watered down? # of teams / orgs near Cincy

[Stedman00]

So, i've been noticing all the teams looking for players in and around the Cincy / Dayton area. So I thought i'd compile a list. no regard to level of play or number of teams or ages.

Cincy riverbats, Cincy flames, firestorm, blue ash bombers, Montgomery Cty hammers, sluggers, diamond elite, freedom elite, Ohio Power, ohio edge, Ohio united, SW ohio Outlaws, legends, kaos, Cincy Punishers, Canes, Circleville Tigers, Bell city Ringers, Buckeye Breeze, Mojo, sting, kettering Krush, pauer F/P, road warriors, outcast, monroe stingers, New team with no name yet, slammers, magic, MV express, OFCheat, Doom, static, Hawks, Ohio Ultimates, liberty ladys, 2 out storm, west side elite, elevate, patriots, NKY explosion, oxford rebels, Ohio Wave, RBI reds....

That's 44.

Any more I missed??

 

[HITTER23]

Thats not counting the other teams NOT in the area that are options for area players also. Yes, id say you have a case for softball being watered down. Whats your over/under for the amount of above teams not making it past fall?

 

[Stedman00]

well, expanding just a little further....MC Blaze, Lady Braves, Springfield heat, WL Force, Attack, Focus F/P, strike zone fillies, Valley Storm, WCH Cougars, Urbana Lady ramjets.

Takes the list to 54.

And you're correct, traveling out of the area and playing for a non-local team, further saturates the area....

 

[Passion4theGame]

I believe there’s levels to it just like everything else. I feel there’s a “travel team” out there for everyone. Tournaments everywhere every weekend. I think the sanctioning bodies should limit the amount of teams able to be sanctioned but there again that limits money coming in and “not fair”. Plus most of the great showcases are not sanctioned anyways so that doesn’t work either. Let’s just say Ohio is a Hotbed for Softball and be proud of our state and Athletes. Lol

 

[LineDrive1434]

You missed Ohio Thunder! WTH? Captain Thunder will take you to task if you are not careful! LOL

Also NKY Bandits

 

[LineDrive1434]

You missed Ohio Thunder! WTH? Captain Thunder will take you to task if you are not careful! LOL

Also NKY Bandits

You don't mess with Super Moderators sir!

 

[Stedman00]

You missed Ohio Thunder! WTH? Captain Thunder will take you to task if you are not careful! LOL

Also NKY Bandits

Correct, I missed those 2....55, 56...

 

[Stedman00]

Thats not counting the other teams NOT in the area that are options for area players also. Yes, id say you have a case for softball being watered down. Whats your over/under for the amount of above teams not making it past fall?

hard to judge, but I can say there are a bunch of teams, looking for pitchers and catchers. all ages, all levels. All different forms of social media and F/B groups, people looking.

The biggest peeve I keep seeing is the teams claiming to be showcase / Elite /Premier / national / Titanium, Tungsten, etc.. that never play further than few miles from home. Or they win a bunch of C level tourneys and think they are awesome, claim to be B level now, but can't win anything at a B/C or open tourney. They are obviously not at the level that they are claiming to be, but parents 'drink the Kool-aid' and it can get ugly.

 

[DLamb]

There’s a ball game on tonight, The Field of Dreams game. “If you build it, they will come” if a coach coaches it, players will come. There is competition for all levels. It does seem a lot of teams are looking for the pitcher and catcher that will take them to the promised land.

 

[Thesoftballmom17]

I live in the area and haven’t heard of a lot of those (riverbats, punishers, flames, tigers, stingers). Others seem to just be a team or two not an org with teams at every level (krush, freedom Elite, explosion, and probably the ones I’ve never heard of too.). A few I’ve heard of but are really new (power, united). Some I don’t think even exist anymore as of this year (Patriots, west side elite/thunder, static).

And they of course cover A-C level.

The ones I’d consider established, multi team orgs:
Hawks (more state-wide though I’d say), Ohio Thunder, OFC Heat, Slammers, Attack, Xpress, Doom, Ultimates, RBI, Kaos and Bandits in KY, Firestorm, Wave.

 

[LineDrive1434]

hard to judge, but I can say there are a bunch of teams, looking for pitchers and catchers. all ages, all levels. All different forms of social media and F/B groups, people looking.

