ASA Tournament 2011 gapss date change - july 15-17

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I may have missed it before, but out of the 75+ 16U/18U app how many teams are they taking??

 

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10u - 7 teams - 12 total spots
12u - 7 teams - 12 total spots 14u - 22 teams - 21 total spots
16u/18u - 62 teams - 50 total spots

 

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16u/18u Teams participating in the 2011 GAPSS Tournament.

16u/18u Teams

All American Road Runners - Ralston All American Road Runners - Stroup Buckeye Heat - Haas Buckeye Heat - Hykes Buckeye Heat - Mason Bustos Ultimates 94 Championship Fastpitch Cincy Doom 95 Cincy Doom 96 Cincy Doom Gold Cincy Doom North Cincy Static Cincy Storm Compuware EMR 94 Explosive Fastpitch 16U White Heart Of Ohio Explosion Lady Lasers Black Lady Lasers Gold Lady Lasers Silver Lady Lasers White Lake Erie Waves Marion Diamonds 94 MC Madness Black - Saunders MC Madness Black - Podomore Miami Valley Xpress Miamsburg Sting Michigan Batbusters Elite OFC Heat Orange 18U Ohio Classics Black Ohio Classics Ohio Elite Ohio Hawks - Bower Ohio Hawks 94 - Jacobs Ohio Ice Black Ohio Outlaws Ohio Stingrays - Jensen Ohio Stingrays - Wiley Ohio Swarm Pittsburgh Power Softball - Barefoot Pittsburgh Power Softball - Becker Pittsburgh Power Softball - Matetic Pittsburgh Power Softball - Smith Southern Ohio Cyclones 16U Southern Ohio Cyclones 18U Steel City Cyclones Venom Washington Wildfire 18U West Penn Gems West Virginia Dusters

 

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On behalf of my 18u Ohio Hawks team, thank you for letting us participate in your tourney.

 

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Wow. That list should draw really good attendance by college coaches. Triplethreat, buddy, check out those teams (and you know I luv ya)!

 

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now this is going to be a great tourny.....hope the rain stays away this year!!!

 

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Wow! that has got to be one of the best tournament lineups Ive seen for sometime. I'd say the date change worked out for ya.. nice draw.. nice draw

 

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OUTLAWS look forward to a GREAT weekend

 

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With all due credit to the teams selected, I want to offer a contrary opinion to the GAPSS selection process for the 16U/18U field.

The 50 teams on the list only represent a total of 32 travel organizations. Three organizations have 4 teams in the field, one organization has 3 teams, and six organizations have two teams.

The teams with multiple entrants are among some of the highest quality organizations in Central Ohio - and I take nothing away from their ability to play and compete at that level.

But I do know that teams not selected were competitive, and had college showcase players on their rosters. My DD's decision to play in college won't hinge on her playing at GAPSS, but I am disappointed that the selection went the way it did.

As the time approaches for my DD to graduate, I am getting more and more cynical toward the whole "college showcase" format. It is holding the same weight as "fat free" and "low sodium" in terms of advertising. It feels that the showcase is much more about the organization's prestige, and less about truly showcasing potential college athletes.

My closing thought - I have great respect for the Stingrays Showcase, although my daughter's teams have never played there. It delivers on its promises of showcase play.

I don't like the elitist spin of selection - but the Stingrays generally worked to limit the selection to one team for each age group from any organization. That was a plus.

GAPSS used to be the Ellis Island of great tournaments - it took all comers without regard to their background - up to the spaces that were available. I loved GAPSS when it was that way. Now it has become a private club, and in the long run I believe that will hurt it.

 

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A lot of great teams for sure, and a very quality field. I have no doubt that the GAPSS folks did the best they could and I am sure I could not have done better. With that being said, being a team that had to withdraw because of the date change of the tournament, I look forward to playing many of the teams that were selected in other tournaments.

 

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sideliner:

Over the years I've developed a high respect for your opinions, but this time I can't agree with your argument. GAPSS is combining the 16U and 18U age groups and I therefore don't think it is at all surprising that some of the organizations have more than one team in attendance. And even without such a combination, I don't think the claim that organizations should be restricted to only one team is justified.

I think that it is really important to acknowledge what goes into an application to a Stingrays, GAPSS, or other Showcase tournament. As the initial drafter of these applications for Buckeye Heat 95 over the past few years (final say going to the Head Coach, though of course it's a fairly quick process of finding out whether he agrees and, if not, what changes should be made; sad to say his lawyer doesn't get the tie-breaking vote ), I can tell you that we include a LOT of detail in our applications. We identify the schedule from our previous year, the important wins (and believe it or not, the important losses) that we had during that year, the particular attributes of our roster (the word "lefty" appears several times in our discussions of both our offense and defense, and references to improved speed are also highlighted), the improvements that we think we made through the tryout results, any significant interest from respected college programs that our players have received, any individual awards they have received, the experience and training of the coaches, etc. etc. We assume that our sister Buckeye Heat teams and the non-Buckeye Heat organizations whose teams get into Stingrays or who get multiple teams into GAPSS and other showcases are providing the same type of detailed information.

