From Ohio... what fastpitch college...??

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• Feb 25, 2009

• #1

I have several years before the oppurtunity for me (my DD's) to explore Colleges with a softball program. I'm hoping both DD's stay interested.

For you players, coaches, and parents that are trying to get exposure, where are you going and what schools are OHIO girls getting a shot at? What's realistic for an "Ohio" player and what is the "pinnacle" that you have a true shot at. I hear and see plenty about southern and western college teams-is it possible for the girls to go there more so now than before or unchanged?

For our family, education first, ball second. Buuuuttt, if the scholarship money is available for a scholastic oppurtunity and a softball 'adder' is possible, where are you going? I know this is a multi-faceted issue but an interesting topic for me to watch and learn.

 

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• Feb 28, 2009

• #2

Someone please provide some insight here.

 

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• Feb 28, 2009

• #3

There is place for every kid to play softball in college, whether it is as a walk-on, or actually getting financial assistance from the athletic department. My suggestion is to have a profile made, video made, play in the right tournaments, play for an organization that has conacts with colleges and one that has a good marketing plan in place, attend camps of colleges, make unofficial visits early in high school. But the facts are, and this strickly up to the parent. Your daughter might get scholarship opportunities, but for the average player, dont expect more than 50% help. So the question begs, do you play for that college and you still have 15k of out of pocket expenses per year or do you go to a state college and only pay $5k or $7k total with no athletic scholarship.

Also, unless your kid throws 63mph or above, you and your dd, have a lot of leg work to do. Do not expect a college to simple walk up and offer. Also, be realistic in you daughters ability. That is the number one issue with parents. Not every Suzie will play for Ohio State. Now, nothing wrong with sending feelers to those schools, but to simply spend all your marketing at that level will probably end up fruitless.

So the question will be brought to you at some point. Do you have your daughter play softball in college, but might have to pay more out of pocket, rather than going to state school for considerably cheaper tuition but will not play softball. That is the decision of the parent. I think most kids that are playing in college, the parents are actually paying more for them to play than they would at another college where they might not play softball. There are a bunch of factors that are involved with this also, school academics, strength of degree, etc.

Also, remember that DI only makes up a small portion of the total softball programs.

DI - Athletic money
DII - Athletic money
DIII - No athletic money
NAIA - Athletic money
NJCAA - Athletic money

 

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• Feb 28, 2009

• #4

Excellent post Akademia. We are debating many of these issues in our household. Our daughter loves the game, is a very good player, but realistically not a D1 candidate. Smaller schools she has some interest in are more costly and the money offered for grades and softball may bring the cost down to that of a D1 state school.

Lester, if you dd's stay interested, we've found an outstanding way to get answers to your questions is to attend softball clinics held by the schools. The younger, the better. You get to see the school, learn about the coaches and the program and also see how your dd looks competitively against other players. Once they get older, another thing we've done is check rosters of schools on-line to see where the players are from and who we may know that we've played against. It isn't a fool proof method, but it does seem to indicate, for us anyway, if a school recruits more locally and the caliber of player they are able to attract.

But, like you, education comes first.

 

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• Feb 28, 2009

• #5

Lester ... very few if any Ohio girls are going to southern or western schools on any kind of softball athletic scholarships. My observation is that the best of the best in Ohio are going to Big 10 or MAC schools, and those rosters also have a fair amount of players from the south or west as well. But if athletic scholarships aren't the main driver, like Akadema said there are many opportunities for girls to play. My daughter went to a Division III school and is having a blast so far still getting a chance to play the game.

 

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• Feb 28, 2009

• #6

Akadema1 nice post, alot of people with kids entering their HS years have no knowledge of what should be done if their dd has the potential to play college ball.

Maybe you and Admin can put some area together on the site to address these issues, make a place for player profiles and vids, give a time line, ACT and clearing house info, just the things that could help, dont know how well it would go over but alot of the people that are searching for information would have some place to go.

Tim

 

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• Feb 28, 2009

• #7

get the book: Preparing to Play softball at the collegiate level by Catharine Aradi.

She walks you through it and also lists all the colleges through-out the USA and has addresses and if they give softball money or not and what division they play in.

You can get the book on the NFCA site.

 

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• Feb 28, 2009

• #8

A............ great post

 

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• Feb 28, 2009

• #9

Hitter1 said:

Lester, if you dd's stay interested, we've found an outstanding way to get answers to your questions is to attend softball clinics held by the schools. The younger, the better. You get to see the school, learn about the coaches and the program and also see how your dd looks competitively against other players. Once they get older, another thing we've done is check rosters of schools on-line to see where the players are from and who we may know that we've played against. It isn't a fool proof method, but it does seem to indicate, for us anyway, if a school recruits more locally and the caliber of player they are able to attract.

But, like you, education comes first.

Click to expand...

thanks for the excellent replies. I'm sure others have this very issue and don't know where to go. I have 6-8 years depending upon which DD is interested but will take your advice on the clinics as we understand our DD interest level. Again, thanks to you all.

 

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• Feb 28, 2009

• #10

This is the roster for OSU. there is a mix of Ohio and other states. It looks very difficult for girls to get D-1 playing time.



