The opposite side of College Teams

[marriard]

We talk a lot about the good college teams and players on this forum. This weekend made me want to say something about some of the garbage out there as well.

I have often told people that if your DD wants to play softball in college there will be a team out there for her to play on. What I don't say is just sometimes they are REALLY, REALLY bad teams. Team names omitted here because I don't need to call anyone out here...

Went to watch a double-header with my DD and some her teammates at the local D2 college (they have been at camps there and several local players attend the college). The local team I would consider an above average D2 program, and on the way to being an elite program (or the school may go D1 at some stage). Some team members are D1-recruited players who stayed close to home.

And then there was the other team...

• Out of shape. Of the 15 girls on the team 12 were clearly out of shape. Several were very obese. No off-season or in-season training program here....
• Pitching - worried about your DD's speed? Pitcher #1 barely broke 50mph and threw what looked like primarily fastballs - they certainly were not moving much. Pitcher #2 never topped 50mph. Cruised at 46mph with minimal movement and bounced her change up more often than not (this based on two separate guns set up behind the backstop - local team pitchers were all in the 55mph-60mph range). IMHO they were right - both pitchers got crushed when they weren't being small balled to death.
• Fielding - NEVER fielded a bunt/slap properly. Local team had 14 successful bunts/short slaps - 11 for infield hits. Either too slow because they were out of shape, fielded badly, threw the ball away, forgot to cover (yes - after the 8th bunt the 2nd base tried to cover a runner stealing instead of covering 1st on the bunt). Third base NEVER played closer than the 3B bag.
• Fielding - they gave away 2 delayed steals. Oh and got suckered into an intentional pickle so the runner at third could score... and they got lucky to get the girl in the pickle.
• Fielding - the LF and RF NEVER looked like catching a fly ball. They caught one out of eight or nine I think - the one that went right down the LF's throat. RF averaged 3 direction changes per fly ball.
• Batting - well they were out of shape so only one girl bunted (and was thrown out when she did). It wasn't good either way. Since they spent most of the game grounding out to the infield or striking out it was hard to tell if they could hit. Maybe it was just a bad day.
• Coaching - when they FINALLY got a base runner (in the fifth inning and about to be run ruled) it was one of their slowest and most out of shape players. Despite having 6 players on the bench they didn't pinch run for her... and the next batter grounded into a Double Play. They never visited their pitcher who was getting rocked. They never adjusted their fielding for the short game. They never subbed anyone in ever.

Just to add to this - this team won 45% of their games last year and is 3-6 this year. So there are even WORSE teams out there.

Asked my DD what she thought of the games.
"I saw how a good team put away a bad team. Oh and I would never want to play for TEAM 2"

 

[SoAZDad]

I'm not sure I could've watched the entire game.

 

[JAD]

My DD and I have made an effort to go watch some college games this Spring and there are several really good 16U and 18U TB teams in our area that would give some colleges a run for their money! It is fun to gun pitchers with a pocket radar and we have yet to see a pitcher break 63 MPH. Most are 58-62 MPH, including several D1 pitchers.

 

[starsnuffer]

What were the girls on Team #2 studying, and were any of them getting scholarship money to do so via softball?

-W

 

[SoAZDad]

What were the girls on Team #2 studying, and were any of them getting scholarship money to do so via softball?

Excellent point Starsnuffer, education matters most. From the OP I probably still couldn't have watched the whole game, even if I knew there was or was not softball scholarship dollars doled out. Regardless I hope the Team #2 girls are having fun.

 

[marriard]

What were the girls on Team #2 studying, and were any of them getting scholarship money to do so via softball?

-W

No idea... I am not sure that matters - they ARE playing a full D2 college softball season and there is no excuse for an entire team to be that out of shape - nor to field like they have never played before. None of the players were from the state the university was located in so they must have been recruited there one way or another with softball a part of attending (it is not the sort of university you would find out about - you would have to be told about it)

I watched both games of the doubleheader. We know a lot of the local players on the local team and it was great watching them do well - even if it was against inferior competition.

 

[CoreSoftball20]

I'm with snuffer...would like to know if team 2 had any scholarship money or playing for fun before I called the girls "garbage"

 

[marriard]

I'm with snuffer...would like to know if team 2 had any scholarship money or playing for fun before I called the girls "garbage"

There are college programs out there with 'we are just playing NCAA for fun' teams (and being funded)? That would be a new one for me I guess - I haven't run into that but then I guess I have really only been involved in what I would consider serious college teams. I also think of all the Ivy League D1 schools and all the D3 schools that don't have athletic scholarships but still put forward competitive teams.

In terms or amount of travel and number of games this team was about the same as the team they were playing (actually traveling more since I live in a state where teams come to play while it is still cold up north). They also had 4 people on their coaching staff.

 

[CoreSoftball20]

There are college programs out there with 'we are just playing NCAA for fun' teams (and being funded)? .

There are colleges that don't fund programs anywhere near what others do. They don't offer any scholarships to any players and the amount allocated to the program is very slim. So yes, the players do it because they love to play. They aren't at the college because of softball, they are at the college for a degree...softball is secondary.

 

[Cannonball]

We have an area college that never puts a good team on the field. In fact that is in any sport. There is a local message board that has a year long thread as to why the school offers athletics at all since they are so bad. I know that they tried to play my dd's team last year because no one will play them. Yes, they are that bad. I know two girls on this team. They have talent but not grades and so went JUCO. From there, this is where they landed. Not good for them and they love the game. I feel bad for them.