Advice needed for 2022 recruit

[Vertigo]

If she is willing to travel a little bit further into PA there is York College of PA which has her major and has a great D3 softball team. Also, Alvernia University in Reading, PA - one of the nicest softball coaches I’ve met. Cedar Crest College in Allentown, PA is also an option. All D3 programs that are most likely still looking and have forensics as a major.

 

[Shiloh]

It's not too late! You just need to work hard and be nimble.

- identify the schools she wants to go to - tonight!
- call them tonight if possible, if not call tomorrow night
- follow up the call with an email
- send them a letter with her profile, fall schedule, stats, link to her website, and short introduction. *A physical letter that you put in the mail.* Hand address the envelope.
- go to any and all camps the schools are offering
- pick up with the highest level teams you can: PA Chaos, Jersey Intensity, etc.
- when you get responses, tell each coach she wants to come visit ASAP. Ask when they are available.

Offers are made right up to June, July, even August before freshman year of college.

Identify the schools she wants to go to, then prove to the coaches that she'll be an asset to their program.
It will happen.

 

[ang2bmd]

Has she looked at indiana tech? Naia with an excellent forensic program im told

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[JumboJack]

I would recommend Field Level. We used it and it was great for helping my DD find the right kind of school to contact. Worth the money IMO.


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[mmeece]

I’ll give a little background, but will try to be brief. I know this problem is of our own making. My daughter is a 2022 without a current (usable) college offer. We now know the main issue is not playing for a travel program that is considered high end, or is well known in the area. The team she played for in the last 2 years played a mixture of low ‘A’ and high ‘B’ tournaments, and had some very talented girls. They had more than a few wins vs. some of the bigger name programs, but was a standalone team that has now disbanded due to all of the girls but 2 aging out.

My daughter, in her junior year of high school, hit .590 with 11HR, 50RBI, broke almost all school records, and was honorable mention all-state. She is also high academic, 4.0, #1 class rank, 32 ACT. We mistakenly thought these things would make getting recruited at D2 and D3 type schools fairly easy. She has watched girls get offers even from her own high school team who didn’t have near the stats she did vs. the same competition. The work was definitely put in contacting coaches and colleges, attending camps, etc., but it seems like the coaches were only interested in talking to the girls wearing the jerseys of the high end travel squads. When she chose forensics as a major, it took away the few places she knows she could have played at in college.

So my question is this. Now that it is fall of her senior year, is it too late? We do have some camps scheduled and have talked about the walk-on route, but she is losing confidence that it’s going to happen for her. Just looking for some advice from people who had daughters who were possibly late recruits, or made poor choices for travel. And please, no lectures on our decision with travel, as I said, we know we made that mistake. I’ve also linked her recruiting website below. Thanks.

https://ellysoftball.wixsite.com/home

Not too late at all! There are schools at EVERY level who are not done and won't be until June or July. From D1 to D3 to division 2 JUCO there will be roster openings due to transfers, injury, etc. She needs to cast a very wide net, attend events where she will be seen by the most schools, and send tons of emails. It will really help to be very flexible with regard to distance as well. If this is her dream I'd make extra effort to reach out to EVERY single NAIA and juco within an acceptable radius because they will probably be the most likely to still have money available (assuming that is important to you). If money doesn't matter then there will definitely be D3 programs who aren't finished recruiting yet.

 

[Vertigo]

If money doesn't matter then there will definitely be D3 programs who aren't finished recruiting yet.

The good thing is that many D3’s will give merit money for an applicant with her academic stats. I believe the 3 schools I listed do.

 

[MNDad]

Don’t beat yourself up over her travel team. Kids can get recruited from any and every size and level of program. It’s not too late to get on a travel team now. I’m sure there’s a website or a Facebook page where team advertise that they’re looking for players. If not, call the programs in your area and somebody will have a team for her. Eleven HR’s during a HS season is impressive. That coupled with her grades you’d be hard pressed to find a D3 that wouldn’t take her. Other levels will love her grades because they won’t need to use athletic money on her.

Get her on the phone every night calling at least one school she’d like to attend or look further into. If they don’t answer or call back keep calling until she talks to someone. Persistency will pay off. Don’t panic. She has plenty of time. Best of luck to her.

 

[Westwind]

If there is a school that stands out as a great fit, I would start the application process ASAP too.

Maybe even if it was a long shot school.

If the coach knows the student has been accepted, that’s a big plus. You also don’t want to get behind the 8 ball when it comes to academic money.

 

[_MIA_]

lf you are honest with yourself, how does the competition level that your DD played against compare to the current players on the schools
she is interested in? Your DD has a bit of an unconventional looking swing and most coaches are not going to take the time to break down
her mechanics to figure out why she has been so successful. I would try and get her playing against the best competition she can now, whether that be by picking up or finding a permanent team. Good luck.

 

[Trojans29]

lf you are honest with yourself, how does the competition level that your DD played against compare to the current players on the schools
she is interested in? Your DD has a bit of an unconventional looking swing and most coaches are not going to take the time to break down
her mechanics to figure out why she has been so successful. I would try and get her playing against the best competition she can now, whether that be by picking up or finding a permanent team. Good luck.

Great question. Her travel team played some high level competition, again, it just wasn't part of a well known organization. I can also compare the girls in her HS league that have gone on to D2 or even in some cases lower D1 schools. She had comparable or better stats to anyone in her league playing the same competition. She also faired well playing in the all-ohio underclass all-star games this summer and didn't look out of place or overpowered.

There have threads on this site discussing her swing, with the general consensus being if it continues to work for her, it might not be worth reworking. As far as picking up, that's why I asked about it being too late. There are a few fall tournaments she can pick up for, but as far as a permanent team, that would be mostly for next summer, by which point she really needs to be signed with somenone.