Shout out to all the D3 Softball Players

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• Nov 11, 2009

• #1

I did a little research and if my information is correct there are 873 High Schools in the state of Ohio, both public and private. If we assume that 10% of those schools do not have a softball program. That would leave 786 HS softball programs with lets say 13 girls per Varsity team, that means there are 10218 girls that play HS softball in the state of Ohio. If the number that I saw in the other post is correct there will be approximately 40 girls from the state of Ohio that will sign D1 scholarships in the state of Ohio. That means that 1 out of every 255 softball players in the state will play at the D1 level, approximately 1 in every 20 teams will be represented. The reality is that most will either play D2, NAIA or D3 or not play softball in college at all. In this post I am interested in the girls that PLAN on playing D3 softball and what schools are you looking at or all ready decided to play for.

 

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• Nov 11, 2009

• #2

Great post...and an excellent point. There are a lot of kids that play D3. I bet this post will get a lot of hits in the spring.

 

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• Nov 12, 2009

• #3

I played at Kent State and I say it doesn't matter what school you play for, it is hard to play that level of ball and maintain grades. Hats off to ALL the student athletes who work their butts off both on the field and in the classroom!! I've been there and it is HARD WORK!! Stay away from the chicken sandwiches, I had to do alot of crunches due to those darn chicken sandwiches!!

 

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• Dec 2, 2009

• #4

My daughter (first year 16U) and high school sophomore is very interested in attending a D3 school for at least three reasons: high academic standards, the smaller college environment, and the opportunity to play two sports. (Please understand, I don't mean to suggest that D1 and D2 schools aren't academically rigorous--I teach at a D1 school and would be biting the hand that feeds me, etc., if I felt that way.) I'm all for this. I've met a couple of coaches at Ohio D3 schools and am VERY impressed with them as coaches, teachers, and mentors. It's easy to see that softball is part of a whole rather than the whole in and of itself. I know that playing two varsity sports even at a D3 school is rare, perhaps ultimately not in the cards for my daughter, but it's possible. And for an athlete like her who loves and continues to participate in two sports, I appreciate that D3 schools provide that opportunity.

 

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• Dec 2, 2009

• #5

My daughter couldn't be happier playing at D3 Baldwin-Wallace. I know one of her teammates also plays that sport in the fall where they kick the round ball.

 

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• Dec 2, 2009

• #6

coachjwb said:

My daughter couldn't be happier playing at D3 Baldwin-Wallace. I know one of her teammates also plays that sport in the fall where they kick the round ball.

Click to expand...

Hackie sack(sp) :lmao:

 

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• Dec 2, 2009

• #7

Please keep contributing D3 players. Our dd would like to play in college, and threads like this are pure gold for information and wisdom.

 

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• Dec 3, 2009

• #8

i think the 40 girls playing D1 from ohio is off.. theres alot of D1 schools you dont think of ie Akron U, Kent State, Miami Ohio, Ohio U, Bowling Green, Toledo U and these are just in Ohio, plus many girls may play out of state. But in anycase the number is still very small.

 

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• Dec 3, 2009

• #9

The other thread did include all the MAC schools you referred to Parma, but didn't the other thread say that 40 had signed this year (though not all in Ohio)? If that's the case, I would guess there's about 100 playing D1 altogether somewhere, as the ranks do thin out after the first couple of years.

 

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• Dec 3, 2009

• #10

As a junior in high school, I am keeping an open mind towards all divisions. My brother went the D1 route for baseball and while he managed okay, I know it was a serious challenge. From what I learned the work you need to do is not much different. The challenges in D1 (aside from talent level) come from a longer schedule and usually significantly more travel. My brother was at Saint Louis playing in the Atlantic 10. Each away league series was a flight to the east coast... leaving on Thursday and returning to school after midnight on Sundays. It takes a lot of discipline.

At some point, I will need to take a reality check and figure out exactly what I want and what talent level I feel I can make a decent contribution. Right now, just preparing for the spring.

 

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• Dec 3, 2009

• #11

Oh - and another thing to think about... D1 schools are now penalized for not having players graduate. So first, they will try to bring in players they think can handle the academic workload and play the game. Second, many D1 schools provide excellent academic support for the athletes. Saint Louis had mandatory 2 hour study tables every night for freshmen. They provided tutors if needed for all players (at no cost). I'm not sure you will see as much support at the other divisions. Maybe you do.

I've only visited one D3 school so far and from what I gathered there wasn't any academic support over and above what the non-athlete student receives.

