NC ASA State Tournament

I personally would like to see ASA and all the orther organizations grow to the point where the girls could all play in them and forget about school ball. My daughter played both but would have gladly given up school ball to play travel ball. As a whole the travel ball coaches and teams are MUCH better than high school. Most high school coaches are teachers at their school who have been choosen to coach softball and know very little about the game. At many of the schools if the girls have been playing travel ball for a few years they actually are more knowledgeable than their high school coach. Also in high school ball in 4 months they can only play about 24 games. If they were playing travel ball during that period they would be able to play 3 times that. if the schools want to keep the players they need to start getting coaches outside the school system, and not get english or math teachers who have no clue. Add more games per year and have better facilities. If they don't do this hopefully the trend will be for the girls to move more towards travel ball in the spring

 

great discussion guys and gals.........

but as mentioned earlier,Ladies, when the stage is set, perform!

Noted alot of college coaches in attendance since Thursday in Salisbury(15-20 is my guess) and it met our needs and expectations! World next and close to home.

 

14 & under nc rocker 1st , alexander cubs 2nd smokey mt flames3rd good professional umps all day!!!! we were forced to finish title game in near darkness, not very safe when you think of how the balls jump off the andersons and all the other ones!!! congrats to the rockers!

 

It must be nice to have the money & time to play in all these big tourny's.

 

Wow what a tournament!

Wow what a tournament! I am convinced that the state of North Carolina Fastpitch is alive and well. I would like to congratulate the Lady Blues for winning the tourney. They played well in all phases of the game and are quickly becoming the best “team” in the state. Some young teams also impressed this weekend. The Lightning and the Crushers proved to have well balanced, well coached squads, despite being young. Heck one was even 16 U!!! Great Job!!!!

That leads me to my biggest disappointment of the weekend, the NC Gold representative Cardinals. We heard last week that this team was supposed to be the best. They went to Colorado and faced pitching that was to fast. They came home and faced pitching that was to slow. When is one of the coaches in the dugout going to teach them to hit good pitching? Yes, it may have been an ASA tourney this weekend, but the ball is still yellow and round and the bats are still the same. The only thing that has changed since many of these players succeeded in the high school season is the coaching.

I cannot for the life of me figure out how the team with the best talent and best coaches in the state cannot produce runs. I cannot understand some of the things they are doing. They leave players from a two-time state championship team on the bench while the Forsyth County All- Stars continue to get punished. This type of strategy seemed to hurt one of the best catchers in the state.

I had hoped to watch McKinney behind the plate, this weekend. She can simply take over a game from behind the plate. A rising junior she should have colleges lining up at the door right now for her abilities as a catcher and a hitter. Now she is recovering from an injury caused in part by what I believe comes down to playing out of position.

It seems that the team with players from Wilmington to Mt. Mitchell is turning into nothing more than a team for Mr. Chandler to try to recruit for his new high school next season. This weekend showed the recruiting ability of the Cardinals but it also showed, from a coaching stand point, that the coaches that lost the high school state title can take a team with even better talent and lose the ASA state title.

The Ladies have nothing to be ashamed of; they played their hearts out, however some of the coaches on the team need to quit trying to have try outs for next season’s team now.

In closing what’s this week’s excuse?

 

I will take the Lady Blues coaches over most anyone in the state in travel ball.

 

I think the Lady O's have some excellant excellant young coaches also. This is only their 2nd year but they have some of the best young coaches and have this program headed for great things. My daughter played her first tournament for them this weekend. She really loves playing for them.

As far as the NSA, AAU, USSSA, ASA debate, ASA is where the college coaches go. Proof, last years Cardinal Classic saw over 100 coaches, not just Abby, Elon, Pheiffer, GWU, Queens etc but a lot of major DI and DII schools from several states. Theses coaches do not come to a tournament to see who they can see. They know exactly who they are going to see even before they get there. If someone happens to catch their eye then great but usually that is not the case. That comes directly from several coaches I have talked to over the last several months. My daughter played her first ASA tournament with the O's this weekend and she really saw the difference in ASA vs NSA, AAU etc. Not every girl that plays travel ball wants to get recruited and play college ball but if you do you need to be on a team that plays these types of tournaments, ASA.

 

You have much to learn wildcatpop01

 

Cardinals

Ray Chandler has been a softball icon for years! He has helped build fastpitch in this state to a level where we can compete on the national level, maybe not win the tourney yet but finish in the top 1/3. The Lady Blues hold Ray and his team in very high regard and know that all teams can suffer through a bad weekend or two, no matter how good the team and coaches maybe. Only saw one of the Cardinal games this weekend and the kids seemed to work hard, hustle, just had some tough things go against them. The Crushers and Lightining played some great ball this weekend and let's don't take away from their efforts. The Crushers second baseman maybe the best I have seen this year!
The Blues are proud of our performance, we executed very well and our pitching was outstanding all weekend. We are proud to represent NCASA in Ga in August. Good job, Moni and Adrian! The Cardinals will also be there and hopefully both teams can have a great tournament. I think we both finished in the top 35 teams last year in California.
Coaching sometimes is only as good as the execution!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

McKinny

Mckinny is hurt and is unable to play ,torn ligaments in ankle from stepping into a hole in CO in first practice game.