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I was really looking forward to our trip to Florida last week. Either I'm getting old (very likely) or global warming (highly unlikely) is causing temperatures to drop this winter. The pre-Christmas snow created a pretty backdrop to the usual, though this year more reserved, holiday lighting spectacular in my neighborhood. But after the first day, I would have preferred a little warmth to the dirty slippery stuff. Then it rained and everything pretty much disappeared. Then it got pretty darn cold again. So, I was probably looking forward to a couple days in the Florida sun more than some fairly high quality Rising Stars winter softball showcase games.
It came as news to me that Florida can actually experience sub-freezing temperatures as well as, gasp, snow. I watched the weather before we left. Friday looked OK. Saturday threatened a little rain late in the day. Sunday would be cool. I wasn't worried. Florida always gets a little rain in the afternoon, doesn't it. If we could get 3 of our 4 scheduled Saturday games in, that would be just fine. It could rain a bit and that would be no big deal. And, so what if it was a little chilly on Sunday. 45 is still what we call Indian Summer where I live. I went so far as to pack an extra hoody. I was prepared.
We crammed ourselves into what pass for seats onboard the Spirit Airlines flight to Fort Lauderdale. It was an uneventful flight, if more than a little claustrophobic. We landed, collected our equipment bags, found our rental car easily and got to the hotel in short order. We spent a little time figuring out where the fields were located relative to our accommodations and were pleasantly surprised to see that nothing was more than a half hour away. We found dinner at a chain restaurant, held a team meeting and settled down at the bar while our high schoolers played elevator tag and watched Jersey Shore (a show about low-life New Yorkers) on MTV.
The TV was on near the bar but folks were too loud for me to really follow what was being said on the news. There was something that caught my eye about "if you think this past week was cold, wait for next week." But all I took from that was, after we leave, it is going to get cool here again.
The next morning we had a very reasonably scheduled 9:30 am practice game. Our team played poorly but it was good to be out in the sun and watch some softball for a change. It wasn't quite warm but very pleasant. Our showcase game later in the day was also a softball disaster but the weather was decent and we actually played respectably for an inning or two. We hit the ball. We made some decent plays. We scored some runs. The game was decidedly less embarrassing than our "practice" one. And all was well with the world.
During the evening, the "extreme exposure" games were held and I'll get to them in a minute. The weather was still decent. We visited the main site and bought some tournament sweatshirts. The food there was reasonably good though nothing to write home about. The equipment for sale was enough to keep us occupied before the games. We stood around and chatted then watched the games before going home and hitting the hay.
I awoke about 4:30 the next morning to see what the weather was going to do. We were scheduled for an 8:00 am start and I wanted to advise my kid on what to wear. When I arrived outside the hotel, it did seem pretty cool and the wind was kicking up. But I, not having checked the weather very closely, still held out hope that we would get in 2, maybe 3 before a Florida rainstorm shortened the day. I told my daughter to wear her under-armour and carry the hoody. I grabbed my hoody and down vest as we headed out for the fields about 6:30.
A few raindrops fell and the wind whipped as we approached the complex. Someone noted that they hoped we got in 2 as we huddled in the stands while the girls warmed up. Then the rain got sort of steady and the temperature dropped. By game time, the rain was decidedly steady and cold. I believe someone checked the temperature and found it to be about 40-45.
Nobody really hit the ball that game. I think our team had the only hit. The pitchers had great difficulty getting the ball over and walked a few kids. There were numerous wild pitches and the runners who got to first pretty much all scored. Backstops were deep and sometimes girls got 2 bases on one WP. It reminded me of rec games at 10U rather than showcase games. After 3 + innings of abject misery, umpires on all fields at our complex called rain delays and then rainouts. We went back to the hotel and called the hotline repeatedly to learn if our next games would be held. Finally we learned that everything at our complexes was called for the day and we settled in to watch the NFL playoffs.
