More invites to 18u?

[softballmafia]

Just noticed on the website that there are more new invites.....Do we really need qaulifiers to premeir anymore, why don't we just invite everyone and save money for all the teams...just my taught.

[jonriv]

Perhaps a national selection committee. We can then spend pages and pages on HB arguing about the selections

[Trophy Hunter]

The ever increasing number of invites reflects the fact the PGF hasn't come close to winning over over the softball community.

Invites were supposed to be for the first two years, in order to lure teams to play PGF. Now it seems they have to still invite even local teams to get them to play. It's easy to yes when they save you the time and expense of actually having to qualify on the dirt.

With so many invitations out to the teams they want there, it's hard to call this a true Open Championship. They hold a few qualifiers to make it look like one, but it's not really. Nationally it appears as though most teams just don't care about PGF. So they keep inviting more.

[wichita]

The ever increasing number of invites reflects the fact the PGF hasn't come close to winning over over the softball community.

Invites were supposed to be for the first two years, in order to lure teams to play PGF. Now it seems they have to still invite even local teams to get them to play. It's easy to yes when they save you the time and expense of actually having to qualify on the dirt.

With so many invitations out to the teams they want there, it's hard to call this a true Open Championship. They hold a few qualifiers to make it look like one, but it's not really. Nationally it appears as though most teams just don't care about PGF. So they keep inviting more.

Your right. They havent won over everyone, Just the top teams.

The top teams that didn't have to do squat to earn there spot.

[CULater]

In my opinion the invites are fairly transparent. PGF invited some top teams from around the country, in an attempt to increase the PGF footprint in those areas, The non-California teams that were invited were probably going to qualify in their respective area qualifiers anyway, so that they were invited is not such a big deal. That does one of two things, it either opens up that particular qualifier for a "lesser" team that may not have qualified had the invitees had to qualify or it allows for an out of region team to go and earn a berth against a watered down field.
As I stated earlier in this thread, the 9 California invites, while potenitally justified in some cases, is just a way to get in all the California teams that PGF feels should be at nationals there while not incurring a huge expenses for other California teams by forcing them to travel to earn a berth.

Below are the invited teams and their 2011 PGF finish.

Texas Impact Gold 13th
Wichita Mustangs 13th
NW Bullets 13th
Cal Grapettes 13th
Jersey Intensity 25th
East Cobb Bullets 17th
Team North Florida DNP
Sorcerers 17th
Minors Gold 25th
Victory USA 33rd
Tulsa Eagles 25th
So Cal Pumas 33rd
Georgia Elite 33rd
So Cal Breakers 49th
California Cruisers 33rd
Irvine Sting 49th
Gold Coast Hurricanes 33rd
Southern Force 25th
Indiana Magic 33rd
Illinois Chill 33rd
TNL- DNP or 25th 16U
TC Stars - 17th

Makes you wonder what the criteria for invites were, when 2 of the teams didn't play and 9 others finished in the bottom half the year before.

[dodgerblue]

Premier National Championship?
Premier Invitational Championship?

Just having fun with the topic so please no hard feelings.

[bigapples08]

they should just call it an invitational, for thats exactly correct. The quality of the teams are solid and anybody with a great 18 team would love to participate in this tourney. However a National Tourney Championship should be through qualifiers only unless you finished first or second from the previous year.
Just like the TC rankings, its a great idea but to influence their rankings level by "top program nomination" which if your voted highly by other coaches your rankings become higher. That should not bear weight against the College Player Index or the Team Rankings based on finishing well at Nationals or high level tourneys.
All of this allows teams to participate without completely earning it. We've gotten away from the old days of the last one standing on sunday wins, and in my opinion it shows in college play.
JMO

[smash]

Now that PGF set the date for 18U and it is the same weekend as ASA 18Gold the decision will be easy to make for many teams.

[jmo]

Actually three teams did not play last year that were invited this year and will be attending.

Team North Florida - 2011 ASA Gold Champions
TNL - 2011 ASA 16U Champions
Southern Force - 2011 ASA 16U 3rd Place

[softballmafia]

You have 2 teams that played 16 last year and now they are invited to a upper division....going against your policy aren't we....

Returning berths are only valid for that age division. The Designated Head Coach may not bring the berth to an upper division and may not assign the berth to another coach within their organization.