The biggest peeve I keep seeing is the teams claiming to be showcase / Elite /Premier / national / Titanium, Tungsten, etc.. that never play further than few miles from home. Or they win a bunch of C level tourneys and think they are awesome, claim to be B level now, but can't win anything at a B/C or open tourney. They are obviously not at the level that they are claiming to be, but parents 'drink the Kool-aid' and it can get ugly.

So Stedman why don't you take a shot at ranking them for the parents on this site? A groups, B groups and C groups based on talent alone. You already went to the trouble of finding all these names. Could be fun. Get the other stalwarts here to do the same!

 

[Passion4theGame]

hard to judge, but I can say there are a bunch of teams, looking for pitchers and catchers. all ages, all levels. All different forms of social media and F/B groups, people looking.

The biggest peeve I keep seeing is the teams claiming to be showcase / Elite /Premier / national / Titanium, Tungsten, etc.. that never play further than few miles from home. Or they win a bunch of C level tourneys and think they are awesome, claim to be B level now, but can't win anything at a B/C or open tourney. They are obviously not at the level that they are claiming to be, but parents 'drink the Kool-aid' and it can get ugly.

@Stedman00 you nailed it!! So many tryouts posted and from the looks of it everyone needs that #1 pitcher. Lol.

I have been in those coaches spots where u sweat to find a solid pitcher. It sucks! But if you have solid Defense and Great offense do you really need that Ringer?


I am thinking to add some stuff to our team name. It will probably make us play better and most definitely get us recruited….

maybe something like…..
Ohio Ballers 04 Gold-Elite-Select-Platinum-Premier-Nationals




Then we will Only play Beavercreek tournaments.

Lol

 

[flygirlsdad]

COMBAT, Flash, lynx are a couple more. Baseball orgs are beginning to start softball teams ( Canes, Power, Riverbats, Flash, Flames)

 

[CWB1970]

DD been playing out of Cincy area for 4-5 years and some of these I have never heard of. There are also some of these teams that are not within 1 hour drive of Cincinnati so I am not sure what range you are using.

Cincy riverbats - They have fastpitch teams? News to me
Cincy flames - Has 1 fastpitch team at 14u I believe
firestorm - Beavercrek is 1 hour 20 min from my house..hardly Cincy
blue ash bombers - Never heard of them
Montgomery Cty hammers - Dayton
sluggers -??,
diamond elite - Maybe 1 or 2 teams?
freedom elite - ??
Ohio Power - New org this past year.
ohio edge - ??
Ohio united - New org,
SW ohio Outlaws - Carlisle/Franklin,
legends - ?? Never heard of them
kaos - NKy
Cincy Punishers - ?? Never Heard of them
Canes - Think this was name change from Combat maybe?
Circleville Tigers - Columbus, Oh
Bell city Ringers - Never heard of them
Buckeye Breeze -never heard of them
Mojo - nowhere near cincy
sting - Never heard of them
kettering Krush - close to beavercreek,
pauer F/P - ??
road warriors - Huber Heights - North Dayton nowhere near Cincy
outcast - North Dayton
monroe stingers - Never Heard of them
Cincy slammers
Cincy magic
MV express - West Carrollton, Ohio
OFCheat,
Doom - they have teams playing out of a variety of areas...zanesville for 1
static - Don't think they are fielding any teams any longer
Hawks - All over ohio not many based out of Cincy... maybe a brand new 14u and 10u but the others are not I don't think
Ohio Ultimates
liberty ladys - Liberty Indiana I think
2 out storm - Lawrenceburg, Ind
west side elite - Brand New...alot of holdovers from Westside Thunder org
elevate - ???
patriots - ??
NKY explosion
oxford rebels - Rec teams?
Ohio Wave - Greenville, Ohio
RBI reds - Unique and supposed to be outreach for underserved inner city student/athletes

A couple in within the 275 loop you missed...
NKy Bandits
Ky Rampage

The second set of teams you listed are even further away from Cincy than these above. To answer the question intended.... Yes there is some watering down. Same as soccer, Basketball, Volleyball.... all club/select/travel sports are similar. I'm not saying its good or bad.

 

[Doom Leader]

it’s crazy

 

[Stedman00]

the range was just a rough idea to show how many teams and orgs are within reasonable drive of cincy. Basically, within 2 hours of Cincy. Not an exact list or including all teams, just names of teams and orgs advertising tryouts or witnessed playing this past year. And admittedly, several are 'one team orgs', but they are still at least 1 team.