SO, if the application information establishes a team as one that should be accepted over another team from a different organization, why should the TD decide to refuse acceptance on the grounds that there are too many teams from one organization? What does multiple teams from one organization have to do with the quality of the application of any particular team?

In fact, I was very disappointed when Stingrays went towards the policy of only accepting one team from one organization for each age group. I'll tell you flat out: if multiple teams from the Lasers, Cincy Doom, Classics, Ohio Ice, heck you name the organization (and I don't include Stingrays here simply because for obvious and totally justified reasons all the Stingrays teams are accepted into the Stingrays tourney) have a better application than ours, those teams should all get in before us. To sacrifice better qualified teams in the name of allowing lesser qualified teams from other organizations to be in the tournament strikes me as endangering the confidence of college coaches that they will be seeing the best teams/talent at the tourney.

JMHO.

 

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Well said CGS, I agree.

I will add my DD does not play for one of those org's. A TEAM should be judged on their merits and not be penalized because of the org they belong to. Makes no sense at all.

 

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The 50 teams on the list only represent a total of 32 travel organizations.

That is only 1.5 teams per organization, which does not seem like a bad ratio to me, especially when you consider there are four years worth of teams in the combined 16/18U age group.

 

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I think that the TD did a nice job. Can't ever make everyone happy. I think you should allow 10 teams in from one organization if they are the best 10 in the state. Look forward to the games!

Coach Murph

 

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For all you Facebook users, we just set up a GAPSS tournament page. Search for GAPSS (or Great American Premier Softball Showcase) and become a fan and keep track of activities leading up and during the tournament.

 

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My disappointment lies in there are 4 Pitt Power teams in 16U/18U, along with Steel City, West Penn and West Virginia teams entered. Not that they aren't quality teams. 7 spots that could have been used to promote our own - OHIO teams, and more importantly, give our OHIO players the opportunity to be scouted by OHIO college coaches.

Again, you can't please everybody. True. And those not chosen may complain and everyone can say it is sour grapes. True. Someone has to be left out. True. This is a opinion forum. True. This is JMHO.

First, I am in no way connected to GAPSS. I have been fortunate enough to be able to help coordinate a Showcase tournament for several years. So, that and 50 cents still won't buy you a cup of coffee but.....

Seriously though, I respect your opinion and I probably won't change your opinion but the purpose of a true showcase is to draw as many college coaches as possible. If a showcase only accepts teams from a restricted geographical area, then the number of college coaches will also be limited. To increase the number of college coaches, showcases invite teams from surrounding states or greater in an attempt to pull-in the college coaches that are following girls on those teams. The end-result is that our Ohio girls have a new set of eyes looking at them and the girls from out-of-state also have a new set of eyes looking at them. Win-Win for the girls in the showcase.

There are some Ohio Showcases and tournaments that attract just mainly Ohio coaches. ASA States and the ASA/USA National Qualifier are probably at the top of that list. These are 2 tournaments that are open to any Ohio ASA team. Loudonville is another Showcase that is up there.

 

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Well said Bill...Mike and staff have done a fine job over the years! My suggestions to those complaining is to simply step up and consistently play/place high at ASA States and other tourneys where the best teams are playing. Another suggestion is to schedule Friendly's against the top teams...do well against them...develope a relationship with these teams and then use them as a reference for your team.

 

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Just got word last night that the Venom 10u team will be taking one of the OPEN SPOTS. 2 OPEN SPOTS left at 10u.

 

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Last year 2 doom 14u age group teams finished in the top 1/3 nationally amongst 150 teams --how could you tell a team that good (that DRAWS the college coach's) SORRY , we only want one of you. That would be nuts. IMO MD

 

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Does one organization really put out 36 quality, D1 caliber players?? And in the same line of thinking, all from the same general vicinity?? (i.e., Toledo area, Cincinnati area and Columbus area etc.)

First, if there is a team out there who has 12-13 D1 caliber players and who got rejected, they have a legitimate gripe, either with the person who wrote the team application or with the selection process. I suspect however, that such a team doesn't exist. And second, since the Buckeye Heat organization has three teams in the 16-18 group, let me point out that IMHO the best of the three teams is from Toledo and has virtually no geographical cross-over with the Columbus-based teams who also have important players from the Cincinnati and other areas. And I know that the Doom and Laser organizations have teams "based" throughout the state.

I acknowledge that on the margins some tough decisions were probably made and some very good teams probably were not invited. But I think the "good old boy" charge is a bit much. Could it be (and I say this as a woman) that the teams who were invited played really tough schedules last summer, had really good results, and wrote informative applications? Is it really necessary to insult those teams by implying that they were accepted based on being a part of the good old boy network instead of their hard work and talent? I know, I know, each of you criticizing the results has said that the teams that got in deserved it; but really, your arguments about how other teams should have been invited can't stand without a presumption, made explicit in the references to the good old boy network, that teams were accepted who didn't deserve to be there. Given the quality of the organizations who got four teams accepted, that presumption strikes me as fueled by an unwarranted hubris.