The next morning, we were again scheduled to play the early game. We got word that everything was going off as scheduled for us and that we had been granted an exhibition game after our first and only scheduled game Sunday. We were mostly satisfied with this since we had been shortchanged by the weather Saturday. Some wished we had been given yet another game but that was before anybody went outside to check the weather.
As we got outside to head to the fields, the cold bit into our faces and butts. We rushed to our cars to get out of the wind and cold in the hotel parking lot. As car engines warmed up and frost was scrapped from windshields, the readings of our thermometers read an outside temperature in the range of 30-32. Burrrrr! We drove to the fields hoping that temp.s would rise a bit as the sun came out. The rain had stopped. The clouds were breaking up. We thought that if the temps would get up to the previous day's levels, everything would be OK.
While I was standing there along the sidelines, a parent from our team told me she had seen an interesting story on the news the night before. It was a "falling Iguana warning" story. I said, "falling what?" To tell you the truth, I wasn't aware there were Iguanas in Florida!
Just in case you have not heard this before, they do have Iguanas in Florida. They are, of course, cold blood reptiles. When the temperature falls to a certain level, 5 Celcius, their bodies go into a sort of involuntary state of suspended animation - similar to hibernation. Their breathing and circulation slows, extremities and non-vital functions stop working, and, because they live in trees, they have a tendency to fall. I suppose that, given the touristy nature of Florida, the newsies wanted the unaware to be careful around trees so as not to have the bejesus scared out of them. I know I might have been scared to death had some Iguana dropped out of a tree near me.
The parent from our team told me that she and her party had gone out after seeing the news specifically to look for falling Iguanas. They weren't disappointed. In about a two mile stretch, they had seen four on the ground. One was unfortunate enough to have been found by a turkey vulture who busily ate it alive. Ah, such is girls fastpitch softball!
But seriously folks, this story is about softball. For beginners, I want to point out some things I learned during my brief vacation. I had known about Rising Stars showcase for several years. What I did not realize, however, is that of the several of these things they hold each year, the winter one, generally the second week of January, is not a particularly important one. That is not to say there are no college coaches in attendance. There are some, just not a ton. We did not see the numbers we saw in California around Halloween. And that was far lower, I'm told, than the numbers who came to scout the Rising Stars showcase held in mid October.
It occurred to me that Rising Stars ("RS") does not publish coaches expected at each event and rather lists any college that has ever attended one of their showcases precisely because they do not want to call attention to the fact that the winter showcase, for example, is more sparsely attended. This is their business. They want teams to pay and come. They are not being dishonest by claiming more coaches will be there. They are simply just not highlighting the fact that this event draws fewer coaches.
It should have been obvious to me and anyone else that the winter showcase, not falling within the NCAA recruiting window, was likely to be a lesser event. It should also have occurred to me that while the fall showcase is next to impossible for a new team to get into, it was fairly simple to get into the winter show because the biggest name teams are not there.
There are many very highly regarded organizations in attendance at winter RS. About 25 states were represented plus Aruba and, I think, one team from Canada. I wonder what the Aruba kids thought of the weather! The level of play was mostly very good, aside from our team and a few others. Many high level players whose teams were not there arranged to guest with other teams. But we did not see very many of the top 20-50 Gold teams. I understand that many teams were elsewhere for another event. other teams are practicing to get ready for spring qualifiers and the summer showcase circuit.
The umpiring at RS was very good, better than California had been. Teams generally played at the right level for their resumes. The tournament is arranged in twenty something 7-team pools and the teams in each pool played just the teams in their own pool, except for any practice or subsequently arranged exhibition games.
The teams spanned the range of experience from 18U Gold teams down to 14U Pony teams. Most 16U teams played against other 16Us. The 14s played either other 14s or weaker 16U and 18U teams. There were, of course, exceptions, as some teams chose to hide their age by altering their usual name slightly to not highlight the age group they had recently played or would play the next year.
