ASA 18 Gold Results?

[GOINGDEEP]

We have all had friendly conversations on the Gold levels. Most still feed into the hype of the California teams being the best of the best. A few have posted that it is at the end of it's era. From what games I got to watch and the final results, the south and southeast completely dominated this event.

2010 ASA 18U GOLD National Championship ‐ Marietta, GA – August 2‐8, 2010
OFFICIAL ORDER OF FINISH
1 East Cobb Bullets Kennesaw, GA 7‐0
2 North Florida Dunnellon, FL 10‐2
3 Team Florida Clearwater, FL 5‐2
4 Texas Impact Gold Houston, TX 5‐2
5 TN Xplosion Hendersonville, TN 4‐2
5 Miami Stingrays 18U Miami, FL 5‐2
7 CA Breeze Sacramento, CA 4‐2
7 Birmingham Vipers‐Hayes Birmingham, AL 5‐2
9 Houston Power‐ Glowacz Houston, TX 3‐2
9 Gold Coast Hurricanes Gold Plantation, FL 3‐2
9 Newtown Rock 18 Gold Holland, PA 5‐2
9 Georgia Elite Douglasville, GA 3‐2
13 Georgia Elite‐ Sampson Snellville, GA 3‐2
13 Texas Blaze Gold Round Rock, TX 3‐2
13 Aces Express Sugarland, TX 4‐2
13 Texas Peppers Gold Magnolia, TX 4‐2
17 Texas Glory Gold Adkins McKinney, TX 2‐2
17 Texas Sudden Impact Gold Spring, TX 2‐2
17 Texas Bombers Gold New Braunfels, TX 2‐2
17 Beverly Bandits Gold Orland Park, KS 2‐2
17 SoCal Firecrackers Huntington Beach, CA 2‐2
17 Wichita Mustangs Gold 18U Wichita, KS 3‐2
17 New Lenox Lightning New Lenox, IL 3‐2
17 Oklahoma Force Gold Yukon, OK 3‐2
25 Wagners Gold Arnold, MD 2‐2
25 Strike Force 18U Guerra Huntington Beach, CA 2‐2
25 SGV Velocity Pasadena, CA 2‐2
25 Fury Fast Pitch Gold Chattanooga, TN 2‐2
25 The Next Level Temecula, CA 2‐2
25 St. Louis Chaos St. Louis, MO 2‐2
25 Northwest Eruption Gold Kelso, WA 2‐2
25 Alabama Crusaders Gold Birmingham, AL 2‐2
33 Jets Gold Agoura Hills, CA 1‐2
33 Atlanta Vipers 18 Gold Atlanta, GA 1‐2
33 Oregon Panthers Gold Keizer, OR 1‐2
33 Polar Crush Gold Ashby, MA 1‐2
33 OC Elite Gold Esteban Mission Viejo, CA 1‐2

I think your going to see more and more teams from this area pulling in National Titles in ASA and other sanctions. The sport has really exploded in the south. New softball parks are popping up faster than Walmart or McDonalds. We have a lot of players that go onto the college level, but they seem to be restricted to the the 'southern colleges'. Hope over the next few years more may get the chance to play for the BIG BOYS.

East Cobb must have something in the water. My nephew plays them all over the country in baseball, and East Cobb Baseball is a monster too.

 

[starsnuffer]

Well, the "southern colleges" have a lot more funds to recruit then west coast colleges, mostly due to the amount of money their athletics departments get through their football programs. If you look at southern college teams like Florida, Georgia, and Alabama, they have a lot of west coast players, because they recruited them. I doubt you'll see many west coast colleges traveling out east to recruit anytime soon, though the door is open for east coast players to apply.

It will be interesting to see what happens over the next two years as the 18 Gold tourney moves locations back and forth. Out here in Cali, we've seen a lot of girls drop out last year do to economy based reasons, though I'm not trying to make any excuses. A more competitive sport is better for the game all around.

-W

 

[amanda_cake]

Agree, I've been surprised to hear as many teams taking such long hikes to play ball with the state of the economy. A team from no where VA went to Nebraska for the Cat Osterman Experience, heading from Cali to GA is quite the trip... however, it's not about the money spent or whether you won or lost... it's the memories made.

 

[Sparky Guy]

A lot of the teams who would have played Gold from CA have signed on to play in the Premier National Tournament. That is why there seems to be a lack of CA teams in the tournament.

 

[sluggers]

Hate to admit it, but I didn't know about the Premier Tourney....looks like a bunch of the nationally known teams chose the PT over the ASA Gold. I was wondering why the ASA moved the Gold tournament to California in 2011. With ESPN backing it, I suspect that the tournament will be televised

Am I correct that the Premier Tournament is limited to HS players?

 

[GOINGDEEP]

A lot of the teams who would have played Gold from CA have signed on to play in the Premier National Tournament. That is why there seems to be a lack of CA teams in the tournament.

But I thought all the CA teams had to do was sign in and the trophy was there's. Some have said they fly all over the country to ensure a birth. There are some freaking studs in the south, I may not know all about softball but I know enough to see a mule team when I see it. Baseball here has plained off, but softball is exploding. It pulls more fans in HS than all sports but football games. Travel ball looks like a free carnival from the all the spectators.

I'd like to learn more about the Premier Tourney, never heard of it.

 

[amanda_cake]

I read something about the Premier Tourney today on another forum. Apparently parts of it will be televised, with some action on ESPN3.com. I'm interested to see how that goes. I was discussing the 18U ASA Gold results with my father and I said I was shocked to see that the Virginia Shamrocks did not attend, but I now see that they are going to the Premier Tourney...

This is the link to the thread about the Premier Tourney on another site. This is an article talking about the split in softball, mainly about these two tournaments.

 

[Bishop]

Best as I can tell from the scuttle butt on various discussion boards some of the gold teams really disliked the ASA rule disallowing current college players who were 18 and under from competeing. Bunch of the top flight California teams got a pow wow together and decided to do thier own thing and created the Premier National Championship that had a rules set more to thier preference.

I never looked into it. Does my DD need to go to it? Nope.

 

[amanda_cake]

As someone who isn't familiar with 23U ball (because there isn't any in my area), have a lot of the college players that we eligible for 18U went to 23U? Has their been a rise in that?

 

[stephanie]

Excuses, excuses...
If you know me, you know that my DD's pitching coach was at the 18U Gold in Marietta last week...they came in 9th.
They are now in Huntington Beach for the PT...arrived last night...
Yes, it's a lot of travel! They drove to both. But that's what these girls want to do because they LOVE TO PLAY THE GAME!
ANd it's true about softball in the South.: it's exploding!!!..Can't keep the girls down!!!