Fastpitch Discussions

by **JustPlayTheGame** » Mon Jun 24, 2013 2:11 pm

There has been a lot of discussion in 12u about PGF v ASA Nationals, but most of those threads have presupposed that the top SoCal 12u team(s) will win Nationals. Some have been saying that in 12u other areas of the Country have finally caught up (or are close) to SoCal, and can field a top-tier team or several to compete against SoCal's best. If the Best of the West tournament is any indication, SoCal teams will have their hands full at Nationals.

Out of 15 teams entered, the12u Best of the West featured the following SoCal "Hey Bucket" ranked teams: 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 20.

Arizona was represented by the Arizona Suncats and the AZ Cats 2000. The Suncats won it all, going undefeated. IMO, the Suncats are as good, if not better, than ANY SoCal team, even those playing up most of the season

And the "other" Arizona team, the AZ Cats, was a great hitting team, beating a strong NorCal Salinas Storm team, before falling to the Suncats.

But it was not just the two great Arizona teams; the other California teams were strong as well. Salinas Storm, Clovis Rockets, CA Rapids and Lady Magic all represented well. (Too bad "Grapes - K" missed the tournament.)

Makes me wonder about the great teams from Georgia, Tenn, Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio, etc. that we don't know about. Yikes!

Yes SoCal still has a greater number of top-tier teams, but that really speaks to the weather and density of softball players. It takes only one team to win Nationals - and other areas now have such teams.

If Arizona and NorCal/Central Cal teams that played in Best of West are any indication, both PGF and ASA will have a number of non SoCal teams that can win it all. No more 12u SoCal dominance and arrogance - those days are gone. Prepare for battle!

by **mike200827** » Mon Jun 24, 2013 2:57 pm

PGF will most likely be won by a So Cal team and ASA will probably be won by a team other than a So Cal team mainly because the tournaments are the same date and all the top So Cal teams are going to PGF. There is only maybe 5 So Cal teams(not the top tier) going to ASA Nationals out of the 41 teams signed up.

by **DILLIGAFF** » Mon Jun 24, 2013 3:52 pm

could it be that there are a lot more "travel" teams now?

by **kevin** » Mon Jun 24, 2013 4:22 pm

I personally think its great that teams from out of So Ca are good/great. It makes it more interesting. They have gotten better since my first time around in this age group or maybe So Ca teams just aren't as good, or both.

by **AlwaysImprove** » Mon Jun 24, 2013 6:04 pm

I wish I had a $1 for every time I have heard the "SoCal fastpitch dominance is over". Comes regularly every 6 months for the last 10 years.

At 12U, you can actually see teams that are pretty competitive. By 18's, forget about it. We have had a couple of kids from our area that were very dominant. The go play in SoCal and they are in the mix.

You even have teams that have that special pitcher and several special players that have stayed together and are good enough to take the title. For instance the team from Oregon led by Inglesby that won 16 U nationals. Right now Oregon's 16's and 18's are in the mix.

For the most part it is hard, just from a competitive standpoint for an area to routinely produce the quality of players and teams that soCal produces.

Same as you see in college football. Just hard to put together a like competitive team, unless you routinely compete at the SEC level. Sure an occasional special team like Texas or USC can pull off a national championship but pretty rare.