Capital City Showdown or Midwest Showcase at Toledo

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Which would you recomend? We should have a quality 18 U team and are looking for good exposure for our players. Feed back is appreciated. I had one person recomend the Midwest Showcase, does anyone else have any opinions on the two? Thanks in advance.

 

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We have attended both tournaments and here is my opinion.

Capitol City Showdown: This was a decent tournament last year that was effected by some rain (nothing that the TD could have done about that) but it was really more of a solid way to get 8 games in (weather permitting). Not a college showcase but it looked like the competition was decent across the age groups. I would suspect that it gets many of the same teams back from last year as folks give them another chance. The umpiring was good there, and the fields were in good condition (when they were not wet).


Midwest Showcase (Toledo Tune-Up): This is always a nice event and Denny Rose has a good history up there. This will be the first year that the Showcase has been added but I would suspect that Denny and his group will do a good job attracting some coaches there. Of course it is the first year for this and the turnout of coaches is an unknown. However the format with the showcase games etc. would make me think that college coaches would attend. The umiring is always good there and the fields are in very good condition.


Overall both are nice tournaments but if you are really looking for a showcase event then there is no choice, only the Midwest Showcase offers that. Good luck and I hope that this helps.

 

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I was at the Capital City Showdown last year and saw the tournament from two different angles. The first angle was from a team that waited to the last minute to enter the tournament, and their 18U games were scheduled on fields that were way in the back. I am pretty sure it is due to the late entry by the team. We saw two college coaches who happened to wander to the back fields. I am sure this is partially due to players not being able to send college coaches their schedule until the last minute.

At the front fields, there were quite a few college coaches. I was pleased with the turnout for a first-year showcase.

This tournament was set up in somewhat of a showcase format in that the ultimate goal was for the players to be seen by college coaches in game situations with no worries about elimination. It allowed coaches to put players in positions based on what college coaches should see rather than a must-win situation. There was only one championship game--a ninth game between the two teams with the best record.

For a first-year tournament, I was impressed. There are things that I would suggest for improvement, but I think the tournament is on the right track for being a solid college showcase tournament.

 

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Let me add a third choice... the NFCA Recruiting Camp with the Fastpitch Classic in Maumee. The NFCA has been here going on 8-9 years with the SGS and the FAST Wizard Program. Due to scheduling conflicts, we have switched the nfca camp from the Great Lakes Inv. to the Fastpitch Classic which will be in it's 15th year. FAST Wizards will be hosting the NFCA recruiting camp in conjunction with Mark Tooman's tournament. This has been a proven winner for years. See www.nfca.org and www.fastpitchclassic.com for more info.

 

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luvthegame I do not remember the Capitol City Showdown being promoted anywhere as a showcase last year. I may have missed it but I do not think it was promoted that way. I'm glad to hear that some coaches showed up and that may have more to do with players letting coaches know where they would be. Also, why wouldn't a college coach want to see a player in a must win situation? I would think that they would want to see a perspective player perform under as much pressure as possible. There should always be something to play for in a tournament otherwise it should be considered a scrimmage.

 

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I referred to it as a showcase I guess is more because there is a college showcase associated with the tournament. I also know my daughter's team played the tournament as a showcase--8 full games no matter what the outcome. It was more that they could continue playing hard even with a couple of losses because they weren't eliminated. They played hard and saw great competition--eight games worth (minus those canceled from the rain).

Here is the information for the 2009 tournament:

Welcome to the Capital City Showdown!

June 12, 13 and 14, 2009

The Capital City Showdown takes place in the heart of Ohio softball country. With 31 diamonds, Berliner Sports Park boasts the largest softball facility in the United States. 5 miles from downtown Columbus, the park is a short drive to regional activities such as Zoombezi Bay, the Columbus Zoo, COSI and the Ohio State University main campus.

We are proud to host a Paramount College Showcase immediately before the Capital City Showdown. For more information, please contact Paramount directly at 724-746-6859 or paramountscouting@comcast.net.

 

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Were the Paramount Showcase people associated with the tournament last year?

 

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obviously, anything I post is biased. That said, we are really excited about the Midwest College Showcase in conjunction with the Tune-up. Denny Rose is a great tournament director. We already have 19 colleges committed, which according to our advisory committee is outstanding this far in advance. From a coaches perspective, what really excites me is that we are offering BOTH a skills session and showcase games, for only 65.00 per tournament participant. We will have FULL player profiles for the coaches prior to the skills event, AND will have the data from the skills event to them PRIOR to the showcase games. if you need more info, contact magicsgs@bex.net or mark@premiersportingevents.net

 

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Our team met this week to look at our tournament schedule, and we debated the relative merits of the three tournaments that have been mentioned for our schedule.

The Toledo Tune-Up with Midwest College Showcase was an early favorite for the weekend of June 12, but we eventually opted for the Capitol City Showdown. Then, next weekend, we are heading for Toledo to play in the FAST Farley Memorial.

Here was our reasoning.

Being a Central Ohio team, we didn't want to go to Toledo back-to-back weekends. Because the Farley Memorial is the same weekend as Compuware (and the venues are only about 30 miles apart) we felt that we could take advantage of the coaches who would be heading to Compuware, but would stop at Toledo to check out additional games. (We can control that some by having girls send out notes to coaches, letting them know that they will be playing at the Farley.)

My personal opinion is that the Toledo Tune-Up College Showcase is the right way to do a showcase (they will have interested girls play showcase games in "pick-up" teams for the coaches on Thursday). But our thinking boiled down to the fact that any of our girls who wanted to do that could go up for the showcase on Thursday, and be back to play in Columbus on Friday,

Paramount Scouting is at several tournaments in the area this summer. I know that they have good contacts with coaches, but I don't think that them simply being at a tournament doing evaluations is going to keep coaches around for the weekend. Just like Toledo, a girl who wants to be seen needs to let a coach know where they will be playing.

The Capitol City Showdown was a decent event last year, weather aside. Don't let the format confuse you. EVERY game is an elimination game if you want to get your team to that championship game, which is between the best team in each of two pools. There is plenty of pressure for coaches to see girls perform, but also plenty of games for each team.

 

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Yes, I believe Paramount was at Capital City last year as well.

I agree with sideliner. Having the chance to play hard for eight games no matter what the results is an awesome opportunity. The competition last year was strong, and we were watching the results on the board until the end to determine who would win each pool.

The benefit for a player marketing to a college coach is that they have their schedule for the entire weekend in advance to provide to the coach. The coach has eight games to choose from to watch the player with no worries of the player being eliminated in the first couple of games.

 

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sideliner thanks for your thoughts and observations, we would have loved to have you! one clarification though, our showcase and skills session is on SATURDAY not thursday as you mention. We intentionally did sat for several reasons 1. did not want teams to have to come in on a thursday to lower travel expenses 2. saturday morning session and afternoon showcase games with no 16/18u teams playing during the college sessions 3. make our program of skills and showcase games for one low price unique 4. have all 8 fields at that park have 200' fences. Hope that clarifies our format. 5. College coaches had given us input they go to tournament game to be told the kid isn't playing that game or out of position. That they wanted to come in for one day, see many players who are college interested, and wrap it up.

 

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It is obvious you are putting in a lot of effort on this and listening to all who have a stake in the outcome. Great job.