In general, the play was ordinary showcase play in which books and scores are not really kept and in which players are frequently rotated in order to provide opportunities for showcasing their skills. I've mentioned this before but for the sake of those who might have missed it, teams do not usually play to win at these kinds of things. If, for example, a pitcher is throwing a perfect game through her scheduled 3 innings, she is going to come out to make way for pitcher number two regardless of whether the score is 0-0, 1-0 etc. Similarly, a stronger player is going to be pulled in favor of a weaker one merely because that is the way the game is played. Nobody sits so the team can win. That comes as a shock to many but that's just the way it is. Of course there are exceptions but those involve teams which simply just do not understand the way showcase ball is played.
You can easily identify the showcase neophyte parents at RS. They are the ones who treat games the same way they treat travel ball games. They get upset when their kid hits a shot and some very skilled outfielder hauls it in with a great play. They get upset when their team threatens but doesn't score because the "idiot coaches" have that kid in the lineup and she strikes out. They get worked up when the third or fourth pitcher on the other team looses the plate and starts walking kids. They act as if winning and losing actually matters.
By contrast, the parents who understand where they are rarely cheer except for a good play or hit ... by anyone. If some kid gets up and goes yard for the other team, they clap. If some SS on the other team makes an all-star play, they clap hard and yell "nice play!" If their kid drills a pitch and it doesn't find the ground, they are happy because she had a really good at-bat and hit the ball the way she knows how to. If a kid on either team hustles and plays hard, folks are happy for that kid. These games mostly lack the competitive edge we are all accustomed to and that is the way it has to be.
The extreme showcase games are even less competitive. They are perhaps one of the better parts of this tournament. RS has a camp early on Friday before the regular games start. Then everybody plays a regular showcase game. And then, Friday night, they hold the so called "maximum exposure" games. The maximum exposure games generally involve sophomores and juniors arranged into 11 or 12 player teams. They play 6 innings in which 5 or 6 batters, depending on roster size, hit and then switch sides. Everyone is guaranteed 3 innings at their primary position and then they play wherever the team needs a player. It was great fun and the level of play was very good. We saw some wonderful pitching performances, some very good hitting, and outstanding defense even considering the number of kids out of position and the fact that these girls had not worked defensive plays together before. Girls from one showcase team were generally not placed on the same teams.
Everyone seemed to really like the extreme exposure games. In fact, I heard at least one person saying "this is the way showcase should be played." He wondered if it might not be a good idea to arrange an entire showcase using this format.
Most of the kids at RS were sophomores and juniors. The 14U teams obviously had some freshmen and 8th graders. But the vast majority were 10th and 11th grade kids. The extreme exposure teams and games seemed to be organized along grade lines. One game involved mostly soph.s while another had mostly juniors. The quad we spent most of our time at seemed to have 2 games of each grade going on. There was the soph game I was at and the next field over was juniors, then the next soph.s, then the next juniors. It is noteworthy that all of the college coaches were watching the juniors. I suppose this is a final or almost a final look at certain kids before offers are extended in July. Yes, they'll see kids at NFCA camps and a few showcases in the spring but they must make up their minds soon and this was probably a last look for many kids.
So what I learned is, RS organizes the pools according to the way it sees the level of each team, there are neophytes everywhere including this level, the coaches here are more interested in juniors than they are at other venues, the extreme exposure games are perhaps the best part of RS, and winter can still be winter even in the sunshine state. Additionally, I learned that regardless of anything I may have said in the past, teams which consider themselves to be underaged still sometimes go around bragging as if it is some sort of badge of honor.
The exhibition game we were granted was against a team in a higher (weaker) pool than us. They looked pretty small so we made inquiries as to why. It turned out that they were either a 2009 or 2010 14U team, I'm not sure which. They had a few older looking girls but most were pretty darn young and their pitching was decidedly weak. Their outfielders played shallow. And they could not hit very well.
