USSSA Nationals in Iowa

[NJSwampdragons]

Has anyone been to this tournament and can give feedback? Experience, facilities, level of play, surrounding area?

Thanks.

 

[_MIA_]

Des Moines? Level of play was pretty good (they played 11O). Fields were pretty lousy. We stayed in an Air B&B near Drake, area was fine.

 

[NJSwampdragons]

Yes, team was looking bc it has an 11u. Not sure how the Midwest competition compares to PA-NJ-NY.

 

[_MIA_]

Yes, team was looking bc it has an 11u. Not sure how the Midwest competition compares to PA-NJ-NY.

@Gambler Bob ’s Bandits team won it the year we went. All depends on who shows up. Bandits, Iowa Premier, Aces, St. Louis Chaos, etc could all be there and you would have plenty of competition..

 

[NJSwampdragons]

@Gambler Bob ’s Bandits team won it the year we went. All depends on who shows up. Bandits, Iowa Premier, Aces, etc could all be there and you would have plenty of competition..

What’s the pitching like? Is it a steady dose of 55mph+ with girls throwing back door curves or a wide mix?

 

[_MIA_]

What’s the pitching like? Is it a steady dose of 55mph+ with girls throwing back door curves or a wide mix?

When DD played you saw some kids probably throwing that hard but not many (most of them were on the Bandits teams, they had 2 teams there)

Keep in mind that the Bandits team that came in second in that tournament won 12u PGF Nationals last summer (granted with some new players) so it may have not been exactly representative of what you might normally see there. That said, it is usually a solid tournament competition wise but I am not sure what level you are used to.

 

[Gambler Bob]

What’s the pitching like? Is it a steady dose of 55mph+ with girls throwing back door curves or a wide mix?

I would say it is a wide mix when it comes to pitching. There was 50 - 60 teams in the 11u division. In the top bracket for bracket play when you get down to the last 6-8 teams I believe every team had at least one or two girls that could throw 55 plus. Mostly fastballs and changeups. Sure, some of the girls were throwing what they call movement pitches. Whether or not they actually moved is another story. The Bandit team I coached had two girls that could throw as hard as 58 mph. Not every pitch they threw was that hard! If I had to guess I would say there was roughly 8 pitcher at the tournament that were 56-60 mph.

There are some good teams there, some mid level teams, and some poor teams. We went 4-0 in pool play. If I had to guess we outscored the opponents about 50- 3 in pool play. The tournament gets broken into 3, or 4 different brackets based on pool play results.

As far as the fields go, I would say they were average. Plenty of room to warmup before games. It rained hard on Saturday for about an hour. The grounds crew did a good job getting the fields ready to play after the rain.

The area around the fields was fine. Honestly, we did not have a lot of leisure time. We played 12 games in the tournament, so the girls were very busy.

 

[NJSwampdragons]

When DD played you saw some kids probably throwing that hard but not many (most of them were on the Bandits teams, they had 2 teams there)

I would say it is a wide mix when it comes to pitching. There was 50 - 60 teams in the 11u division. In the top bracket for bracket play when you get down to the last 6-8 teams I believe every team had at least one or two girls that could throw 55 plus. Mostly fastballs and changeups. Sure, some of the girls were throwing what they call movement pitches. Whether or not they actually moved is another story. The Bandit team I coached had two girls that could throw as hard as 58 mph. Not every pitch they threw was that hard! If I had to guess I would say there was roughly 8 pitcher at the tournament that were 56-60 mph.

There are some good teams there, some mid level teams, and some poor teams. We went 4-0 in pool play. If I had to guess we outscored the opponents about 50- 3 in pool play. The tournament gets broken into 3, or 4 different brackets based on pool play results.

As far as the fields go, I would say they were average. Plenty of room to warmup before games. It rained hard on Saturday for about an hour. The grounds crew did a good job getting the fields ready to play after the rain.

The area around the fields was fine. Honestly, we did not have a lot of leisure time. We played 12 games in the tournament, so the girls were very busy.

Thanks, this is great info. We probably have the pitching to hang around and win a game or two - would hate to fly there to get crushed every single game. My DD just hit 54mph, so maybe she gets to mid-50s by July, and the other two pitchers should be in the low 50s I think. Hitting and fielding in 6 months

I think the coach wants to go to Iowa but some of the parents now seem to be revolting at the idea of flying there. I think it would be good to see what some really good teams look like outside our area - should be an eye opener.

 

[_MIA_]

Thanks, this is great info. We probably have the pitching to hang around and win a game or two - would hate to fly there to get crushed every single game. My DD just hit 54mph, so maybe she gets to mid-50s by July, and the other two pitchers should be in the low 50s I think. Hitting and fielding in 6 months

I think the coach wants to go to Iowa but some of the parents now seem to be revolting at the idea of flying there. I think it would be good to see what some really good teams look like outside our area - should be an eye opener.

Which one are you thinking of signing up for, USA ES World FP Championships or the National Championships? The former will probably have better teams in it.

 

[NJSwampdragons]

This one: https://www.usssa.com/fastpitch/event_lookWhoIsComing/?eventID=358576

So I guess that one is easier than this one:

USSSA - United States Specialty Sports Association

www.usssa.com