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Appreciate all the info so far and I will keep in touch with you cgs.
I agree that the competitiveness of the JV should not be an issue.
However, I'm not sure I would be comfortable trying to field a new JV team with 22 total players. If you have 11-12 on varsity, that only leaves 10-11 on JV. If you lose a couple to grades or quitting in the next couple of weeks, that means you have to send varsity players down every game to play JV or start canceling games. What if 2-3 players are sick?
To cut ladies from a program because the JV team will not be competitive is assinine.
The JV team is used to DEVELOP younger and/or less experianced student athletes.
What if there is barely enough pitching for Varsity and nothing for the JV? How many girls will come back to the program after a JV season of losing games by 20-30+ runs due to a lack of pitching?
What if there is barely enough pitching for Varsity and nothing for the JV? How many girls will come back to the program after a JV season of losing games by 20-30+ runs due to a lack of pitching?
Most JV teams don't have enough offense to put up those numbers hitting off a tee. A 16 year old girl has the ability to learn to pitch it accross the plate for a strike much quicker than a 10 year old girl whose hands aren't big enough to even hold the ball properly and doesn't have the arm strength to deliver the ball.
Even if your fielding 99% of your outs, I'm guessing that you wouldn't get creamed that badly consistantly because the athletes that could do that to you are probably playing varsity for your opponent.
But... Even accepting that premise of getting blown out I think you would lose more by cutting them now than by finding a way to keep them playing even on a poor team. Just like in business, the ones you should have kept will be the first to move on. Whether it's La Crosse, Track, Summer Volleyball, Summer Basketball, Job, etc... good luck getting them back once you've lost them or they have gained new interests.
Snocatzdad - I'm not sure what area you're from, but in NW Ohio, the quality of players, including pitchers, is very high at the JV level. If you do not have an experienced jv pitcher in the Northern Lakes League or the Suburban Lakes League, score differentials of 20+ can, and will, occur.
Having said that, I would never forfeit a jv season if I had at least 9 girls. BUT, let me provide a scenerio that I am aware of and you all let me know what you would have done. Total girls at any one mandatory practice (post March 8) was 18. Twelve had played either varsity or jv last year. Six had never played softball. (two had no gloves, one squealed and almost ran out of the cage the first time a pitch was thrown to her). Of the twelve who had played before, there were three pitchers and 2 catchers. The varsity coach wanted all three pitchers at varsity because they could all hit well and play defense. He also wanted to keep 12 at varsity. So, under the theory that you put your best nine on the field at varsity, that would leave NO pitchers and NO catchers on JV with NO players with any softball experience. If they were able to recruit 3 more bodies to reach the magic number of nine.......would you have played a JV season with these girls in a highly competitve league such as the Northern Lakes League or the Suburban Lakes League? Just curious.
Sorry about disparaging JV. No problem. Just a little overly sensitive maybe!
If I had 18 kids come out and 12 were players and 6 never played before I would not field two teams just for the sake of retaining players I don't want to retain. If the 6 who never played were freshman and good athletes I might look at them as long term help. If they were Juniors who were poor athletes and likely would never contribute at the Varsity level, I'd probably let them go just keep the salvagable ones on the end of the varsity bench.