When we inquired as to the age of the team, one person proudly told us the 14U/15U thing and how they had won their games 22-1 and 11-0, against older kids. They wanted everyone to know that they had come in as a very young team and kicked some butt against the 18Us. I doubt they did that. I think it is very likely that the teams they faced were either the same age as they were or were very weak older teams, mostly perhaps about the same age.
We beat this "young" upstart team pretty easily. And we were a pretty darn weak team whose roster included 15s and 16s. We were not an 18U team in the classic sense. I saw several better 2010 14U teams this past fall. But this team insisted on bragging on their extreme success despite playing against those evil older girls. Oh well, I suppose you just can't prevent teams from making fools of themselves.
Myu kid pitched the opening two innings and allowed one runner on a walk. We quickly scored 5 and then our girls began fooling around. It was very cold. There were no college coaches around. After this we were heading home. And these younger girls were not very good. Our next pitcher gave up a run on some silly play. Our girls started goofing off at the plate. Then we put in our third pitcher as time ran out. She walked several kids and we misplayed some softly hit balls. They scored a couple runs and the time ran out. It was fun but just not real good ball.
Overall, I would say we had a fun time going to Rising Stars. We got to play the Gold Coast Hurricanes 16U and actually played a couple good innings against them. My kid hit a shot against the Canes that might have gone over the fence were it not for the 35 mph gusts at the time. She had some very good at bats and we caught her swinging at a pitch in the dirt on film. It is a great picture. I'm gonna have it blown up and made into wallpaper for her bedroom!
If you want to go have some fun while playing against good players, I do recommend Rising Stars winter showcase. But try to avoid Spirit or similar airlines. We were significantly delayed on the way home and given no good reason for it. We got home at 4:00 am Monday and my daughter had to miss yet another day of school. Many teams can probably get into the winter showcase even the young ones. But don't expect a ton of college coaches to watch your kid. If you are a soph. or junior, get yourself into the extreme exposure games. And before you head down to sunny Florida, make sure you watch the weather. Running out to the car to empty your already packed suitcase to put on everything you brought with you is not the best way to deal with the weather. Oh, yeah! If it is extremely cold, stay away from trees. You don't want to be struck by any falling Iguanas.
Information From: www.girls-softball.com
More...
It came as news to me that Florida can actually experience sub-freezing temperatures as well as, gasp, snow. I watched the weather before we left. Friday looked OK. Saturday threatened a little rain late in the day. Sunday would be cool. I wasn't worried. Florida always gets a little rain in the afternoon, doesn't it. If we could get 3 of our 4 scheduled Saturday games in, that would be just fine. It could rain a bit and that would be no big deal. And, so what if it was a little chilly on Sunday. 45 is still what we call Indian Summer where I live. I went so far as to pack an extra hoody. I was prepared.
We crammed ourselves into what pass for seats onboard the Spirit Airlines flight to Fort Lauderdale. It was an uneventful flight, if more than a little claustrophobic. We landed, collected our equipment bags, found our rental car easily and got to the hotel in short order. We spent a little time figuring out where the fields were located relative to our accommodations and were pleasantly surprised to see that nothing was more than a half hour away. We found dinner at a chain restaurant, held a team meeting and settled down at the bar while our high schoolers played elevator tag and watched Jersey Shore (a show about low-life New Yorkers) on MTV.
The TV was on near the bar but folks were too loud for me to really follow what was being said on the news. There was something that caught my eye about "if you think this past week was cold, wait for next week." But all I took from that was, after we leave, it is going to get cool here again.
The next morning we had a very reasonably scheduled 9:30 am practice game. Our team played poorly but it was good to be out in the sun and watch some softball for a change. It wasn't quite warm but very pleasant. Our showcase game later in the day was also a softball disaster but the weather was decent and we actually played respectably for an inning or two. We hit the ball. We made some decent plays. We scored some runs. The game was decidedly less embarrassing than our "practice" one. And all was well with the world.
