Best softball region or state?

[blldwg23]

Having played a for a long time and at one point and time at a very high level I have gotten an opportunity to play some teams from different states and different regions and this is just my humble observation. Top teams are top teams and for the most part are just as good as their counterpart from another state. IE one of the best c teams from Maryland is prolly going to be as good as the best c from Georgia or Texas or Ohio. The good ones are good regardless of state or region. Where you typically see separation is in the middle of the road teams. Usually the average southeast C or whatever class team is a little better than most of the average c or whatever class teams in any given area. Now you can say well they prolly shouldn't be playing whatever class, and that may be true, but that is just a general observation from many years of softball.
You could throw Texas in with that SE group and prolly California as well. I haven't played but 1 or 2 teams from CA and they were good, I would just assume with their population and climate you'd have some good teams out there.

 

[jbo911]

2013 National Champs:

A (Open)- Long Haul/Easton out of Minnesota
B- Heartland Investors out of North Dakota
C- Syndicate out of Missouri

Going off of the past couple years of brackets/qualifiers for ASA Nationals it would without a doubt have to be the Midwest on top as far as dominating teams. Minnesota was 1st and 2nd in A. 1-4 in B were MN and IA teams. The 2nd place team in C was from Iowa. That's pretty cut and dry.

When I look up Long Haul, they say that they play UTrip as Laservision. Does that sound right to you? Laservision isn't listed as MN team, and I don't know if I'd count that team as proving MN was good when a lot of those players aren't from MN.

I live in nowhere So. GA, and when I moved here my Parks and Rec dept was run by a Hall of Famer. The next town over's was as well. An ump in my league played for Shoppe in the past, and several other players have or still do. I play a charity tournament every year against Connell, and I heard Kevin Kennington and several others came for it as well.

I'm by no means saying there is no talent in the north or Midwest, but there is just more in the South and in Cali.

 

[blldwg23]

It's also really hard today to claim where your upper group teams are from. You got so many guys from all over to play on those teams. Look at somebody like Baugh Ford. It says they are out of Alabama but they have guys from Indiana, Georgia, Florida, and Oregon on their team.

 

[Rosetothehall]

Recent history says Utah has the best D program. 2 out of the last 3 D World Champions and 4 since 2003. Don't think any other state can claim that. Nothing accomplished above D level though.

Congrats on your sandbagging title. Nether team played much of C the next year.

 

[Rosetothehall]

It's also really hard today to claim where your upper group teams are from. You got so many guys from all over to play on those teams. Look at somebody like Baugh Ford. It says they are out of Alabama but they have guys from Indiana, Georgia, Florida, and Oregon on their team.

And someone from Iowa coaching them..LOL:thumb:

 

[Rosetothehall]

Ive been around for over 15 years playing.
1. North Carolina
2. Florida
3. California
4. Michigan
5. Ohio
6. The rest of the states

 

[andy-rockstar]

Plus you guys have too much oversight on your program that prevents sandbagging at the levels seen in the lower 48.

Most of what is considered "C" ball there (and probably is accurate) unforutnately is considered "D" in most other areas.

Agreed. Tough to hide here when there are only so many (i.e. one) places to play.

I moved up to C one year, and while I really liked the competition all the douchebaggery that came with it made me want to go back to lower leagues where I could enjoy the game more.

Lower leagues here understand the point: you're playing with friends, and there should (almost) always be beer in the parking lot. And everyone agrees victory beer tastes a little better than loser beer.

 

[MP33]

2013 National Champs:

A (Open)- Long Haul/Easton out of Minnesota
B- Heartland Investors out of North Dakota
C- Syndicate out of Missouri

Going off of the past couple years of brackets/qualifiers for ASA Nationals it would without a doubt have to be the Midwest on top as far as dominating teams. Minnesota was 1st and 2nd in A. 1-4 in B were MN and IA teams. The 2nd place team in C was from Iowa. That's pretty cut and dry.

I'm going to take a wild guess and say most of the players on those teams aren't from those states.

 

[NorthFlorida]

I live in nowhere So. GA

Where at? I'm going to be up in Waycross this weekend, and that's pretty much in the middle of nowhere in SoGa.

