Diamonds of the South

[bucketboy]

Well it looks like the predictions were close in 16u with a 25 team field and game times beginning early on Friday and have fun with those 7am game times on Saturday morning for some of you.

Some very good matchups in first round pool games should be very interesting.

The 18u field has 17 teams and looks to be solid.

Hopefully mother nature will cooperate and hopefully the brackets will be updated throughout the weekend so we can keep up with the goings on.

Best of luck to everyone.

[da60]

Thought I would just post some rambling thoughts about 18u Diamonds of South. We faced some pretty good teams this weekend and were able to remain fairly competitive given our team has been snakebit with injures and illnesses. We took 10 girls down to Jasper only to have one battle the flu all weekend, my d took a pitch off her leg her first at bat of the tournament and could not run the rest of the weekend, our third baseman pulled her thigh muscle and later had a throw glance off her glove and hit her just under the eye, #1 pitcher took a come backer off her chest, yet all the girls continued to play on and gave the best they could. Proud of all our girl's effort. I would appreciate some opinions on a couple issues, one being the merits of pool play at the older age groups, say 16u and 18u. I understand the TD wanting to guarantee a certain number of games, but it is starting to get a little frustraing once the main tournament begins to play 4 games or more in 90 plus degree weather on a Saturday. IMO by the third game it begins to look like survival softball and the level of play starts to drop. This is not a sour grapes rant because we got put out of the tournament, just wondering what everyones thoughts on this subject are. Saw Bucketboy at the tournament and said a brief hello as we had just started our first pool game. Looked at the main draw Saturday and saw his team was going to face Team Indiana Blue in the second round. Now if two teams of this caliber are going to face off in the second round, imo you might as well go to a blind draw for the main part of the tournament and eliminate pool games. Appreciate everyones thoughts, hope teams had a good weekend, and will see whoever might be at the 18u State Games in Bloomington.

[Stratos]

Eliminate pool play and go straight into double elimination? Kinda of pricey for two games. Coaches want games. That is how the girls get better, more games against better competition.

Cant control the weather. Yes, it was hot and humid, but all the teams were playing in it. These tournaments will eliminate teams with no depth. Teams with the best nine do not always win. Pitching and catching depth is a must.

Team Indiana could have eliminated playing xtreme91 if they won their pool.

[bucketboy]

Personally I liked the format that was used last year where you did play 2 pool games, but the bracket was already drawn and the pool play games were for lack of a better word showcase type games.

Kids could get playing time, coaches could experiment, a number 2 or 3 pitcher gets innings all in the essence of getting better and a good time for a college coach to scout players as well.

Now coaches are forced to basically put their best foot forward from game one.

Xtreme was fortunate to have received a first round bye by winning their pool and won the event. Cudos to the Indiana Magic for battling from the loser's bracket to get back to the championship game. 10 games in that heat for them over the weekend will be a good warm up for the weather they will play in at Nationals in Vegas.

Who won 16's?

[gunshy]

Diamonds of the South Results for 16u
1.Indiana Shockwaves '93
2.Dreams (Leming)
3. Greencastle XPlosion
4.Diamond Chix
5. Indiana Magic Gold

[da60]

Good points and appreciate the thoughts. Stratos, your response sounded a little like you were preaching to me. If not I apologize. I promise you this, I have played enough different sports, some at a very high tournament level to know the value of competition. Just wanted to solicit some different opinions about pool games. Good luck to teams this weekend. If your in Bloomington and you see the Eclipse playing, stop by and say Hi. I will be coaching first base.

[ntheknow]

Stratos,

Players can learn from game experiences, but they don't get better playing games. This is one of the biggest fallacies that parents have. If a player wants to get better, or a parent wants to see their dd get better, then they should encourage them to practice, not play 40-50 games during the summer.

[gunshy]

NTK, I can't say that my experiences entirely agree with your assertions on playing and practice. This is almost a "which came first, the chicken or the egg" deal. You can't practice endlessly without games, and you cannot play endless games without practice. Two games per week in a 7 week season is simply not enough games and 4 practices per week is way too much. There has to be a balance between games and practice, as it is virtually impossible to accurately simulate game speed and odd game situations in practice. 40-50 games per summer for an A team is completely average, as we played 7 games last weekend and did not play in the meat grinder of the bottom bracket. Not sure I would want to play LESS than 40-50 games in a summer, given all the winter work the players put in to compete at the highest level.

[jag1]

what aggravates me is, it seems all too often these tournament coordinators get a little greedy and put their profit margins before what is in the best interest of the kids. They take in way more teams than their facilities can comfortably accomodate and/or the weekend becomes a battle of attrition because you have to play 5 games a day. It's not quality softball for any team to have to play 8-9 games in two days, it's an injury(or burnout) waiting to happen. I would like to see how a local through -the- week tournament would go...show up on Tues. night and play your two pool games, then come back on Saturday and play 3-4 games to the championship. It would maybe give the girls a break and let them enjoy their summer....

[HAMMER]

what aggravates me is, it seems all too often these tournament coordinators get a little greedy and put their profit margins before what is in the best interest of the kids. They take in way more teams than their facilities can comfortably accomodate and/or the weekend becomes a battle of attrition because you have to play 5 games a day. It's not quality softball for any team to have to play 8-9 games in two days, it's an injury(or burnout) waiting to happen. I would like to see how a local through -the- week tournament would go...show up on Tues. night and play your two pool games, then come back on Saturday and play 3-4 games to the championship. It would maybe give the girls a break and let them enjoy their summer....

Sounds like you are a part time softball parent is it to hot up there to play more than two games a day ! ha ha ! Don’t waste your time ever coming to the south to play softball It doesn’t sound like the girls from up there could even handle the winners bracket ( not that they would ever see it ). Keep making sure everyone is having fun on your league teams and make sure not to push them to hard . Ok pumpkin !