And for the record, many of the comments made about not knowing teams existed or locations they play, demonstrates the lack of knowledge of the poster. OR lack of the team's getting word out as to their existence.

Also, it's nothing for people to drive 2+ hours for what they feel is the right team for their DD to play on. it's not at all uncommon to see cincy / Dayton area players on Columbus area rosters. OR a national type team based in Cincy having players on roster from all over the country.

I started this thread as more of a trend noticing 6+ 18u teams, all from same general area, all looking for " pitcher and catcher to finalize their roster(s)".

 

[daboss]

There’s a ball game on tonight, The Field of Dreams game. “If you build it, they will come” if a coach coaches it, players will come. There is competition for all levels. It does seem a lot of teams are looking for the pitcher and catcher that will take them to the promised land.

I could have quoted each and everyone of the above posts. All have some valid points mentioned. I chose to quote DLamb simply to help make my point as they mentioned there is competition at all levels. How true. All is done by simple structure to allow more teams to participate if the families are willing to spend the money.

Sanctions are structured like a balloon so to allow for growth. A, B, C, REC, and a host of other levels of recognition within the sanction helps define the level of competition. What a team or organization chooses to sign up for is irrelevant. Sanctions for the most part allow for crossover into other levels. They are not going to assign a classification to a team. They might recommend you access your own talent level before you choose but basically we police ourselves. You're always going to have trophy hunters playing down in class. You'll always have some willing to play up for their own reasons. It balances out. No need to out-think things. Time and experience becomes the equalizer.

Regardless how you view things, this sport turns on the circle in the middle. A pitcher, regardless of her level of skill, that can throw strikes legally, is a catalyst to even have a team. The more pitchers available the more teams that can play--------regardless of the level of competition. The other factors help determine the success rate. This is one of the major differences from baseball. Sure, baseball teams want quality pitchers. Everyone on a baseball team throws overhand. As long as you teach them the rules for delivery once on the mound, there is a higher chance that you'll find kids that can throw a high enough percentage of strikes to play a game. Everyone on a softball field should be able to throw overhand with some degree of accuracy, but a fastpitch softball pitcher is required to throw underhand with accuracy. That hinders the growth and expansion of the game.

So now to address the statement that competition is watered down due to the expansion of teams springing up across the country. You can look at life with the attitude that the glass is half full or half empty. What has to happen is the circle of life in respect to the reality of life as we know it. Teams are going to attempt to develop. People/families are going to venture away from a current experience to try their hand at doing things better--------or at least different. Some will succeed. Some will fail. All will learn from the experience. Some will share what they have learned in hopes others won't have to suffer the pains. Some will quit altogether. Some will decide to elevate their game for something better. Others will simply enjoy being together making memories that last a lifetime. Many will be judged in a negative way, while others will be thankful of the opportunity.

It's all in the attitude. Personally, I see no problem with more girls playing the game. The experience and time will balance the scale.

Coaches need to spend more time working with the girls they do have on roster and develop their skills. The ones that are willing to play for you are the ones that show up for your tryout sessions and agree to play if selected. Spend less time fretting over the one that got away. She really didn't get away. She chose to go there because that's what she thought she wanted. Time and experience will dictate if the choice was right or wrong. Keep it real and develop your team to get the best result possible. Then, enjoy the game....

 

[HITTER23]

Coaches need to spend more time working with the girls they do have on roster and develop their skills. The ones that are willing to play for you are the ones that show up for your tryout sessions and agree to play if selected. Spend less time fretting over the one that got away. She really didn't get away. She chose to go there because that's what she thought she wanted. Time and experience will dictate if the choice was right or wrong. Keep it real and develop your team to get the best result possible. Then, enjoy the game....

All coaches need to heed this advice.

 

[9ball]

I think it's wonderful that there are enough girls wanting to play softball that makes this many teams possible.

 

[SonicMojo]

Why don't you tell us the exact number of teams which is appropriate for your sensibilities? If you go from 1 team to 2 teams, you've "watered down" the quality. Saying there are "too many" teams or they are too "watered down" is either snobby/elitist, or is coming from a coach who wants to poach a player off another team. I'm with @9ball.