs everyone else does. There are still many top programs that wont be there. We will try and resist this movement until Premier decides to have tournaments on the east coast and not ask everyone to travel to them on a yearly basis. If coaches pull totally from ASA that will change everything and we will do what we have to.

 

A couple of point.

Prior to Premier, ASA held their Gold National in Oklahoma City every year. Not exactly the hot bed of nation's softball talent.....although it sure is hot! Forced everyone to travel there. ASA decide to move it around the county only after PGF formed and this year, ASA is holding it's in San Diego. Why, well, they are trying to entice those west coast teams to play in it since most all of them didn't last year.

PGF is right, IMO. If majority of the best teams are on the west coast, hold it on the west coast. Plus, they have the facilities to hold all their age groups the same week in the same location.

That means the PGF 18HS, 16U, 14U Nationals will be in the same location at the same time with the majority of the elite TB programs playing. Sounds like a perfect storm for college coaches.

Last year, the East Cobb Bullets won the Gold National. A strong team/org, but only the 2nd time in the history of Gold that a team east of the Mississippi won the Gold National. (VA Shamrocks back in the 90s I believe was the other). Sure, ASA has good teams in Gold but it's like the NCAA having a College Football National Championship playoff without the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, PAC 10 while they hold their own national championship playoff.

 

I hope they pick the Raleigh-Durham-Cary area when they come. We've got the facilities. USA Baseball doing well here. Major universities abound.

Imagine a full undiluted fastpitch tournament where the best team can be decided by the players!

The way the Lady Lightning teams have played here and elsewhere may bring some needed attention to our area. Their winning ways have not gone unnoticed. We need to get some other NC teams in there with them.

 

You raise an important point. There's a saying. "a high tide lifts all boats". We all want our individual organizations/teams to do well. That's human nature. But it's even better when everyone can do well. Whether it's the Cardinals/Elite playing well in Colorado, the Lady Blues playing Gold this year, numerous teams qualified for National tournaments, having everyone do well on a national stage provides college coaches around the country with more visibility and respect for the talent in the Carolinas.

We still have a number of talented girls playing for organizations outside of the Carolinas. While I respect their decision, it would be great if they felt that wasn't necessary.

Best of luck to all!