14 Bodeker, Lindsay P R/R 5-7 Jr. West Chester, Ohio (Lakota West) 27 Cannon, Cortney OF R/R 5-9 Sr. Hilliard, Ohio (Darby) 32 Caughenbaugh, Kady C R/R 5-4 So. Newark, Ohio (Licking Valley) 21 Cooper, Whitney SS/2B R/R 5-10 Jr. Barstow, Calif. (Barstow) 3 Goodchild, Brittany OF L/L 5-4 So. West Hills, Calif. (El Camino) 44 Haddad, Tory 1B R/R 5-8 Jr. Valparaiso, Fla. (Fort Walton Beach) 24 Herron, Alicia SS R/R 6-0 Fr. Cypress, Calif. (Cypress) 2 Hillman, Dee Dee 2B S/R 5-1 So. Defiance, Oh (Defiance) 4 Ledford, Leah OF R/R 5-7 Jr. West Chester, Ohio (Lakota West) 13 Marder, Sam C R/R 5-7 Jr. Calabasas, Calif. (Calabasas) 8 Medrano, Karisa UT L/R 5-6 So. Albuquerque, N.M. (St. Pius) 55 Miller, Megan P R/R 6-0 Jr. Woodland Hills, Calif. (El Camino Real) 20 Pruner, Courtney P/1B/OF L/L 5-11 Jr. Akron, Ohio (Ellet) 7 Reeder, Kim P R/R 5-10 Sr. Salinas, Calif. (Notre Dame) 9 Schultz, Rebecca UT R/R 5-5 Jr. Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. (Trabuco Hills) 6 Shepherd, Rachael C R/R 5-3 So. West Chester, Ohio (Lakota West) 31 Simonton, Katie UT R/R 5-10 Fr. Dublin, Ohio (Scioto) 18 Spears, Vanessa OF L/L 5-8 Fr. Brea, Calif. (Brea Olinda)

 

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• Feb 28, 2009

• #11

Lots of West Chester in this lineup! Nice to see the local girls there. Thanks for this posting Kyeli2

 

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• Mar 1, 2009

• #12

BD - I would be more than happy to share what I know. (Which might not be very much if you ask my wife..) I am sure there are more that now more, but the biggest thing that parents/player are unprepared for is the legwork involved. It is very time consuming.

One thing that was mentioned that I forgot, is clinics. Go to clinics at schools that your dd might be interested in. Minimal cost, but the return can be great. Many a player has been noticed because of this. Now these clinics are to show certain skills, but make no bones about it, they are looking for talent bottom line.

End the end you will be familiar with SAT, ACT, Clearinghouse, School funded Scholarships, State Funded Scholarships, FASFA, Grants, loans, deadlines, etc.

I personally have not read Cathy's book, but I have heard it is the bible.

 

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Member

• Mar 1, 2009

• #13

I have Catharine Aradi's book to. Things have changed since my playing days and this is a helping your DD play college ball for dummies lol.

I recommend it.

 

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Member

• Mar 1, 2009

• #14

Joe A recommends it You can order the Aradi book from www.nfca.org. Find the publications for sale on that site. It's about $30 or so and well worth ordering.

Joe
__________________
Every day is a good day for softball

 

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Member

• Mar 1, 2009

• #15

Here are some maximum scholarship allowed numbers per division.

NCAA I -- 12 scholarships allowed. There are 262 D-I Softbal schools
NCAA II--7.2 scholarships allowed. There are 253 D-II Softball schools
NJCAA I & II -- 24 total schloarships allowed. Regardless if they are partials or full
grant in aide packages. Approx. 270 softball schools
NAIA -- 10 scholarships allowed. Not sure how many Softball schools.

Not all college have a fully funded softball program and will not award the maximn # of scholarships allowed.

 

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Member

• Mar 1, 2009

• #16

In Ohio alone, there are 12 NCAA I colleges that have softball programs I believe. I counted 10 NAIA Softball programs and 3 NCAA II schools. Roughly 25 colleges in OHIO that award softball scholarships.

 

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• Mar 1, 2009

• #17

There are only 11 Ohio Division 1 schools that offer softball. University of Cincinnati and Xavier are the only ones that do not.

 

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• Mar 1, 2009

• #18

What is nice about NCAA II and NAIA schools is that thay can bring your dd on campus and have them workout. They can have you pitch or go through a series of drills and even have her hit. Unlike NCAA I schools that must rely on watching you play in an actual game. If your dd hasn't had the big time exposure prior to her Senor year or is just a late bloomer ,but still has great skills. NCAA II & NAIA can still come up with softball money to reduce the burden of paying full tuition.

 

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• Mar 1, 2009

• #19

Findlay Ruless!!

 

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• Mar 2, 2009

• #20

There are some very informative posts in this thread. I am both a father of a scholarship softball player and a coach in a major organization on the West Coast. I can tell you that the importance of good grades cannot be overstated. This is a message that should be hammered home while your DD is still young. It's awfully hard to change your study habits once you've become a junior in HS and you've decided you want to play at the collegiate level.
Grades are a great way for a coach to learn about a potential players work habits. As we've read earlier in this thread, there is a limited amount of scholarships to go around in Div. I and II. A player with the potential to receive matching academic money becomes that much more attractive to a program.