Salisbury Showcase Tournament Results

what a new ASA youth director named??? :xyzthumbs JO??

 

What???

 

Maybe change of location?????

 

I think also that some college coaches prefer the ASA rules that except for a few exceptions are the same as the NCAA,

 

18U Carolina Cardinals played pretty good

18U Carolina Cardinals, coached by Rick McHone, played six games in the showcase tournament. The team has seven sophmores, one junior, three-four seniors. Well coached team, look for this team to make their mark in the upcoming seasons.

1st game, Cardinals were beat by a very good Carolina Cougar team, 3-2.
Sophmore Courtney Lilly (3rd base), from S. Stokes HS, hit her first over the fence home-run for the Cardinals.

2nd game, Cardinals beat the Mixed Forces, 9-2
3rd game, Cardinals lost to Curve Gold -Bowman, 3-1
4th game, Cardinals beat Randolph Rage, 8-0
5th game, Cardinals lost to Curve Gold - Bowman, 1-0 (last inning).
6th game, Cardinals lost to Charlotte Knights, 2-0

I thought the tournament went very well. It will get bigger and better with time.

 

Curve Gold?

Who is on that team besides Kristen Bowen?

 

MP2 may know some of them??

 

Kristen is a little old to be on this team, however her dad coaches and her younger sister plays, along with several other pretty good "young" players from the Charlotte, Concord, and SC areas. The "team" is working hard and looking to make a name for themselves.

 

Mixed Forces 18U

Mixed Forces played in the 18U division in Salisbury.
This was our 1st showcase and our 1st 18U NSA tourney.
We did see a few college coaches and talked to a couple, but I believe quite a few stayed away because of the weather-(cold and rainy on Sunday) We played fairly well-errors killed us and the time limit didn't help.
Our pitching was good and our hitters did a great job.
Our biggest highlight-Owen High's Mary Beth Conner hit 3 out of the park homeruns. I guess those golf lessons are paying off.

MIXED FORCES: 3 - Charlotte Lady Knights: 5
MIXED FORCES: 4 - Carolina Curve: 3
MIXED FORCES: 2 - Carolina Cardinals: 9
MIXED FORCES: 2 - Carolina Curve: 5
MIXED FORCES: 1 - Carolina Cuve-Bowen: 2
MIXED FORCES: 12 - Lady Hurricanes: 2

 

Fall Talent Search Revisited

I was away this past week but upon returning home it was nice to see the commentary regarding our tournament in Salisbury. Here are some thoughts:

1) There is no question the weather negatively affected the turnout of college coaches. We knew there would be a smaller number on Saturday because of home football games, including Homecoming, and campus visits by recruits. Still, ten came on Saturday out of about 15 that had committed. An additional 15 had committed to attending Sunday, but many have since told me that it was rainy and cold where they lived and doubted the tournament would be played. Our goal was 25 total - fifteen attended.
2) As for the location, it is as central as we can get for the audience we are attempting to draw - college coaches from NC, SC, VA, North Georgia and Eastern TN. We like the facility and often get very good comments about it. The only downside, I believe, is the fourth field being disconnected from the other three. Still, no college coach has ever expressed a concern to me.
3) Regarding the competition, I asked a good number of the coaches to rate the quality of play. Several told me that it was the best tournament they attended all season. We also got good marks from folks regarding the progress we've made the last three years and the direction we are taking the tournament. We talked every college coach in attendance and each one said that they saw good kids there that they plan to recruit.
4) About the rules differences between NSA and ASA, I've yet to have a college coach tell me that he or she decides not to attend a tournament because of those differences. They can still evaluate speed, competitive desire, power and athleticism, regardless of the rules.
5) On recruiting, the comment about coaches coming to tournaments to see players they know about is right, to a point. They are definitely going to first evaluate the kids who they have spent time evaluating on paper and on tape. And, it is true that they seldom discover talent at tournaments, but it does happen. Here's the big difference: college coaches want to get info on kids from reliable sources such as high school coaches (although they have very little time and less money money to promote players, and high school coaches usually only know a handful of college coaches), other college coaches (it is a tight group and they often help one another by passing along the names of good prospects), or services they trust like NSR. For instance, the coaches at the tournament in Salisbury were there because we specifically invited them. After three years of communicating with them regularly, they know that they can trust our recommendations. Simply, college coaches take less seriously info sent to them by parents.

Overall, we were really happy with the quality of the tournament. Three years ago there were 16 teams and five college coaches. We believe that we are moving in the right direction and plan to continue working with Howard and NSA to build a solid tournament.

Thanks to all who attended.