ASA Tournament GAPSS 2010 - July 23-25 - "Tune-up for Nationals"

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We were very disappointed in GAP$$ this year. We played at Arrowhead and played every single game on the same field without fences (same no fence complaints were put on OFC by many teams last year)...all the money that this tournament pulls in and they can't put up temporary fences? The outfield was a valley type slope that went into large pine trees lining backyards. The umpires were some of the WORST we have ever seen!!! One game they would call ground rule double if a hit ball rolled under the pine trees and the next game (same set of umpires) said well it would have been a home run so just dig the ball out and play it. REALLY!?!?! During another game a runner on 3rd base ran into the grass by the dugout fence, where on deck batter warm ups and is clearly more than 3 feet out of the baseline, and the umpire said the runner can establish her own base path! In another game, a ball was hit into the valley and the batter missed second base by a mile. Our short stop made a live appeal and the field umpire called her safe by just putting his arms out. The coach not realizing that the short stop made the live appeal told our pitcher to throw to second and make an appeal and again the field ump put his arms out to indicate 'safe'. After the game he came over to our coaches and said "Yes the batter clearly missed second base and I saw it but your short stop did not call out the batters number when she made the appeal". WOW!!! Then to cancel so many Sunday games instead of making some sort of attempt to get games played with shortened times...VERY disappointed!!!

 

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PS bear --pretty quick hook on those other two gapss threads, have'nt seen a pull that quick since the Sparky Anderson days. lol Cpt' Hook !

:cap: You got know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em... Thought about going in with both guns blazing, but figured I'd try the wet blanket first to see if things would cool down a wee bit.

 

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having played the Classics black last week and the Cyclones this week I'd give a strong edge to the Classics MD

ManitouDan did you use the same pitcher against the Classics? I thought she was a good pitcher who would be able to keep you in about any game (side note: we were hitting well, in our other three games we scored 31 runs)

Your Tiny lil team comment must have been said tongue in cheek, You have a very nice team that can flat out play. Very nice group also. I saw my daughter talking with one of your players and her dad after the game. For a second I was worried, but, they were joking and were all smiles. Played hard all game, and when it was over respected each other laughed and were teenage girls havin fun.

The reason I was slightly worried was that the girl from your team was the young lady who was hit by a pretty solid pitch in the back and my daughter was the one who hit her. With tough classy players like that your team will go far.

I wish your group the best.

 

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thanks serene , yes we threw the same girl. She's special ! I was very impressed with your team also. you just had the look of a special team. No bs, not much talk. just high level softball. I hope you guys get a great draw and go far in Texas.

She threw really well in chicago against you guys, maybe her best outing all year, was not as sharp VS the Cyclones but still held them down very well. MD

PS yes the tiny comment was tongue in cheek, I'm very proud of the way we have competed against the older teams this year. We don;t win them all but that team (doom 95) challenges it's players --all 8 healthy ones LOL !

 

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fpitchdad, she (Anna Lauterbach) did indeed hit 67, and 66. She pitched two innings in her last game, and the Saginaw Valley coach who was there for all of her games, had her hitting 66 3 or 4 times, and 67 twice in her last game. She is a 2012 graduate and is 6'2, 195 lbs. I know this first hand because she pitches for us.

Thanks for straightening that out Cyclones coach. She was fast and I was 99% sure that was what I heard the coaches saying.

 

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wow those top two are impressive.

 

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Does it really matter who won the 18U/16U division? The primary purpose was to get the girls some college coach exposure.

If you are worried about crowning a champion, then you are missing the boat.

 

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primarily I agree with you , but I'd like to think when we lace the cleats up , it's to win. maybe I'm showing my "youth" approach since my dd is a 14u but I don't want to donate W's to get Suzy a look. My point is Suzy needs to be a good enough player to earn her look , If the team has to lose to get Suzy a look then I'm on the wrong team --thats my opinion. MD

 

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It's a showcase people... there are no winners except the individual girls that get seen by college coaches.

 

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Hey everybody! Here is some interesting information for those of you trying to figure out where your team ranked after the rainout in the GAPSS 16/18U division. First of all, I didn't look at anyone who didn't win their pool. Secondly, I didn't look at any team that wasn't undefeated because they should be eliminated from the discussion of top finishers. There were 6 teams that were undefeated that won their pool. Here are their runs scored and runs allowed. You will never know how they would have done against each other till you get them on the field. It's kindof like the BCS...lol

RS RA
Ohio Classic Black 36 2
Cyclones 34 4
Lasers Scarlet 43 10
Pht Power 23 7
Lady Charmers 26 8
Tidal Waves 20 7

Ohio Classics Black was 36-1 (there was a mistake on the pool play results - we verified)
Lasers Aqua was 35-1

This was the declared order of finish for 16u/18u.

