PGF vs. ASA vs You Name It

[eddiez577]

It's all about strategy. Good teams should have a bullpen and enough starters to manage a tournament without going deep into IF games.

[Sam]

It's all about strategy. Good teams should have a bullpen and enough starters to manage a tournament without going deep into IF games.

Total bullshit. There aren't enough pitchers to go around and coaches won't throw #3 or #4 in an elimination game. That Means #1 is going to be abused and #2 will throw a bit.

[eddiez577]

Pipe dream i guess

[Fastpitch4Life]

They'd have to cut the number of teams by at least half and keep the same number of game days to keep teams from playing more than 3 games per day. ...

And your point is.....

They could also change the format to SE.

Straight SE is as unlikely as cutting the number of teams in half.

TCS has a unique format that keeps the number of games/day manageable: https://www.triplecrownsports.com/Classic/EventResults/showbrackets.asp?tournyid=7430&divisionid=2637
- Day 1: 2 meaningless pool games
- Days 2-3: 8 shortened DE pools (ie Brackets AA-HH) of 8-10 teams to seed/split them into various SE brackets
- Days 3-4: Various SE brackets

It's possible a team plays 4 games on Day 3, however it's very unlikely. Otherwise it's 2-3 games/day.

July 2016 at the Sparkler Jr. Colorado tourney, DD's team lost first bracket game and had to play and win 5 games on Saturday to get to the Sunday morning Finals of 14U Open Division. Long day, but will never forget it. Had 3 pitchers so to Sam's point, no one had to go 3 games, but I'm sure #1 and #2 did 2 that day and night, but as I remember #1 had to come back and pitch the final at 8 AM the next morning. I agree too many teams, but the youth softball cash machine must be fed! How do you regulate greed?

[sdiamond]

CA has a unique problem. We have more girls than any other state playing TB. These organizations do their best to put together tournaments to satisfy the TB softball families needs. The major problem I find is there are not enough quality fields to play on and not enough trained umpires to handle the competitive games.

Its a problem many other States would like to have but we as parents/coaches are spoiled because we have so many organization tournaments to choose from we take it for granted. Just like any other business they are here to make money and its not an easy task scheduling these events with trying to find facilities, umpires and having managers requesting certain teams, sites and times.

My only complaint is why CA doesnt have the great facilities like the ones Boombah and USSSA just built in Florida when the majority of teams in travel ball are in CA? Why do we travel to other states to play just a handful of teams from other states when the majority of the teams are from CA?
Pitching is always an issue with every team and its up to the parent and coach to make sure as it is with every position player their being played properly and not jeopardizing their health. MY DD's TB team has an excellent coaching staff and they would never over pitch a girl or over play a girl just for a win. If another team is doing this shame on the staff and on the parents .

If you all feel these organizations are scheduling to many games in a day then as I was taught when one shows dissatisfaction with an issue or has a problem when discussing/complaining about it also have a suggested solution to the problem. My suggestion and im not sure it hasnt happened is to get these organizations to sit down here in CA with teams coaches/managers during winter break and try and have a compromise/solution to how to better run a tournament/qualifier event thats a benefit to the organization hosting and to the teams attending who pay big money to play to help their girls get college exposure.
Per major League baseball who did a study on all youth sports Girls softball grew by 8% last year that was more than any other youth sport and its going to continue to grow with the exposure of college softball on TV now and the scholarships available to pay for ones education.

So it shouldnt be PGF vs ASA or TCS or AFA its about who can bring the best product to the table the best events at the best facilities for the best price and the best exposure to colleges with all the new rules the NCAA has established and enforcing. Most of the new rules are for D1 schools our daughters can get a great education at D2 and D3 and NAIA schools and which ever organization can get recruiters from these colleges to events will become the premier organization in CA.

Hope I didnt get off topic to much and wishing everyone a safe and happy new year and looking forward to seeing many of the amazing athletes/teams compete against one another in 2018. Good Luck Coaches...

[Battle]

CA has a unique problem. ...

In more ways than one....

[PDad]

CA has a unique problem. ...

In more ways than one....

There you go again - instigating stuff. haha

[Battle]

CA has a unique problem. ...

In more ways than one....

There you go again - instigating stuff. haha

Ha....and still me believing it.

[jonriv]

I remember a REC Travel team final tournament where our 12u pitcher pitched every inning of 8 games played over a weekend fro-sat in over 90 degree humid weather. I was impressed at the time, but looking back I realize how crazy/stupid and irresponsible it was of that coach (and parents)

I can think of many regular weekend tournaments(Saturday 3 game pool play and Sunday single elimination) where we played 3-4 games on Sunday-especially with low seeding. To Sam's point-too many teams

During two different National tournaments played three and four games in a day(losers bracket run) Most games in a single tournament over a week was 11

Most games my daughter ever played in a day in college was 2.33(two scheduled and a continuation of a rainout)

As far as National tournaments there are several things at play:

1) Enough games to make the trip worth it for the team traveling. Makes no sense to travel across the country for a one and done

2) A short enough tournament that there is not too much downtime and the hotel expense is lower, but not so condensed that teams are forced to play an unrealistic number of games per day

3) Tournament holders need to have enough teams to make the tournament worth it. Even non-profits

Not sure what is the right number and balancing out everything

As far as running the best tournament- from what I read PGF seems to have the best format is PGF, but having the National Tournament always in California makes it a difficult choice for East Coast teams if the number of games is limited(cost plus competition)

The best run National Tournament my daughter ever attended was TCS in Park City Utah- the facilities and location was incredible- tournament was well run- cost was good(Jet Blue to Salt Lake City and off-season ski resort hotel/condo rates)

[curveballerguy124]

Everybody has valid points and it all makes sense.....However, the best solution to playing a shit ton of games in a day during nationals or a big tourney is simple, stay in the winners bracket!!!! Then you ain't gotta worry about a damn thing, there you have it problem solved!!

As for KIDS having to pitch too much in fastpitch, well if they are throwing with good mechanics then it shouldn't be an issue. Just watch them fatigue is normal pain is not talk to your kids if they are in pain make the coach sit em, if they are good hand them the rock and send'em back out there. This is underhand pitching not overhand, they are kids they should be able to throw a 100+ pitches before they start to tire out, granted as long as they are throwing with good mechanics!!