Question about the depth of softball in Ohio

[manitoudan]

If you had to take a guess at how many Organizations in Ohio field a complete list of travel teams from ages 10u to 18u for the past 5 years how many Orgs you think we would have ? Or at least those that come very close to having 5 age groups year in and year out ? 20 30 maybe even 40 ?

 

[cobb_of_fury]

Take a look at the Master Tryout list on the upper tab - There is a lot - most have been around for at least a few years

 

[manitoudan]

Some enterprising soul needs to attempt a list . lol.. Ok I'll name 10 , then someone else name 10 .. In no order of course 1 OFC Heat 2 DOOM 3 Lasers 4 Buckeye Heat 5 Ohio Ice 6 Central Ohio Ice 7 Outlaws 8 Mason Thunder 9 Hawks ( can I count them 3 times ? ) 10 Buckeye Elite . I know some org's might not have a team at every age group but most do .. someone fire off 10 more starting at #11

 

[manitoudan]

Ok I think I can do 10 more 11) Stingrays 12 Miami Valley Express 13 Ashland Blaze 14 Ohio Classics 15 Maddogs 16 Cincy Static 17 Cincy Slammers 18 Valley Extreme 19 Wolfpack 20 Lancaster Pride
Dang there might be 50 . I named 20 easily . And I'm sure I'm forgetting several I know .

 

[manitoudan]

Five more 21) Ohio Bandits 22) Willoughbly Strazz 23 ) Ohio Hurricanes 24 ) Ohio Edge 25) Wizards

 

[manitoudan]

26) Westerville warcats 27 Ohio attack 28 ) Ohio Storm 29 ) Kaos 30) Heart of Ohio

 

[Louuuuu]

ManitouDan, you're the Allen Iverson of this thread....

 

[manitoudan]

Practice ? We talkin Practice ?

 

[manitoudan]

I'm waiting on someone to name 5 more .

 

[DoubleTheFun]

I'm waiting on someone to name 5 more .

I can do better than 5 more....maybe someone can drag it across the finish line with 7 more to make it 50...

31) Ohio Emeralds
32) Thunder Elite
33) Ohio Power
34) Ohio Glory
35) Central Ohio Lady Vipers
36) Central Ohio Dynamites
37) Lady Barracudas
38) Ohio Bulldawgs Elite
39) Diamonds Elite
40) Valley Force
41) PC Sting
42) Sundogs
43) Roadrunners
44) ??

 

[FastBat]

44. Ohio Blast?
45. SPC Hot Sox

 

[crystlemc]

Many of the orgs listed do not and/or have not had teams at 10u and/or 18u.

 

[nonparentcoach]

SGS Magic, Wizards, Lady Irish, Blackhawks, ..........

 

[wow]

So now its approaching 50 the real question back the OP. How do you measure depth? is it quantity or quality?

The sport is growing and that growth requires more teams. The more kids who play the more teams you need. It benefits everyone as the sport grows because more kids get exposure and therefore the game grows exponentially. How about all the hitting, pitching, and state of art facilities popping up?

Or

This list of teams demonstrates how watered down the sport has become. The talent is therefore diluted.

interesting topic...

 

[FastBat]

The sport is growing and that growth requires more teams. The more kids who play the more teams you need. It benefits everyone as the sport grows because more kids get exposure and therefore the game grows exponentially.

IMHO, this is true. I think of 25 years ago, there has to be more talent now, than, then. But, there are also more teams in general and more opportunity to participate.

I think softball will grow more with being in the olympics, as well. I would think gymnastics and swimming get a bump in participation each olympic year.

 

[mogsoftball]

46. Explosive fastpitch
47. Lady Bombers

 

[gtrthang]

Here is a consolidated list with a couple of more added.

1 OFC Heat
2 DOOM
3 Lasers
4 Buckeye Heat
5 Ohio Ice
6 Central Ohio Ice
7 Outlaws
8 Mason Thunder
9 Hawks ( can I count them 3 times ? )
10 Buckeye Elite
11 Stingrays
12 Miami Valley Express
13 Ashland Blaze
14 Ohio Classics
15 Maddogs
16 Cincy Static
17 Cincy Slammers
18 Valley Extreme
19 Wolfpack
20 Lancaster Pride
21 Ohio Bandits
22 Willoughbly Strazz
23 Ohio Hurricanes
24 Ohio Edge
25 Wizards
26 Westerville warcats
27 Ohio attack
28 Ohio Storm
29 Kaos
30 Heart of Ohio
31 Ohio Emeralds
32 Thunder Elite
33 Ohio Power
34 Ohio Glory
35 Central Ohio Lady Vipers
36 Central Ohio Dynamites
37 Lady Barracudas
38 Ohio Bulldawgs Elite
39 Diamonds Elite
40 Valley Force
41 PC Sting
42 Sundogs
43 Roadrunners
44 Ohio Blast?
45 SPC Hot Sox
46 Explosive fastpitch
47 Lady Bombers
48 Licking County Lightning
49 Licking County Thunder
50 Big Katz

 

[WalkOffHR]

So now its approaching 50 the real question back the OP. How do you measure depth? is it quantity or quality?

The sport is growing and that growth requires more teams. The more kids who play the more teams you need. It benefits everyone as the sport grows because more kids get exposure and therefore the game grows exponentially. How about all the hitting, pitching, and state of art facilities popping up?

Or

This list of teams demonstrates how watered down the sport has become. The talent is therefore diluted.

interesting topic...

I think it is the first part. Just based on how well, year after year, Ohio teams do at national level tournaments. It's not just the same Ohio teams either. Our team (18U) finished 5th at Myrtle Beach this year and we went 9-2 and MOST of those 9 wins were against teams that would have been run out of the Ohio tournaments we play in. Look at what Lasers Purple did...basically the impossible, to win the ASA nationals. For that matter, the Lasers in general proved this year that they are one of the best softball organizations in the entire country and they do it with predominantly Ohio players.

Softball is STRONG in Ohio, which leads to more interest, which increases participation and on and on.

 

[raidian70]

I am going to say the pitching in Ohio is better than in neighboring states as well. We played about half of our schedule against out of state teams and we saw very few changeups at the 14u level from the non-Ohio teams.

 

[Captain_Thunder]

Here is a consolidated list with a couple of more added.

8 Mason Thunder

We changed our name to Ohio Thunder over a year ago..........and yes we do field at least one team (and usually 2) in every age division.
Like was mentioned earlier, there are several on this list who do not regularly provide teams in each division.....