Opinions wanted

[sluggers]

"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference."

She can't control the scorekeeper. She can control her swing. You and her put in an extra 30 minutes a day working on her swing. That is guaranteed to make her batting average go up.

 

[onedad]

Nothing about HS ball has anything to do with getting recruited. She needs to be on a top 16U team this summer. Plus, if she is a sophomore, she should already have some schools in mind and have been in contact with them.

I would not pay any attention to a HS score book. It is generally handed to a mom that shows up on time, a bench player or someone's grandpa that writes down "balk," for illegal pitch.

Get your DD on the right summer team and send her to the top university camp, in your state. Oh, yeah. Encourage her to keep her grades up. If she can show a coach high test scores, she is good to go.

(I see Sluggers and I were writing at the same time.)

Amy, do you feel that is a commonly held opinion about high school ball? I see bios for players on rosters and recruiting sites that always refer to high school accomplishments. I know that she has coaches ask her for updates on how her season is going - maybe just being polite? If that is the case I feel better.

She is a junior and will be a senior in about two weeks (time flies). She played exclusively 18 showcase last year for her first real exposure. She is playing this year with a team that is coached by a D-1 assistant coach. She's going to try to go to some more camps but we don't know that the tournament schedule will allow it. Grades are good - college credit classes and high school scholar member

 

[Greenmonsters]

Regardless of division, no college coach is going to sign any player on the basis of statistics alone. They want to know and see how a kid throws/hits/pitches. The numbers they're most interested in are a player's GPA and SAT/ACT scores so they can be sure they're not chasing a kid who has no chance of meeting the school's admission requirements.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Many parents that have had girls go to major D1 programs have told me that the coach never inquired about HS softball. Some even preferred that the girl run track instead of play ball in school.

Having lived in the midwest all of my life, I didn't really believe that. But now that I am in AZ. and seeing the girls that play TB year around, I have changed my mind.

 

[PA SB Dad]

In PA, we seem to have the exact opposite problem with respect to HS softball stats (Suspect scorekeeping in softball is outright cheating | lehighvalleylive.com). Nothing in HS sports seems to me to be very "accurate", and in many respects highly biased. Listen to the older members who have been through this before and find more productive ways to help your DD get into the college she wants to go to.

 

[Kelly Clinevell]

Many parents that have had girls go to major D1 programs have told me that the coach never inquired about HS softball. Some even preferred that the girl run track instead of play ball in school.

Having lived in the midwest all of my life, I didn't really believe that. But now that I am in AZ. and seeing the girls that play TB year around, I have changed my mind.

We've had some correspondence with coaches in the last week and one coach asked for her high school stats. The others did not. I know just about every questionnaire that she has filled out has asked for high school stats. The season ended before she expected with a loss in regional playoffs so it's a fairly moot point now. Thanks for everyone's advice.

 

[Kelly Clinevell]

In PA, we seem to have the exact opposite problem with respect to HS softball stats (Suspect scorekeeping in softball is outright cheating | lehighvalleylive.com). Nothing in HS sports seems to me to be very "accurate", and in many respects highly biased. Listen to the older members who have been through this before and find more productive ways to help your DD get into the college she wants to go to.

Yeah, I would have expected the scoring to be biased in the coaches players favor. That's what was so surprising to me.