 

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No , there was bracket play set up by seeding on how you performed in pool play. Call it a showcase if you like but those brackets tell me a winner was going to be declared. maybe I'm selfish ? all I know I want to play to win.

 

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It's a showcase Dan... the games are played for the colleges to watch and it is not considered a tournament where you declare a winner. Been like that for years now

 

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hmmmm. I coulda swore there was a bracket. With seeding. been that way since last week.

 

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I absolutely agree with ManutouDan and I don't believe it has anything to do with being selfish. While playing in high level showcases and showcasing your players is an important factor, and may very well be the most important factor, it is still only 1/2 of the equation. The other 1/2 of the equation is learning how to COMPETE at the highest level, and this is achieved by training, training and training and developing that inner drive to compete for championships like every game will be the last game you will ever play! This, more times then not starts with the leadership of coaches. If little Suzie has all the talent in the world, but shows up on the campus of her choice without that inner drive, that learned behavior to be a champion, then she most likely will never reach her full potential, and in turn takes a chance of finding herself on the pine, or worse, out of the game forever.

College athletics is purely and simply a business, and a college coach is judged by the success of his/her program by wins/losses. The athletes they bring into there program goes a long way in the success or failure of the program, in other words a coaches job depends on succcess of the program which trickles down to the successs of the athlete. The most successful programs in college softball are littered with players who either played on championship teams or teams that competed deep into tournaments competing for that championship. Whether it be a high profile, state, or national level tournament. And you know what the funny thing is? These players were showcasing themselves the entire journey.

Maybe I'm a little out of line here considering I do not know the culture of softball here in Ohio, but if a travel coach for an elite organization was to say "were only a showcase team", and that was the teams only goal, they would not be coaching very long back home!

 

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Good post by a great nickname !!

 

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It's a showcase Dan... the games are played for the colleges to watch and it is not considered a tournament where you declare a winner. Been like that for years now

GAPSS has had bracket play and a winner since we started playing in it 4 years ago. As far as I recall, it was double elim until this year. At least the age groups we were playing in were. This year the 16/18U was supposed to be single elim and.... still determine a winner.

Pool games are for showcasing and then most teams play to win. In my expereince at showcases, most of the college coaches are gone after the pool/Saturday games. Sparks, Compuware, Stingray, Best of Best are all pretty nice showcase events and they all are formatted so that there is a winner.

 

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Our goal was to create the best of both worlds. 4 scheduled showcase games plus a highly competitive 'final four' style bracket.

However, I have had multiple coaches tell me that because we didn't put everyone into bracket play (only top 3 in the pool), they were conflicted as to whether to 'showcase everyone' or play to win. To me its pretty simple, showcase everyone and let the chips fall where they may.

I will say this, the competitive juices were flowing around the scoreboards even during pool play as teams tried to figure out what it took to make it to the top 3 spots. It was setting up to be one heck of a championship bracket and no one was more disappointed then me we couldn't get it in.

 

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Does it really matter who won the 18U/16U division? The primary purpose was to get the girls some college coach exposure.

If you are worried about crowning a champion, then you are missing the boat.

Are you kidding me? This is travel ball. No one who started down this road did so with the idea of not winning. Forget GAPPS, rain, TD bashing. You missed the boat when you chose to write off the leaving it all on the field mentality in favor of trying to squash a constitutional right to freedom of speech.

 

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From the cheap seats it appears that the TD did not have the support staff either or volunteer/paid. For next year they are going to have to lay down the law to the parents, kids, paid people, whatever that this is what it takes to pull this off or the other option is to scale it back to a manageable level. Because if they thought the bashing was bad this year let the problem repeat itself next year, then they will have problems with teams lining up to get in. And also despite what the parents might think, the girls on the field are there to win they want to come off the field champions, other wise why are you having elimination brackets to begin with.

 

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Are you kidding me? This is travel ball. No one who started down this road did so with the idea of not winning. Forget GAPPS, rain, TD bashing. You missed the boat when you chose to write off the leaving it all on the field mentality in favor of trying to squash a constitutional right to freedom of speech.

So tell me judweb, what is the purpose of travel ball????