What About the 14U Teams

[Tenshun]

What games would be the best to watch this weekend at Arnaiz? So many good teams minus the a few better older 14's.

Lady Sharks vs. Grapettes should be a good one too.

[bmxbaby]

What games would be the best to watch this weekend at Arnaiz? So many good teams minus the a few better older 14's.

Lady Sharks vs. Grapettes should be a good one too.

Ten, which Grapes? How's the depth with these teams? Pitching/Batting

[Tenshun]

Grapes - MD. They have a couple very solid pitchers. They also have one of the best 98 pitchers in Norcal that will frustrate a lot of hitters. Not the the biggest hitting team, but some solid line-drive hitters that get the job done.

LS has some pretty good pitching too and they are a very good hitting team. Leave it over the plate and expect them to make you pay.

[16U FAN]

OK, I have watched my DN play a few tournaments at 14U and here are my ratings (just my opinion):

1997 Teams:
1. Sorcerers- Great pitcher, speed and confidence.
2. RR Gold- Just a shade or two below Sorcerers.
3. Lady Hustle- Good overall team.
4. NorCal Shockers- Could get better.
5. Rocklin Hype '97- Good pitching, needs help. Is this team done and moving on to another organization with an older coach?
6. TC Smash '97. Should pass Hype.

Lady Magic appears to be the total cream of the crop from what I been told. Haven't seen them play.

1998 Teams:
1. (tie) Grapettes/St. Dennis and TC Smash 98. Both teams have superb coaching staffs, great pitching (TC Smash's #1 pitcher is a '97 though), hitting and overall fundamentals. Pleasure to go watch them play. Both look strong for Spring. Grapettes all '98, I think.
3. Grapettes/Vasquez. This team has a lot of new players. Lost some good ones too. They fight and scrap and are not afraid of anyone.
4. DeMarini. A ton of talent, including some '97's. Coaching is still big ???? What is this teams future with the Eaton mess?
5. KG Hitters. Kiko always puts together a good hitting, good defensive team. Should get better for Spring.
6. EC Hot Shots. Always competitive and can rise up and beat anyone.
7. Breeze. Mashburn apparently has dodged another bullet. Nice team, however, they lost some good players due to his actions and rep.

Just my thoughts. I'll check back later. 14's are a lot more fun to watch than 16's overall!!

[watchtonsofsoftball]

I agree that 14U can be a lot more fun to watch. LM 97's has kept a large portion of their players together and will make a nice run next year. Its so early who knows what will happen. There are a couple of REALLY good So Cal 97 teams that will make it tough for anyone from Nor Cal (or otherwise) to knock them off as long as they are playing age pure.

[bmxbaby]

OK, I have watched my DN play a few tournaments at 14U and here are my ratings (just my opinion):

1997 Teams:
1. Sorcerers- Great pitcher, speed and confidence.
2. RR Gold- Just a shade or two below Sorcerers.
3. Lady Hustle- Good overall team.
4. NorCal Shockers- Could get better.
5. Rocklin Hype '97- Good pitching, needs help. Is this team done and moving on to another organization with an older coach?
6. TC Smash '97. Should pass Hype.

Lady Magic appears to be the total cream of the crop from what I been told. Haven't seen them play.

1998 Teams:
1. (tie) Grapettes/St. Dennis and TC Smash 98. Both teams have superb coaching staffs, great pitching (TC Smash's #1 pitcher is a '97 though), hitting and overall fundamentals. Pleasure to go watch them play. Both look strong for Spring. Grapettes all '98, I think.
3. Grapettes/Vasquez. This team has a lot of new players. Lost some good ones too. They fight and scrap and are not afraid of anyone.
4. DeMarini. A ton of talent, including some '97's. Coaching is still big ???? What is this teams future with the Eaton mess?
5. KG Hitters. Kiko always puts together a good hitting, good defensive team. Should get better for Spring.
6. EC Hot Shots. Always competitive and can rise up and beat anyone.
7. Breeze. Mashburn apparently has dodged another bullet. Nice team, however, they lost some good players due to his actions and rep.

Just my thoughts. I'll check back later. 14's are a lot more fun to watch than 16's overall!!

16u your opinion is proof that we all have our own view on things. Pretty darn close to mine but but I'd swap the #1 spot with Sorcerers for RR Gold-Ratliff. But both have 98's on their roster if I'm right. Grapes and Smash tie? I'd have to go with Smash but easily Smash could be a tie #2 with Sorcerers if we remove the 97/98 stuff. But I'm just a spectator.

Any one else?

[16U FAN]

BB, no real arguement with your ratings. Grapes beat Smash and I think both teams are excellent.

[Tenshun]

16u, thanks for update on the 14s. Always nice to hear different opinions.

BMXbaby, you seem to have a good handle on the 14s as well. What's your top ten ignoring 97 vs 98?

[bmxbaby]

@ 16u - I agree, no real argument. That is a tough list to create. So many team are just...pretty darn good. We need spring to see.

@ tenshun. 16u broke it all down which is good. But perhaps if we combined the list a bit.
Top 6 might look like this.

1. Lady Magic 
2 RR 
3 Sorcerers
4. Lady Hustle- 
5.  Grapes St Dennis 
6. TC Smash '98

3-6 could easily move around based on who you talk to.

[ICMTM]

Hype 97 will have a shake up after the fall. The head coach is going to a bigger org. I thought their best ball was ahead of them.

1. Lady Magic
2. Sorcerer
3. RR Gold

Then everyone else mentioned is fairly even.