Jr. High Softball report

[SOSoftball]

Portsmouth ---Perry - Buckeye Elite
Clay -- Cochran (Not Playing that I know of), Lutz - Crush
Valley -- Faith - Buckeye Elite
Oak Hill -- Hughes - Ohio Lasers, There is another girl from Oak Hill I believe named Davis plays on Crush
Green -- Jenkins - SO Storm, Kimbler - ??? , Carver - ???
Ironton -- Richendollar - Ky Magic
Burg/Note Dame- Solid squads, no standouts though.
Webster - Messler - ??? Bailey- SO Storm

[captainmorgan_]

The Hughes girl from Oak Hill plays for Ohio Lasers and the Sturgill girl from Burg played for Ohio Hawks this past summer. I believe she is playing for a different team this coming season but not sure who. She has played for a few different teams including Crush and Ohio Thunder.

There is another girl from Chesepeake that is a pretty strong player. Easily one of the top pitchers in the area. She is an 8th grader also. This past summer she played on MOV Fury out of West Virginia. They won the 12u A championship in Orlando this year.

sturgill- ohio outlaws

[SOSoftball]

I believe that are other girls that are really good players that have not been mentioned yet either that are further east from us but still in Southeastern Ohio.

You have a 7th Grader from Coal Grove that is a pitcher and would compete as one of the top 7th grade pitchers in the area. She play for the Outlaws.

You have the girl I mentioned above from Chesepeake.

The Blevins girl from Minford can play with any catcher in the area.

[Softballdad]

Don't hear much about catchers on here just usually pitchers and middle infield. Glad to see someone is putting work in

[SOSoftball]

There are a few kids on three or four of those local travel teams that could play for some of the top teams in the state but have chosen not too for whatever reasons.

But that is what hurts teams in this area. I can count 8 "travel" teams in Scioto and Greenup Counties (all within 20-30 minutes of each other) in this age group of Junior High Students (14u). I am not counting 12u which would be most of your 7th graders.

When you are trying to play against some of these teams in other parts of the state it makes it difficult. When the roster is really only 5-6 deep when you start seeing a drop in talent and you are playing against teams that are 10-11 deep. I am not saying they can't compete against some of the top teams cause I think there are 3 or 4 teams that can but its tough to win against them.

[ManitouDan2]

^ Very true , I've been around a while and So Ohio has never been able to group the talent together , and I dont think they never will be able to . Too many obstacles . But the players are there for sure .

[Softballdad]

You seem very knowledgeable of area softball SOS. Would be interesting to see a team of the best 12 in the area & see if they could actually compete with the elite teams.

[SOSoftball]

You seem very knowledgeable of area softball SOS.

Not sure I would claim to be knowledgeable in softball in this area. But I would say in this age group I am familiar with the teams and girls. My daughter is in this age group so she has played with or against most of the girls in this age group for several years from Little League to Travel Ball to now Middle School. Which would include girls in Scioto, Lawrence and Greenup counties.

[SOSoftball]

Would be interesting to see a team of the best 12 in the area & see if they could actually compete with the elite teams.

I think they could compete but not sure they would win a lot over the course of a full tournament.

Offensively and defensively they could match up with those teams but I think the pitching wouldn't be where it needs to be.

If your just looking at Scioto County I am not sure there is what I would call an elite pitcher yet in this age group. There are several that are good and a few that are very good but I just don't think a team put together from the area would be deep enough in that position to play 4 or 5 games deep on Sunday.

[Softballdad]

Definitely catch some games this year & see all the talent. Like to see what a D1 8th grader looks like. What positions do these girls play?

[SOSoftball]

Definitely catch some games this year & see all the talent. Like to see what a D1 8th grader looks like. What positions do these girls play?

You made me go back through to see if I stated they were D1 players.

If your talking about the two that were mentioned the burg kid is a catcher and the last time I seen the Hughes girl she was playing either third or short. But that was a while ago.

[Softballdad]

Sorry. It was others who said it.

[ManitouDan2]

There is nothing wrong with stating a 8th grader PROJECTS as a D1 player. At that age they are 2nd year 14U and the major D1's are all over the top players in the nation and the mid majors are playing close attention as well. Heck my own DD played in front of UCLA , KY , Oklahoma , Washington and many others at 14U nationals in a single game that started after midnight . ( mainly to watch the Corona Angels ) . Kid off her team got an invite to Washington's camp that fall. So there is no need to act surprised or miffed that a D1 school has interest in a 8th grader. It isn't the norm , but it sure isn't unusual. I know for sure a local 8th grader was invited to a Big Ten camp this winter . That doesn't mean the player will get an offer , just that there is some interest there .