During the evening, the "extreme exposure" games were held and I'll get to them in a minute. The weather was still decent. We visited the main site and bought some tournament sweatshirts. The food there was reasonably good though nothing to write home about. The equipment for sale was enough to keep us occupied before the games. We stood around and chatted then watched the games before going home and hitting the hay.
I awoke about 4:30 the next morning to see what the weather was going to do. We were scheduled for an 8:00 am start and I wanted to advise my kid on what to wear. When I arrived outside the hotel, it did seem pretty cool and the wind was kicking up. But I, not having checked the weather very closely, still held out hope that we would get in 2, maybe 3 before a Florida rainstorm shortened the day. I told my daughter to wear her under-armour and carry the hoody. I grabbed my hoody and down vest as we headed out for the fields about 6:30.
A few raindrops fell and the wind whipped as we approached the complex. Someone noted that they hoped we got in 2 as we huddled in the stands while the girls warmed up. Then the rain got sort of steady and the temperature dropped. By game time, the rain was decidedly steady and cold. I believe someone checked the temperature and found it to be about 40-45.
Nobody really hit the ball that game. I think our team had the only hit. The pitchers had great difficulty getting the ball over and walked a few kids. There were numerous wild pitches and the runners who got to first pretty much all scored. Backstops were deep and sometimes girls got 2 bases on one WP. It reminded me of rec games at 10U rather than showcase games. After 3 + innings of abject misery, umpires on all fields at our complex called rain delays and then rainouts. We went back to the hotel and called the hotline repeatedly to learn if our next games would be held. Finally we learned that everything at our complexes was called for the day and we settled in to watch the NFL playoffs.
The next morning, we were again scheduled to play the early game. We got word that everything was going off as scheduled for us and that we had been granted an exhibition game after our first and only scheduled game Sunday. We were mostly satisfied with this since we had been shortchanged by the weather Saturday. Some wished we had been given yet another game but that was before anybody went outside to check the weather.
As we got outside to head to the fields, the cold bit into our faces and butts. We rushed to our cars to get out of the wind and cold in the hotel parking lot. As car engines warmed up and frost was scrapped from windshields, the readings of our thermometers read an outside temperature in the range of 30-32. Burrrrr! We drove to the fields hoping that temp.s would rise a bit as the sun came out. The rain had stopped. The clouds were breaking up. We thought that if the temps would get up to the previous day's levels, everything would be OK.
While I was standing there along the sidelines, a parent from our team told me she had seen an interesting story on the news the night before. It was a "falling Iguana warning" story. I said, "falling what?" To tell you the truth, I wasn't aware there were Iguanas in Florida!
Just in case you have not heard this before, they do have Iguanas in Florida. They are, of course, cold blood reptiles. When the temperature falls to a certain level, 5 Celcius, their bodies go into a sort of involuntary state of suspended animation - similar to hibernation. Their breathing and circulation slows, extremities and non-vital functions stop working, and, because they live in trees, they have a tendency to fall. I suppose that, given the touristy nature of Florida, the newsies wanted the unaware to be careful around trees so as not to have the bejesus scared out of them. I know I might have been scared to death had some Iguana dropped out of a tree near me.
The parent from our team told me that she and her party had gone out after seeing the news specifically to look for falling Iguanas. They weren't disappointed. In about a two mile stretch, they had seen four on the ground. One was unfortunate enough to have been found by a turkey vulture who busily ate it alive. Ah, such is girls fastpitch softball!
But seriously folks, this story is about softball. For beginners, I want to point out some things I learned during my brief vacation. I had known about Rising Stars showcase for several years. What I did not realize, however, is that of the several of these things they hold each year, the winter one, generally the second week of January, is not a particularly important one. That is not to say there are no college coaches in attendance. There are some, just not a ton. We did not see the numbers we saw in California around Halloween. And that was far lower, I'm told, than the numbers who came to scout the Rising Stars showcase held in mid October.
