My daughter is a Freshman on a top 15 D3 team. We played a lot of higher level travel ball, but her exposure was limited to mostly D3, JUCO, and local D2 schools in our area (MN, IL, WI). She had interest from a few mid major D1 teams that have low budgets (most mid major D1 only offer a non pitcher a few thousand dollars a year). She chose a D3 so she could start immediately, get her degree while playing softball in 4 years, and play closer to home. Money was not a factor in our decision on where she went as long as it was a good fit and for the right reasons (more academically).
She is a catcher with a D1 skill set (1.8 second game pop time home to 2nd, throws about 70mph, she's 5' 10" and has a strong, athletic build. Hits for power, average, can run fairly decent, etc.), but most likely would have sat her first year and then who knows after that. Not sure she could hit at the top level of D1. The one D1 school she really considered has a 4 hour bus ride to their nearest conference school, and then about 7-10 hours to the next 8). The bus travel time and the degree she wants (Kinesiology) were probably the two biggest factors to her playing D3. She also just loves the game and the grind and wants to play more than just being a part of something. She wants to be on the field contributing significantly. Also, the facilities at a lot of these D2 and D3 schools are as nice or nicer than a lot of mid major D1's....the school she's at also has a dome they practice and play games in during the winter/spring.
I think location to schools has a lot to do with what a kid decides to do depending on where they live and what they want. Some states have more of a certain level than others. WI has 2 D1 schools, 1 D2 school, 24 D3's, and 3 JUCO's. MN has 2 D1, 8 D2, 16 D3, and 13 JUCO's. IL has 6 D1, 3 D2, 21 D3, and 40 JUCO's. MI has 5 D1's, 5 D2's, 8 D3's, and 16 JUCO's.
There is a lot of sacrifice academically, socially, etc. to "play" at D1.
Excellent! Thanks for the insights.
Best wishes to the both of you.