Basball clubs forming softball alliances

[sbfanatic]

What is with these Dallas baseball organization forming so called softball alliances. Is this going to be a new trend this next season. First D-bats, now Dallas Tigers we will soon be over run by baseball organizations that know what's best for our DD's. Stick to baseball guys leave softball alone.

[DBAT Softball]

sbfanatic,

I was brought in to run the softball side of D-BAT Sports. We are fortunate to have an outstanding model for success, that has been inherited from the D-BAT/Dallas Mustangs history and recent merger. The baseball side has been sending guys to the west coast to play ball for the last 20 years. We had 55 2009 graduates sign NLI's this year, and are seeing some of our guys go in the draft as well the past few days.

Instead of the "baseball" takeover you think it is, you might find that our program should lend a helping hand to a lot of coaches, players and families.

Our Softball Program features 4 levels of teams. Developmental, Local, Regional and National. All of our D-BAT coaches and players that participate in the program will receive training and constant support from our program. We're establishing a Developmental program that will help bring players from Rec Ball, to work with trained coaches that can help their game grow at the select level. A program that will allow girls with other commitments, to still find a place to play and learn with our Local teams. We're also here to provide opportunities for players to receive professional coaching at the National and Regional level, if players choose to go this route.

The good news, is that the baseball guys are still going to be doing their thing and the softball side is going to do their thing.

I assure you that I work full-time in Fastpitch, as will every other member of D-BAT softball. Yes, I do work for the Colorado Rockies as a scout, and from time to time I have assignments to evaluate hitters in the Austin area. That's as close to baseball as D-BAT Softball will get though. So, you're in luck, the baseball guys are going to stick to baseball.

Mark Mulvany
Director of Softball Operations
D-BAT Sports

[sbfanatic]

Mr. Mulvany,
How much fast pitch softball experience do you have? I assume that the majority of your experience and your staff is baseball.

Some may think that the games could be considered the same, IMO they are not.

In order to find FP coaches that have the experience to lead some DD's into college ,you will have to disrupt one or more of our current softball organizations. Unless you bring in coaches from out of the area.

Were already saturated with softball organizations and have a whole bunch of teams in all age brackets. So now we have a bunch of diluted softball teams with a handful of studs on each teams. Which makes it harder to compete nationally. Some of these studs will be jumping ship to your organization and all the other baseball clubs jumping on the softball band wagon.

I see more harm then good to our softball community. It would be better served to scout our softball community and find a current organization to put under your wing.

Just my opinion and you know the ole saying about opinions....

[DBAT Softball]

fanatic,

I sent you a PM to answer your questions. Playing experience, yes, baseball (sorry, I'm a guy). Coaching experience, ALL of it in Fastpitch. I stopped coaching my gold team a year ago when my wife and I had our son. The past year I've been involved in releasing my Drill Series (www.Fastpitchtrainer.com) that is used by over 50-college programs from all levels. In fact at the end of the year I had teams in D1, D2 and D3 finish in the Top 25, had 2 that got close to a national championship recently.

I might be one of the few people, that through their work in Fastpitch, was picked up as a baseball scout. If a MLB organization trusts that I can tell if an 18-year old kid can hit at the big league level, then I can probably give a fair assessment of a 13-year olds ability to compete at the 14U level and beyond, since it is my main sport.

It took an company like D-BAT to get me involved in coaching a team and running an organization. I was only going to do it if 1.) I would have a team that could compete nationally and 2.) We would begin a program that included players of all ability levels.

Mark Mulvany
Director of Softball Operations
D-BAT Sports and Academies

[sbfanatic]

I stopped coaching my gold team a year ago when my wife and I had our son. The past year I've been involved in releasing my Drill Series (http://www.Fastpitchtrainer.com) that is used by over 50-college programs from all levels. In fact at the end of the year I had teams in D1, D2 and D3 finish in the Top 25, had 2 that got close to a national championship recently.

Did you coach some D1,D2 and D3 teams in the past? Or are you saying that since they used your Drill Series that those teams are in part your team also.

I had teams in D1, D2 and D3 finish in the Top 25, had 2 that got close to a national championship recently.

Is it correct that your team was the NTX Shockers Gold? I am sure with D-bats support you will be able to put together a better Gold team than what you had in the past.
Good Luck with your venture and I hope everyone benefits in the DFW area.

[texasglori]

Im sorry Mark even though you are a good guy, your record speaks for itself. History of going and doing well at ASA Nationals is what most girls are looking for.