It occurred to me that Rising Stars ("RS") does not publish coaches expected at each event and rather lists any college that has ever attended one of their showcases precisely because they do not want to call attention to the fact that the winter showcase, for example, is more sparsely attended. This is their business. They want teams to pay and come. They are not being dishonest by claiming more coaches will be there. They are simply just not highlighting the fact that this event draws fewer coaches.
It should have been obvious to me and anyone else that the winter showcase, not falling within the NCAA recruiting window, was likely to be a lesser event. It should also have occurred to me that while the fall showcase is next to impossible for a new team to get into, it was fairly simple to get into the winter show because the biggest name teams are not there.
There are many very highly regarded organizations in attendance at winter RS. About 25 states were represented plus Aruba and, I think, one team from Canada. I wonder what the Aruba kids thought of the weather! The level of play was mostly very good, aside from our team and a few others. Many high level players whose teams were not there arranged to guest with other teams. But we did not see very many of the top 20-50 Gold teams. I understand that many teams were elsewhere for another event. other teams are practicing to get ready for spring qualifiers and the summer showcase circuit.
The umpiring at RS was very good, better than California had been. Teams generally played at the right level for their resumes. The tournament is arranged in twenty something 7-team pools and the teams in each pool played just the teams in their own pool, except for any practice or subsequently arranged exhibition games.
The teams spanned the range of experience from 18U Gold teams down to 14U Pony teams. Most 16U teams played against other 16Us. The 14s played either other 14s or weaker 16U and 18U teams. There were, of course, exceptions, as some teams chose to hide their age by altering their usual name slightly to not highlight the age group they had recently played or would play the next year.
In general, the play was ordinary showcase play in which books and scores are not really kept and in which players are frequently rotated in order to provide opportunities for showcasing their skills. I've mentioned this before but for the sake of those who might have missed it, teams do not usually play to win at these kinds of things. If, for example, a pitcher is throwing a perfect game through her scheduled 3 innings, she is going to come out to make way for pitcher number two regardless of whether the score is 0-0, 1-0 etc. Similarly, a stronger player is going to be pulled in favor of a weaker one merely because that is the way the game is played. Nobody sits so the team can win. That comes as a shock to many but that's just the way it is. Of course there are exceptions but those involve teams which simply just do not understand the way showcase ball is played.
You can easily identify the showcase neophyte parents at RS. They are the ones who treat games the same way they treat travel ball games. They get upset when their kid hits a shot and some very skilled outfielder hauls it in with a great play. They get upset when their team threatens but doesn't score because the "idiot coaches" have that kid in the lineup and she strikes out. They get worked up when the third or fourth pitcher on the other team looses the plate and starts walking kids. They act as if winning and losing actually matters.
By contrast, the parents who understand where they are rarely cheer except for a good play or hit ... by anyone. If some kid gets up and goes yard for the other team, they clap. If some SS on the other team makes an all-star play, they clap hard and yell "nice play!" If their kid drills a pitch and it doesn't find the ground, they are happy because she had a really good at-bat and hit the ball the way she knows how to. If a kid on either team hustles and plays hard, folks are happy for that kid. These games mostly lack the competitive edge we are all accustomed to and that is the way it has to be.
The extreme showcase games are even less competitive. They are perhaps one of the better parts of this tournament. RS has a camp early on Friday before the regular games start. Then everybody plays a regular showcase game. And then, Friday night, they hold the so called "maximum exposure" games. The maximum exposure games generally involve sophomores and juniors arranged into 11 or 12 player teams. They play 6 innings in which 5 or 6 batters, depending on roster size, hit and then switch sides. Everyone is guaranteed 3 innings at their primary position and then they play wherever the team needs a player. It was great fun and the level of play was very good. We saw some wonderful pitching performances, some very good hitting, and outstanding defense even considering the number of kids out of position and the fact that these girls had not worked defensive plays together before. Girls from one showcase team were generally not placed on the same teams.
