ASA 18U States In Toledo

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Attended the ASA 18u states in Toledo this past weekend. Very good competition, 31 teams. One MAJOR disappointment. Out of 31 teams only 1 National Birth at this time. I understand the win it and you don't have to worry concept. But, I believe the final four teams: Sundogs, GrandSlam, Lasers, and Ohio Ice Black are all very deserving teams and would represent Ohio VERY Well. What is ASA thinking. I understand that the ASA 16u States has the same issue between Nightmare and WolfPack. NSA is bigger in Ohio than ASA. Therefore, if ASA wants more of the pie then you would think ASA would offer a few more births at the ASA states. Heck - most of the time the ASA states attendance is very thin. Now that there was a large attendance the births are thin - Go Figure.

Common ASA - do the right thing - the six teams listed above are ALL very deserving

Crichard0906

 

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Who won 18u?

 

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crichard,

Totally agree with you. Last year 5 berths were given with only 20 teams in attendance.
My other complaint is having only one umpire for most of our games. And when two ups were brought in, the field umps were not always certified umpires.
Other than that, it was very well run and the fields were great.

 

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Who won 18u?

Elyria Sundogs over Grand Slam.

 

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If I am not mistaken, last year at 16 & 18 several of the berths were not used even though multiple berths were available. I would assume (gotta be careful there) that Mr. Jones did some lobbying, and politicing for the extra berths, and then had them go unused. Hopefully the top teams that want to compete at ASA will communicate that desire and Mr. Jones will go to bat and succeed in getting some additional berths.

 

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Not sure about 2007, but ASA shows the following berths and their availability for teams from Region 9 and the State of Ohio.


Registration Berths: Total of 4 Berths
Dayton Metro = 1 Berth
Cleveland Metro = 1 Berth
State of Ohio Assoc = 2 Berths

Region #9 Regional Qualifiers: For teams registered in Region 9 only!
2 Berths

Region #9 National Qualifier: For any ASA Team from any Region
1 Berth

Ashland Blaze won the 14u ASA Eastern Nationals Last August and within the requirements for returning players earned an automatic berth for either 16u or 14u. (FYI a great way to earn a berth if you believe you are a year away from being ready for "the Show&quot

This is a total without the Ashland Blaze of 7 berths for Region #9 / State of Ohio, any unfilled berths in the region could be filled by a team that played in a Championship Play event, it is possible in 2007 that berths were not filled and offered at the last event in Region #9 which was the State Tournament which as I understand has historically been a tournament for any team registered in Region #9. Which interestingly enough is the only Region with only 1 state encompassed, so effectively any event in Region#9 with the exception of Metro Tournaments in Cleveland and Dayton would be Region #9 events, this is unique in the whole of ASA, and creates the opportunity for 7 teams from Ohio to attend Nationals, and even more if Ohio teams qualify thru Metro Cincinnati and/or Region #10.

FYI the scuttlebutt is that, State of Ohio may lose their status as a one state region and may be given areas of PA, WV, and NY to include in their region, thus opening up the "monopoly" on those 6 of those 7 berths to a number of other teams. I am confused by the carping about this when for many years many of the Ohio berths have gone unfilled, I am happy to see teams recognizing that in order to be the best they must compete with the best, but does anyone really think that the NSA style of rationing out dozens of berths to just about anyone that wants one will make the ASA stronger? The fact is that the ASA berths available have been assigned to several events, and as such there are a number of opportunities to fight it out to win one of these berths.

We have competed for many years in the ASA world, and I don't think I have ever questioned the "winner takes all" format, even when in one year we traveled to Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to try to earn a berth and finished second behind California teams three times.

I really do understand the frustration on the part of the great teams at these events, but the reality is that several of them had an opportunity to compete last August in the Eastern Zone Nationals and a 1st or 2nd place finish there would have punched their ticket for 2008, my question is, have these great 6 teams attended more than one ASA qualifier? and if not, they put all their eggs in one basket, if they don't get a berth, the ASA is not to blame, there are open ASA NQ's in surrounding states, there are berths largely unfilled to the HOF qualifying events, I am sorry to hear that 6 great teams competed for one berth, I can only hope that this is not their only attempt at that task.

The reality is, I really believe that there are teams in Northern Ohio that can go to the neighboring states and compete for ASA Berths, I just don't see them doing it, and if they are don't hear about it.

 

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CincyStorm

It would appear that the top four 18U finishers at ASA State all still have a good opportunity to go to ASA National: Sundogs have the 1 berth from ASA State, both the #2 finisher Grand Slam and #4 finisher Ohio Ice Black are at the National Qualifier this weekend in Pickerington (1 berth available), and Ice Black and #3 finisher Lady Lasers are at Ashland for the Regional Qualifier (2 berths available).

Not as easy though as you make it sound for an older team to go to multiple qualifiers to get its berth. There are only so many available weekends after the h.s. season is over and how many college showcases should an 18U team pass up (Compuware, Colorado, Stingrays, etc.) to assure itself of getting a berth?

The cynic in me also wonders whether part of the reason only one berth was awarded at ASA State is that Ashland Tourney might only have 2 teams in it (instead of its current whopping 4 teams) if Lasers and Ice Black were awarded berths at ASA State. Also it would be a sad fact if Grand Slam doesn't get its berth in Pickerington this weekend and is forced to decide between pulling out of a showcase tourney to attend the much smaller Ashland tourney the next weekend.

 

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Now that makes no sense at all. ?A state tourney with 30 teams is issued 1 berth and a National Qualifier in Ashland with 4 teams gets 2 berths. ? :

Also, isn't there a National Qualifier this weekend in Strongsville offering 1 berth?

 

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Great tournament!!

 

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I think the Strongsville Tournament, (Lady Bear Classic) may be a Cleveland Metro berth. ?

 

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It is becoming more and more clear to me that there are tourneys with ASA Nationals berths that are not adequately advertised as such. It shouldn't be like pulling teeth to find out the time and place for these tournaments. The Ashland 18U tournament isn't even on the OFC master list (unless I've just blitzed by it just now, which given my eyesight might be a possibility). I don't want to appear cynical, but one has to wonder how and when the ASA decided to award a berth in the Ashland tournament, which is occurring the same weekend as the heavily advertised and attended Classics and Sluggerfest II tournaments. There should be an even playing field with respect to information about qualifiers and the state organization should not have the appearance of favoring particular teams by awarding berths in small tourneys held during a time when most of the quality competition is attending other events.

I think this fall we are going to start sending every ASA official we can find a letter stating that we want to be informed within two weeks of a decision to award berths through any particular tournament. Our girls are only 12U and probably won't be ready to take on an ASA nationals challenge until their second year of 16U (if then), but it looks like we have to start now experimenting with ways to obtain information If Mr Jones went to bat for Ohio and then no one took him up on the berths, that's a shame and I can understand that he might be disappointed. But fairly publicizing berth information at a time when a team is setting up its schedule might go a long way towards resolving the problem of unused berths.

 

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Seems like the 18u Ashland tournament was to be kept quiet???????????????????????