NCAA softball still dominated by regions

High profile

WARD... High profile D1 pitcher leaves NC for Tenn to pitch. As Dukedog says now that she was no longer going to be pitching at Tenn. A move to V Tech for mound time could come back to haunt Tenn if they play at a later date. Should Ward have stayed in state? As people on this thread have said that in state coaches should try to keep the top players in state. Yes I agree. I believe that the top 10-20-30 players in HS softball in NC should stay at home at the D1 schools here. Thats the D1 coaches and players responsibility to communicate with each other.....

 

Ward's career at VT is over

She never made a meaningful contribution in the circle there. She was a regular in the OF and a mid-200's hitter. Ashton was an NFCA all-regional pitcher as a freshman at ut. I have no idea why she fell out of favor with the Weekly's. I have heard reports that the coaches there really tore her down. There also might have been some injuries.

I'm fairly certain Ward had the opportunity to attend in-state schools but chose not to.

 

how about this angle?

great discussion on this.
You guys have named a few top NC players that went out of State or to SEC or other conf.'s to play. I may miss some, but is it really the case that the top talent in NC is being heavily pursued by a large # of SEC, Big 12, or Pac 10 schools? Where does the age 16-18 talent in NC stack up against other regions? Seems like I read about stats and accomplishments of "top" NC talent then see them sign with mid-major non-ACC schools in this or neighboring States.

another thought: how important really is it to a top talented fastpitch softball player in NC to play at a traditional "softball" school with a legitimate chance of playing annually for a national championship? I would think actually it would not be a high priority; maybe only for a very select few.

 

Two things,

speaking with several oc batbuster parents last summer. in a nutshell, they told me that when my kid was playing volleyball, basketball etc., theirs was playing softball. when my kids' homework was done, she was watching tv, hanging with friends, huntin, fishin, etc., theirs was in the batting cage. the west coast kids play year round. they have the weather for it

I also think that since most of NC is rural (especially compared to OC) the local communities depend on these girls for the other sports. An athlete is an athlete and w/o them those volleyball, basketball teams wouldn't be any good or exist at all. After playing all those sports that doesn't leave alot of time for friends, hunting, or anything else.


On the topic of girls going out of state to play college, maybe it's because they want to excel against the best. There are always people on here bashing kids for not pushing themselves to the limit, now if they push themselves against better teams that's not right either?? Bottom line is the ACC is not as good or deep as the other conferences so why should they go to NC school just because it's a NC school? That plus you factor in the fact some NC schools pass over a NC kid for a west coast kid. it's just been recently where the big NC schools have REALLY pursued our kids. Unfortunately softball is not the cash cow that other sports are, and never will be and the almighty dollar is the be all and end all. Thank goodness for Title IX or else we'd all be arguing about nothing.

 

UNC also has another freshman from NC, Jordan Scarboro, from Wake Forest-Rolesville. Great kid, hard worker, watch what happens.

And don't forget Ashley Bone from Nash Central. Hope to see her getting some pitching time. Also has a good bat.

 

Much of the reality is they have played fastpitch longer out west than here. The gap is closing. Many girls in both places play multiple sports, they just have more facilities and more committment of the communities. Things are changing. When the high school baseball team gets a coach, he typically has some background in the area. Here you still don't know what you are getting for a softball coach. To often they are just adapting their slow pitch back ground to fastpitch.

 

Leaving the state

My DD was one of those kids who left the state to play at a mid-major. Bottom line for her was it was the most attractive combination of $$/facilities/academics available to her. I suspect D Glosson and C Leonard came to the same conclusion. My view is that once you get beyond UNC/State/ECU there is a considerable fall off in NC. ECU focuses it's recruiting in the west and State and UNC recruit nationally. Some girls (like my DD) see college football as part of 'college experience'. Couldn't do that at UNCG/UNCC/UNCW.

 

Glad Meredith didn't get sidetracked by the App State/Michigan thing.

JMU football?

 

National Champions 2004

Meredith made her official visits in Fall 2004. JMU won the FCS national championship that year. They had a much better football team than most of the other places she visited (UNCG, UNCW, College of Charleston )! She cancelled her visit to "Blue Heaven"; but that's another story.

 

I dare say if she had gone to any of the other schools she visited they would be a better team today.