Everyone seemed to really like the extreme exposure games. In fact, I heard at least one person saying "this is the way showcase should be played." He wondered if it might not be a good idea to arrange an entire showcase using this format.
Most of the kids at RS were sophomores and juniors. The 14U teams obviously had some freshmen and 8th graders. But the vast majority were 10th and 11th grade kids. The extreme exposure teams and games seemed to be organized along grade lines. One game involved mostly soph.s while another had mostly juniors. The quad we spent most of our time at seemed to have 2 games of each grade going on. There was the soph game I was at and the next field over was juniors, then the next soph.s, then the next juniors. It is noteworthy that all of the college coaches were watching the juniors. I suppose this is a final or almost a final look at certain kids before offers are extended in July. Yes, they'll see kids at NFCA camps and a few showcases in the spring but they must make up their minds soon and this was probably a last look for many kids.
So what I learned is, RS organizes the pools according to the way it sees the level of each team, there are neophytes everywhere including this level, the coaches here are more interested in juniors than they are at other venues, the extreme exposure games are perhaps the best part of RS, and winter can still be winter even in the sunshine state. Additionally, I learned that regardless of anything I may have said in the past, teams which consider themselves to be underaged still sometimes go around bragging as if it is some sort of badge of honor.
The exhibition game we were granted was against a team in a higher (weaker) pool than us. They looked pretty small so we made inquiries as to why. It turned out that they were either a 2009 or 2010 14U team, I'm not sure which. They had a few older looking girls but most were pretty darn young and their pitching was decidedly weak. Their outfielders played shallow. And they could not hit very well.
When we inquired as to the age of the team, one person proudly told us the 14U/15U thing and how they had won their games 22-1 and 11-0, against older kids. They wanted everyone to know that they had come in as a very young team and kicked some butt against the 18Us. I doubt they did that. I think it is very likely that the teams they faced were either the same age as they were or were very weak older teams, mostly perhaps about the same age.
We beat this "young" upstart team pretty easily. And we were a pretty darn weak team whose roster included 15s and 16s. We were not an 18U team in the classic sense. I saw several better 2010 14U teams this past fall. But this team insisted on bragging on their extreme success despite playing against those evil older girls. Oh well, I suppose you just can't prevent teams from making fools of themselves.
Myu kid pitched the opening two innings and allowed one runner on a walk. We quickly scored 5 and then our girls began fooling around. It was very cold. There were no college coaches around. After this we were heading home. And these younger girls were not very good. Our next pitcher gave up a run on some silly play. Our girls started goofing off at the plate. Then we put in our third pitcher as time ran out. She walked several kids and we misplayed some softly hit balls. They scored a couple runs and the time ran out. It was fun but just not real good ball.
Overall, I would say we had a fun time going to Rising Stars. We got to play the Gold Coast Hurricanes 16U and actually played a couple good innings against them. My kid hit a shot against the Canes that might have gone over the fence were it not for the 35 mph gusts at the time. She had some very good at bats and we caught her swinging at a pitch in the dirt on film. It is a great picture. I'm gonna have it blown up and made into wallpaper for her bedroom!
If you want to go have some fun while playing against good players, I do recommend Rising Stars winter showcase. But try to avoid Spirit or similar airlines. We were significantly delayed on the way home and given no good reason for it. We got home at 4:00 am Monday and my daughter had to miss yet another day of school. Many teams can probably get into the winter showcase even the young ones. But don't expect a ton of college coaches to watch your kid. If you are a soph. or junior, get yourself into the extreme exposure games. And before you head down to sunny Florida, make sure you watch the weather. Running out to the car to empty your already packed suitcase to put on everything you brought with you is not the best way to deal with the weather. Oh, yeah! If it is extremely cold, stay away from trees. You don't want to be struck by any falling Iguanas.
Information From: www.girls-softball.com
More...
