ASA Bid questions

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Sorry if this a dumb question but I am new to this.

How many bids are available in Ohio for ASA nationals? I read on the Eteamz board a team from San Diego traveled to Missouri for a bid, so I am guessing they are in high demand.

Can somebody explain the ins and outs to ASA bids.

Thanks for your help!

 

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Go to the ASA web site www.softball.org If you click on tournaments you can follow links to find a section that explains it.

 

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Here is the link to how they determine ASA berths. ?Fastpitch starts on page 9.....

http://downloads.asasoftball.com/tournaments/pdf/2008BerthReport.pdf

 

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You can spend your life trying to figure out the ASA structure and issues such as how bids are awarded. Not that many bids emanate from Ohio. There are two types of qualifiers held in Ohio: those that are restricted to Region 9 teams, which includes West Virginnia but excludes the Cincy Metro area (at least I think that's still right; it's a long story) and those that are open to any ASA sanctioned team in the country. And yes, that means teams from FAR AWAY can come to Ohio for an open qualifier. A few years ago, Shreve, Ohio hosted an open qualifier for 16U and there were teams from California, Washington, and Virginia. This year the Ohio Classics is hosting the open qualifier for 16U and 18U. I just jumped on the Ohio Classics website to see who is attending and it looks like by design invitations only went out to Midwest teams, or maybe Midwest teams became aware of this opportunity earlier than teams from other areas or maybe the rules have changed and only teams in the region can participate in an "open qualifier". OR maybe the teams from far away only go to open qualifiers that have a limited field, thus increasing the odds of poaching (my word and I admit there isn't anything "illegal" about the practice) the berths offered in open qualifiers. The Classics tournament will be attended by some dynamite Ohio teams, so maybe it wasn't worth the expense for California teams to come (although expense is rarely if ever an issue for the top 5-10 teams from California). Perhaps Dave Beckham is willing to share the story with us.

According to another post on OFC (see "ASA Tournaments&quot an Ashland tournament has been designated to have one berth. That tournament is being held on the same weekend as Stingrays, and to date it appears to have a very limited field. I personally think that it would have made more sense to give either the "States" tournaments (which were really the "Region 9" tournament, I think) or the Classics tournaments (for 18U and 16U) another berth.

There are supposed to be 4 berths coming from Ohio/Region 9 (see the document at http://asasoftball.com/tournaments/qualifications.asp , which takes an inordinate amount of time to locate if you are getting on the ASA web site for the first time)

(P.P.S: another way a team could qualify is to win or place second in certain tournaments, sometimes the year before (e.g., Eastern Nationals) and sometimes during the current year (e.g., Hall of Fame Tournament)).

Clear as mud??

 

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ASA berths are very hard to come by - I believe this year that Ohio has a few bids to give:

ASA States - 1
OH classics tourney - 1
ASA regionals in Ashland - 2
Lady Bear Classic - 1

The Classics tournament is open to anyone though so technically an OH team may not even earn the berth there. ?The Lady Lasers Orange traveled to Binghamton, NY earlier this year to try to qualify for ASA/USA nationals and fell just short losing to a top tier California team (the San Diego Legacy Black). ?So, the Cali teams do travel all over to qualify. ?I read on the eteamz board that the American Pastime were going to Missouri, if memory serves me correct, to attempt to qualify, and another one of the big Cali teams were going to SD to qualify. ?When I played this was common practice. ?Maybe now they have more qualifiers so they don't have to travel so much out of their area to try to qualify?? ?just a thought though. ?I'd love to see more berths in Ohio - there are some great teams deserving to go!

 

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Lady Bear Classic is the one that I missed. When and where is/was this tourney? Is it for all age groups? [Does anyone else wonder why it is so hard to get this information? :'()

 

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Lady Bear Classic is this weekend. Only an ASA/USA qualifier for 16u and 18u. Tournament is in Strongsville. 10u, 12u and 14u are qualifiers for ASA Eastern.

 

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It is this coming weekend (same as the Classics tourney). It is an ASA/USA qualifier for 16u and 18u only.

You definitely have to do your homework Cgs. I find it more than frustrating! I spent hours upon hours looking for qualifiers only to find out there are even more that you find out about after the fact. LOL

 

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It is this coming weekend (same as the Classics tourney). ?It is an ASA/USA qualifier for 16u and 18u only.

You definitely have to do your homework Cgs. ?I find it more than frustrating! I spent hours upon hours looking for qualifiers only to find out there are even more that you find out about after the fact. LOL

It's a Region 9 only, I believe, and only at 16U.

 

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Eastlake had a 14u ASA/USA bid this past weekend and I was surprised that there were not more top level teams there.

 

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when looking at the asa natl website I can't find any mention of the 12u ASA natl being played in Montgumery Al. Any idea where to find info on this tourney ? MD

 

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http://www.softball.org/tournaments/current_finals.asp


Look at the very end of the list, some are listed there.
B's Dad

 

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Eastlake had a 14u ASA/USA bid this past weekend and I was surprised that there were not more top level teams there.

I believe that the Eastlake Tourney was for Cleveland Metro teams. I could be wrong.

 

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Still, Cleveland Metro covers a very wide area that host some very talented teams. A few of the teams for example: Ice, Sapphires, Fury, Lightning, Pride, Maddogs, etc.. None of these teams were there and for a change they had decent umps, but just a single ump for pool games. I know attendance as a whole was down for that tournament this year. They were able to play all teams at the Central Park location's six fields.

 

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There is some discussion of the ASA bid question on a couple of different OFC posts. I just put the following up on the "ASA Toledo 18U States" thread and would like to know if General Board readers/posters think I'm way off base (a possibility I'm more than willing to entertain):

"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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You can check the Ohio ASA Website for tournaments: www.ohioasasoftball.org
You may also contact Warren Jones or your District Commissioner which all can be found on the Ohio ASA website for their contact info.

Again, the more teams sanctioned ASA in Ohio will give us more ASA National bids. Get your rec. teams sanctioned, it will help our tournament teams.