I get dozens of e-mails and texts daily covering a variety of issues — many being in response to articles or various issues.

Here are some of them and my responses/comments where needed—Brentt Eads

 

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New Site Comments… and Responses

You used to be a good site. I’ve enjoyed your site, and shared links to it, but not a chance I’m paying money for it. Perhaps you should consider using ads instead?
— LS

Do your yearly subscriptions require automatic renewals or is there an option of being notified before renewing?
Thank you.
— Lloyd Song

What additional content is going to be provided?
— J. Howser

Brentt responses: I’ve received a lot of comments that readers like the new site—the look, navigation and features—and I’m sure many feel the same as “LS” about not wanting to pay. I can appreciate that, here’s what happened: Student Sports wasn’t able to continue supporting a softball site, so I had to decide if I would get another media job or try to stay in softball. I love the people in the sport, particularly the athletes, and decided to try to do it on my own. Scary, but worth trying!

To do this, I have to monetize somehow and the two most obvious ways are through subscriptions and sponsors. Hey, if I could get enough sponsor dollars in softball to pay the bills, I’d do it in a heartbeat, but that’s probably a ways away. In the meantime, I’m hoping/thinking there’s enough value on the site that it’s worth $5 a month (with annual sub)… c’mon, that’s less than a burger and drink!

Answering the other questions: the subs do renew, but you are notified in advance that the subscription is expiring. Finally, the additional content comes simply because I’m going full-time at this, doing twice the content as before and have some fun stuff coming up soon including major DI coach interviews, club team FAB 50’s and the long-awaited, highly anticipated Hot 100 2016’s!

 

Big Miss at Boulder

I put up a post recently called the “Top 10 Club Events of the Summer” and one reader thought I missed a key one…

In reading your Top 10 events/performance of the summer, I’m wondering how you missed Lady Magic – Havey’s dominance of the 16U at the Boulder Independence Day Tournament?

In winning the tournament, Lady Magic beat in succession: SoCal A’s (Makayla Martin) 4-1 in quarter-final, Beverly Bandits (Alexis Holloway) 4-2 in semi-final, and Corona Angels (six different pitchers) 18-5 in the final!  These are the same teams that finished in the top three spots at PGF 16U and the pitchers and teams you’ve been extolling on this site for the last two weeks (and have at #5 on your list).  Why wasn’t 16U IDT and champion Lady Magic – Havey included?
— Dan

Brentt response—I knew the Magic had won big in Boulder in the 16U Nationals—it was on the “5 Others of Note”—but I wasn’t there and though I ran an article detailing the big win, I didn’t see it personally like almost all the others. Dan’s points are valid and it could have easily made the Top 10. I hope to make it up by profiling the Lady Magic team soon!

 

Dropped Scholarships

Last week it came to light that the Univ. of Georgia had withdrawn scholarships to three players, a situation that many feel will happen more and more with early recruiting getting more and more players committing younger and younger…

What an unfortunate situation for those three players who were verballed to Georgia.  Same thing happened to one of my daughter’s friends, a 2014, who was verballed to a college.  When the coach left last fall, the new head coach said she needed to re-evaluate the verbals, etc…

When she finally did contact this particular player, the player had already read between the lines and moved on to greener pastures.  Thank goodness the coach who left was able to make her an offer at the new school, where she ended up signing.  It was a stressful situation nonetheless, and I do not wish that upon anyone!
— Kris

 

East Coast Problems with Playing Up

If you find yourself looking for something which might make an interesting read, consider this:

On the East Coast we lack the number of girls the West Coast enjoys. Consequently, too few very good players end up on too many teams diluted with too many girls playing ‘up’ well before they should be. The older teams compete for younger & younger girls year in year out. Ie: many 18U teams are loaded with 14U players.

To make matters worse, there are way too many teams so the competition gets severely diluted. While it is very possible to form a few very good 14 and 16U teams which would play their age group, too many egos and parents get in the way. Everybody feels they have to ‘play up’. Playing up is all fine and good except, for the younger kids, most of the recruiting is done at the 14 and 16U levels.

Typically, the 18U events aren’t frequented by the larger number of college scouts so the younger girls don’t get seen near as much. While there are exceptions, Gold Coast, Ga Impact, NJ Intensity, Beverly Bandits, to name a few, most teams just don’t have the BRAND which takes time to build and garner the attention & invitations to the top events.

I’ve painted a broad stroke to an issue which all teams/coaches struggle with every year out here.
— John

PGF Recognition

Something should be said about the three club programs finishing in the top 10 (really top 9) at PGF in each of the 12U, 14U, 16U and 18U levels: the Birmingham Thunderbolts, Corona Angels and So Cal A’s.

Actually, the So Cal A’s finished in the top 3 and the Corona Angels in the top 5 in at each age level. That’s a fantastic accomplishment for any organization.
— Mike

 

Janie’s Inning

This is in response to the story on Janie Girouard from Lafayette, La. that ran in April. Janie has Down’s Syndrome, but is a key cog on the state-title winning St. Thomas More High softball team. At the end of most games, she also gets an at-bat and, with the helps of her teammates and even the opponents, makes it a special “inning” for all. But some wonder if it’s a all positive…

I have mixed emotions about this sort of thing. On the one hand I think it’s great that they are doing this for this girl. It makes her feel wanted and part of something, but on the other, aren’t they emphasizing her disability by saying in essence that they know she isn’t physically or mentally capable of doing this on her own, so they have to make it easy on her so she can get to feel good? What kind of life lesson does that teach, and are they raising her expectations about what life is really like? I don’t know the answers, but I don’t think the questions are unreasonable.
— Rob

Pitching Overuse

Some club pitchers carried their teams on their shoulders at summer tournaments this year and many wondering if that’s a good thing. I asked some top club coaches their thoughts on “overpitching” and the mom of a top player chimed in (but asked to leave her name out so I’m changing it to protect her identity)

You know I am going to chime in.  From the start, (my daughter) has been part of a pitching “staff” – I see the comments about primadona players with even worse parents and I just don’t get it.  When we first went to travel ball with her as a 2^nd year 10U, one of the coaches told us “She’ll be our No. 1, blah blah blah and our response was “We don’t want her to be No. 1, we want her to be on a team with THREE solid pitchers and be rotated and have to compete and EARN her spot.”

Over the years, we have learned that the “Ship” isn’t necessarily the best game either. Many times over, the quarter or semi-final games are the toughest, depending on the bracket and we always stressed that it doesn’t matter which game you throw, just throw your best and be a team player – sure, every girl wants to be in that spotlight in the final game, but they need to understand that if they are needed in an earlier game to get to the championship, in my opinion, that is just as –and sometimes even more – important.

So some advice from a parent who has had two pitchers and been in the sport for 15 years – Relax, don’t be in such a rush to take center stage — take care of their arms, their health has to come first.. And take a 4-6 week break a couple times a year without throwing a ball – trust me, that time off to recoup could make all the difference in the world.

I do want to add that taking a break from pitching doesn’t necessarily mean taking a break from keeping in shape. After a couple of weeks of doing nothing, they should continue with exercise workouts 2-3 times a week to stay fit
— DI mom