What happened to ASA/USA Gold Nationals?

[playball4]

Very interesting to hear how this all works in different parts of the county. There is no PGF presence in the Pacific NW. USA pretty much has the biggest tournaments with the best teams followed by USSSA and NSA. USSSA tournaments are generally a bit soft with lots of B teams masquerading as A teams as another poster mentioned, and NSA tournaments tend to attract a lot of teams in the 10U-14U ages but not much 16U-18U. Starting to see more and more teams from this area traveling to PGF tournaments in other parts of the country.

And that prompted my question. We are in the PNW, and the 18G USA qualifier only had 10 teams in it this year. 7 years ago, I remember 30 plus teams vying for 2 berths and great competition.

 

[MNDad]

So my oldest DD played and made
It to OK City for 18 Gold Nationals 7 years ago, and PGF was still new then, but picking up steam. Now youngest DD team’s coach has been trying for PGF for the last couple of years, and they finally made it this year, so we are playing now in SoCal. Out of curiosity I looked up 18G and 16G USA and was shocked to see how few teams are penciled in.
What happened there? 360 teams in PGF 18s and 16s combined, but less than 80 for USA 18G and 16G combined? What did I miss?

I remember the old days when 100+ teams at ASA A and another 64 at ASA Gold was too watered down. Now the highly selective PGF has reached those same numbers. Same old, same old. Only the names have changed.

 

[playball4]

I remember the old days when 100+ teams at ASA A and another 64 at ASA Gold was too watered down. Now the highly selective PGF has reached those same numbers. Same old, same old. Only the names have changed.

I appreciate this comment... about to start Day 5 in 18U Platinum, and some of the teams here have me scratching my head on how they are here at all. Seems a little watered down to me, and maybe they should just go to Premiere only, or with a much smaller Platinum field for the opportunity to finish well and get an invite the next year (like IDT does in CO).
Granted, I am only comparing to 2012 18G ASA Nationals in OKC, but I remember much more solid competition then.

 

[_MIA_]

I appreciate this comment... about to start Day 5 in 18U Platinum, and some of the teams here have me scratching my head on how they are here at all. Seems a little watered down to me, and maybe they should just go to Premiere only, or with a much smaller Platinum field for the opportunity to finish well and get an invite the next year (like IDT does in CO).
Granted, I am only comparing to 2012 18G ASA Nationals in OKC, but I remember much more solid competition then.

How many of those bad teams qualified vs. getting an automatic birth based upon previous finish?

 

[playball4]

How many of those bad teams qualified vs. getting an automatic birth based upon previous finish?

Good question. I know a few from our area that are in Premiere went 0-2 in bracket, but last year finished well.

 

[WinThemAll]

Now as far as I can tell, it appears that USA Softball has teamed up with Triple Crown. It's now TC/USA Nationals.... hmmmmm

No, just a title of the tournament.

 

[CoachKevin]

No, just a title of the tournament.

That's good to know, a little "wordsmithing" classic

 

[Orange Socks]

My perspective is coming from Gold ball, as I have no recent experience with local 14U and under local tourneys. This summer DD's team played TCS Texas State, Boulder IDT, TCS-Nationals and some warm up round robins and Aces Express Gold Cup.

No one has mentioned that USA Softball added the JO Cup as a Nationals tourney along with a USA Gold tourney. What is better? Jo Cup or USA Gold? I would say Jo Cup. I am looking at the teams that are playing the Gold Nationals and most of those teams are not of the highest caliber. Of course there are some top teams in the field but meh for the most part. I personally like TCS events even though their bracket formats are little quirky, they are still interesting. USA softball has too many Nationals tourneys IMO. Jo Cup, Gold, Southern, Eastern, B-Nationals for each region. A-Nationals, etc. TCS is doing the same with TCS Nat's and their regionals but it's not Gold, A, B like USA.

All in all there is something for available for all teams. Is it watered down? Yes, but the best teams will play the best teams and they usually playing at the end. What I like seeing is teams that are not from typical areas of the country for softball come in and make some noise at the big tourneys. Underdogs if you will. There is very good ball being played ALL over this country!!!

 

[inumpire]

My perspective is coming from Gold ball, as I have no recent experience with local 14U and under local tourneys. This summer DD's team played TCS Texas State, Boulder IDT, TCS-Nationals and some warm up round robins and Aces Express Gold Cup.

No one has mentioned that USA Softball added the JO Cup as a Nationals tourney along with a USA Gold tourney. What is better? Jo Cup or USA Gold? I would say Jo Cup. I am looking at the teams that are playing the Gold Nationals and most of those teams are not of the highest caliber. Of course there are some top teams in the field but meh for the most part. I personally like TCS events even though their bracket formats are little quirky, they are still interesting. USA softball has too many Nationals tourneys IMO. Jo Cup, Gold, Southern, Eastern, B-Nationals for each region. A-Nationals, etc. TCS is doing the same with TCS Nat's and their regionals but it's not Gold, A, B like USA.

All in all there is something for available for all teams. Is it watered down? Yes, but the best teams will play the best teams and they usually playing at the end. What I like seeing is teams that are not from typical areas of the country for softball come in and make some noise at the big tourneys. Underdogs if you will. There is very good ball being played ALL over this country!!!

Very interesting comments from everyone.

 

[BT3100]

We have a travel org in our area that won the 18U tournament last year. Their goal is to win ASA nationals. I followed them this year at nationals and was surprised at two things. One was that college players (even sophomores) are allowed to play at ASA nationals. Seems kinda pointless to allow college players to play in what should be a travel tournament. Also, I was surprised at the level of talent. I did not know many of the teams in the bracket but began to check in game changer and saw a lot of .500 clubs. Seems to me like PGF has really taken away the "Nationals" from everyone else.