[Softballdad]

There is nothing wrong with stating a 8th grader PROJECTS as a D1 player. At that age they are 2nd year 14U and the major D1's are all over the top players in the nation and the mid majors are playing close attention as well. Heck my own DD played in front of UCLA , KY , Oklahoma , Washington and many others at 14U nationals in a single game that started after midnight . ( mainly to watch the Corona Angels ) . Kid off her team got an invite to Washington's camp that fall. So there is no need to act surprised or miffed that a D1 school has interest in a 8th grader. It isn't the norm , but it sure isn't unusual. I know for sure a local 8th grader was invited to a Big Ten camp this winter . That doesn't mean the player will get an offer , just that there is some interest there .

Wow

[ManitouDan2]

I wish recruiting didn't start that early but it is what it is . Flosoftball.com has a list of the top 100 2020 players already published.

[SOSoftball]

Dan

Not talkinking Div I or II but when does most NAIA or Div III schools start recruiting. Would a school like Shawnee still be looking for girls in the 2017 class or have they started looking at 2018 and 2019. Do NAIA schools look at 2020 grads already?

[ManitouDan2]

We are pretty complete with 17's . Only still recruiting because we had a kid back out .
We have contact with at least a dozen 18's and 19's . We have two 19's we have stayed in constant contact with and both know we will be offering rides to them. One has received an offer already. We have offers out to a couple 18's for sure . I've talked to numerous 20's locally . I love the Ohio Glory team that has several local 2020 players on it . In general a players ride should be taken care the summer/ fall before her senior year if the kid is a NAIA/ D2/ D3 player . If the player is going D1 its much earlier , usually as soph or junior . There are exceptions but the past 5 years have seen the big boys getting verbals earlier and earlier, even though everyone involved knows it isn't good for the sport . Alvelo had verballed to Washington before she ever threw her first pitch in HS. Also NAIA's don't have the restrictions that D1's do , we can contact / recruit much more freely than them.

[Browns30]

There is nothing wrong with stating a 8th grader PROJECTS as a D1 player. At that age they are 2nd year 14U and the major D1's are all over the top players in the nation and the mid majors are playing close attention as well. Heck my own DD played in front of UCLA , KY , Oklahoma , Washington and many others at 14U nationals in a single game that started after midnight . ( mainly to watch the Corona Angels ) . Kid off her team got an invite to Washington's camp that fall. So there is no need to act surprised or miffed that a D1 school has interest in a 8th grader. It isn't the norm , but it sure isn't unusual. I know for sure a local 8th grader was invited to a Big Ten camp this winter . That doesn't mean the player will get an offer , just that there is some interest there .

my daughter played against an 03 8th grader that verbally committed to Auburn this fall.

[SOSoftball]

In general a players ride should be taken care the summer/ fall before her senior year if the kid is a NAIA/ D2/ D3 player.

That's what I was wondering. Since the girl is playing a spring sport she would only be a couple months away from graduation therefore she should already know by then where she is going to college by the time she is playing her senior year.

So basically a girl really has three years to show what she can do. Her Freahman Sophmore and Junior years. Then in between her Junior and Senior year she should be verbaled somewhere? Does that sound right?

[ManitouDan2]

SOS -- In general yes , But remember every school has a budget , a more prime position to be in is accepting an offer earlier than that , more like summer prior to her junior year ( not talking d1) so that the player might be in better financial shape to receive a stronger offer . If you wait til your senior year and your daughter doesn't have her ride taken care of its going to cost you financially speaking. Because most of the schools athletic budget has been spent . And by no means don't think a player is going to get seen and recruited by her HS career . It just doesn't happen that way no matter how good a HS career/ year she might be having. Get your team in some tournies someone in the summer or fall that has strong competition. There are tons of schools out there for nearly every level of player ,but you have get out of So Ohio to get exposed to them. Lastly to get back on topic there are several really talented 8th graders/ freshman in the area , many project to be college players at some level . Its a great time to a fastpitch fan in SEO .