Just some more info to chew on.

 

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• Dec 3, 2009

• #12

Sarah ... yes, the commitment at D1 is significantly more than D2 or D3. Of course that can vary some based on the conference rules, the head coach's philosophy and own personal commitment, and the location of the school (i.e., D3 schools in the south play a longer schedule than the ones in the north). The best thing to do is to go visit the schools that fit your academic needs and geographic preferences, meet with the coaches, and then work with the financial aid offices to understand what the net cost is after academic scholarships, need-based aid, and any athletic moneys at D2 and D3 schools. Good luck to you in that process!

 

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• Dec 3, 2009

• #13

Sarah you bring up a good point, the key is academic achievement. I tell my dd this all the time, you are never going to make a living playing softball get an education. One of the D3 schools that we visited we spent all morning with the softball coach all most 4 hours, I think that we spent the last 15 minutes talking about softball. The rest of the time was spent on education and this school did have a support program for the student athlete. If you can use your softball skills to either pay for or help pay for your college education that's great. But the only way to ensure that you get a college education is to apply yourself academically and take the money that you plan to spend on travel softball and put it into a good 529 plan.

 

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• Dec 7, 2009

• #14

My DD Natalie (class of 2010 Turpin HS in Cincinnati) will be playing for D3 Allegheny College in PA next fall. D3 offered the right balance for her of academics and athletics. She considered about six different programs and all of them appeared to support the student athlete in their academic success. So that wasn't a concern. My main advice to her was to choose the school where she will want to graduate from regardless of softball. Things can happen (injuries, etc...) and if for some reason softball isn't part of her college experience for the entire 4 years will she still be happy there? She spent alot of time evaluating the schools and while the softball program was very important, overall fit at the school was the most important. So visit as many schools as you can and definitely spend the night. You'll learn alot about a school if you spend the night with some of the softball players at the school. Just my two cents!

Michael P.

 

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• Dec 8, 2009

• #15

Currently going thru the process of looking at schools mainly div 1 and 2 for the pure fact of more scholarship money. my understanding is (for example)you may receive a half ride from softball and as long as your sat's and gpa are 3.5 and higher you may also receive academic scholarship money that is not charged against the softball budget. Is this what others have heard. what kind of monies do div 3 give to student athletes since there is no athletic scholarship.

 

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• Dec 8, 2009

• #16

Most of the athletic scholarships that I have heard of are split up and only partial rides are given at the the D1 and D2 level. This amounts to a thousand or two a year. It is unusual to see a true full ride. Usually the details of scholarship offers are a little light.

Ohio & PA has some great D3 schools with significant endowments that are able to offer players a large portion of their tuition with academic money. Even a half ride at these schools can mean 15 to 20 thousand.

Most of these D3 school offer as many if not more Varsity Sports than the D2 and D1, (one school in Ohio has 21 and 25% of the students playing varsity sports) It is important that they have skill players in all these sports. I suspect that your DD player has a higher acceptance rate than her non-playing sister.

 

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• Dec 8, 2009

• #17

good info for my DD to chew on

 

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• Dec 8, 2009

• #18

fairman said:

Most of the athletic scholarships that I have heard of are split up and only partial rides are given at the the D1 and D2 level. This amounts to a thousand or two a year. It is unusual to see a true full ride. Usually the details of scholarship offers are a little light.

Ohio & PA has some great D3 schools with significant endowments that are able to offer players a large portion of their tuition with academic money. Even a half ride at these schools can mean 15 to 20 thousand.

Most of these D3 school offer as many if not more Varsity Sports than the D2 and D1, (one school in Ohio has 21 and 25% of the students playing varsity sports) It is important that they have skill players in all these sports. I suspect that your DD player has a higher acceptance rate than her non-playing sister.

Click to expand...

You are pretty much dead on about scholerships.......... at a recent visit we were told by the coach of a Mid Major D1 that 1/2 of 1 percent of kids that attend college get full rides......... the chance of one happening is about the same as a big foot sighting being verified........ just keep up the hard work ladies........ grades grades grades............. it turns a coaches head as much as softball skills do

Tim

 

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• Dec 8, 2009

• #19

speaking of big foot sightings................ where has Hitter been at latley.sorry for the hijack,,,,,,,,,, back to your regularly scheduled thread.........

 

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• Dec 8, 2009

• #20

Great post Eric!

Your stats always put things in perspective! This is why I have declared you the best Stat Man ever! Sorry Ray

Now if I could just get my DD to buy into it.