NTX Shockers

Past Events
From To Tournament Class Age Place Wins Losses Ties Not Scored # of Teams
09/29/06 10/01/06 NRGSL Fall Classic 18U A/Gold 18U Did Not Place
10/13/06 10/15/06 Irving GSL Open 18U Did Not Place
10/27/06 10/29/06 NRGSL ORIGINAL FALL College Look & Player Showcase Event - 10th Straight Year A/Gold 18U Did Not Place
11/10/06 11/12/06 THE EASTON ELITE COLLEGE SHOWCASE AND BLU CHIP COLLEGE RECRUITING CAMP A/Gold 18U Did Not Place
12/01/06 12/03/06 Keller Toy Tournament A 16U Rainout
05/12/07 05/12/07 GPGSA Mothers Day Classic Open 18U Rainout
05/18/07 05/20/07 Teresa Huffman Memorial (Keller) A 18U 5th
05/26/07 05/28/07 Allen Memorial Weekend Tournament Open 18U Rainout
06/01/07 06/03/07 16-U Class(A) National Qualifier A 16U Did Not Place
06/08/07 06/10/07 Texas ASA Region 7 Hall of Fame Qualifier A 16U Did Not Place
06/16/07 06/17/07 Fort Worth Gateway 7 Inning A 18U Rainout
06/21/07 06/23/07 Metro Championship Qual. A 16U
07/13/07 07/15/07 16-U (A) Regional A 16U Did Not Place
07/19/07 07/22/07 The NFCA Elite College Showcase and Recruiting Camp Open 18U Place 144
08/01/07 08/05/07 ASA Girls 16-U Class AFP Southern National Championship Finals A 16U Not Place 3 2 1 33
09/28/07 09/30/07 NRGSL Fall Classic 18 Gold A/Gold 18U Did Not Place
10/12/07 10/14/07 The Miken Texas Glory 1st Annual College Exposure Tournament Open 18U Did Not Place
10/19/07 10/21/07 THE OCTOBER DIAMOND ELITE COLLEGE SHOWCASE AND RECRUITING CAMP Open 18U Did Not Place
10/26/07 10/28/07 THE ORIGINAL - 11th Annual NRGSL College Look & 6th Annual Player Showcase A/Gold 18U Did Not Place
11/09/07 11/11/07 THE NOVEMBER DIAMOND ELITE COLLEGE SHOWCASE AND RECRUITING CAMP Open 18U Did Not Place
05/16/08 05/18/08 Teresa Huffman Memorial (Keller) A 18U Did Not Place
06/06/08 06/08/08 Southlake Girls Fastpitch Gold 18U 5th
06/13/08 06/15/08 Southern Territory Tournament Gold 18U Did Not Place
07/18/08 07/20/08 Region 7 Gold Tournament Gold 18U Did Not Place
07/24/08 07/27/08 THE NFCA ELITE COLLEGE SHOWCASE AND RECRUITING CAMP Open 18U Did Not Place

[Joe]

Im sorry Mark even though you are a good guy, your record speaks for itself....and I'm an A-hole

Mark...now you know.

[DBAT Softball]

sbfanatic,

I consult with college programs on hitting. Meaning I do video analysis for programs when they need help with their hitters, put together offensive workouts etc. It's a little more in depth, than them just downloading 10 hitting drills I have on my website.

On NTX Shockers, the girls on that ball club are going to accomplish what their goals were for softball. This means, we had 3 girls work hard enough to have an opportunity to play D1 ball, we've got 1 or 2 left that I still see for hitting, that I believe will go D1 as well. A couple D2's, D3's and JUCO's. Some are headed off this year to college, most have another year left. We have also had several girls decide that playing in college wasn't heir passion. In fact, the last qualifier we played in Houston last summer, we started 4/9 of a team that chose not play college softball, competing against teams with 4 current college players. We had kids that had opportunity to play, but chose not to continue on in the future. So, I'm very proud of every one of those girls, and it didn't matter to me that they didn't want to play college ball. They were dedicated kids, and put everything they had into it, so I was in it for them.

This time around, it's different. Now I'm with D-BAT, and their history is very prestigious in baseball. I'm not going to be able to take anything but kids whose passion in college softball. We are a professional organization, and that's what the minimum expectation is for our kids. I get to compete for bragging rights, with an organization that has turned out 30 MLB guys 150 pro guys and over 300 college guys.

I take pride in the fact that one of our former players and a current hitting student, has given her verbal to Fresno State University (D1 in California). I had a second player have an oppotunity as an invited walk-on at San Diego State University (D1 California) that after several surgeries that she will not be pursuing collegiate softball.

You have to realize though, I had 2 years left with our players in Gold ball after last summer. I originally took the girls in the 8th grade, played a year of 14U ball, and then we moved on to 16U. Should I have continued to coach, and not focus on other areas of the game this past year, I had 2 good years left with this group. The tournament results that you see, were with a group that was competing as 9th and 10th graders mainly. We had a 9th place finish at 16U ASA Southern Nationals with 2/3 of the team with 14U eligiblity left. We were a young 16U team when we were playing 16U. 7 of the 8 qualifying losses that year, all by 1 run. We were a very young 18U team playing Gold ball as well.

So, Texasglori, in that regard I do agree with you, I probably am a good guy. I put a lot of work into kids, so they can get what they want out of softball the past few years. The difference this time around, is that D-BAT is 110% in the game now, and this means I put out a national level product period.

Texasglori, the black and white of the record doesn't really speak for itself, and you know that so you try and turn people off of the program, I mean you even left off information from tournament results. What I am hearing from the 40+ kids on my watch list right now, is that they're excited to have a professional coach, that consults at the collegiate level, is a professional scout, has experience at the levels they'll be working towards, and has developed players to move on to the next level, including playing D1 ball in California. You are probably someone that doesn't want to compete with D-BAT or thinks we just want to muscle everyone out of business. The funny thing is that I'm already working with teams in this area and around the state to involve them with our plans so that their girls get good exposure and more organization for softball at the local and state level. You may be afraid, but others are excited.