 

[Dakota Deerwood]

I agree with what you stated. I wish all of the associations would work together and get every team in the right division that they belong in. Jeff and Kevin do a great job in NSA for that reason, but like I said I wish NSA, ISA, and USSSA would all work together and get all the associations going and have turnouts in ISA and Utrip like NSA does every tournament.

Jeff really tries to keep teams where they belong, probably one of the reasons why NSA is dominating in South Carolina right now.

U-Trip (Dooley, Channing and Pappy) are doing okay.. USSSA is good in the midlands, but pretty much an unknown outside of Columbia/Aiken. They classify their teams pretty well, but usually have to combine divisions for tournaments to make..

ISA: Oh God, where do I start. Im playing ISA this weekend, so I will be good. It needs new leadership (On a national level)... when you put rules in place to keep teams where they belong, and then you do not follow those same rules that you put into place... is it really a viable softball association?

 

[SilverSlugger7]

2013 National Champs:

A (Open)- Long Haul/Easton out of Minnesota
B- Heartland Investors out of North Dakota
C- Syndicate out of Missouri

Going off of the past couple years of brackets/qualifiers for ASA Nationals it would without a doubt have to be the Midwest on top as far as dominating teams. Minnesota was 1st and 2nd in A. 1-4 in B were MN and IA teams. The 2nd place team in C was from Iowa. That's pretty cut and dry.

Pretty sure Long Haul/Easton is out of NY. They are almost the exact same team as Laservision/Easton in USSSA. Not sure where you got the info of them coming out of MN.

 

[Rosetothehall]

Pretty sure Long Haul/Easton is out of NY. They are almost the exact same team as Laservision/Easton in USSSA. Not sure where you got the info of them coming out of MN.

Long haul company is out of Minnesota.
The team puts together an ASA A team
Long Haul used to be a USSSA Major team, but, now only support the ASA program.
Only person on the team from Minnesota was Gene Buck
Heartland is all from North Dakota. Good team last year, struggling so far this year
Syndicate is all from Missouri for the most part. Saw them this year at the Dudley

 

[Donger73]

Ive been around for over 15 years playing.
1. North Carolina
2. Florida
3. California
4. Michigan
5. Ohio
6. The rest of the states

Truth, aren't 7 well known major players from the Gastonia area alone?

 

[scrub]

Depends how you define "best". Most talent/competition is one way, but if you defined it by integrity I'm sure you'd get totally different responses.

 

[D_Simms1IA]

I'm going to take a wild guess and say most of the players on those teams aren't from those states.

With the exception of the Easton squad, all of the guys are local/in-state ballplayers. Long Haul has 3 or 4 Minnesota guys but the rest of them fly in. That's pretty typical for "A" ball though.

 

[GrinningBear]

Sponsorship and sandbagging should be accounted for, but unfortunately can't really be measured. Some directors in some states are more lenient on sandbagging. It doesn't matter which, because it changes. In our area they used to say MI and NJ teams were regulated by darts thrown at the wall and that OH, IN, and PA were at a disadvantage. Was that true? Who knows? Now we've got players from OH, IN, PA, and MI all mixed up on teams traditionally out of one state.

I've always heard TX and CA were always more...lenient, but I've never played out there or been to Worlds to play against them so I have no idea.

So head to head can truly never be gauged since we can't be sure everyone's on an even playing field.

Sponsors are dropping like flies, too. When a really good team has to fold, not all of their players can hop onto a competing superteam. So some of those stud players get filtered onto lesser teams, adding to the quality of teams overall, but dropping the number of teams with a legitimate chance of competing against the rest of the country.

None of that answered the question. I don't think the Great Lakes states have anything to apologize for when it comes to competitiveness.

I have relatives in NC and TN, though, and I think they're better overall. When I played leagues, they were about the same level as here, but the number of players who stood out was higher. Watched my brother in a D-level tourney and didn't find the teams to be anything special.

If oilslick reads this I think he'd have to agree my younger brother's a solid C/B hitter, and if he (brother) moved back up north, he'd be...a solid C/B hitter.

 

[kdynamite]

Agreed. Tough to hide here when there are only so many (i.e. one) places to play.

I moved up to C one year, and while I really liked the competition all the douchebaggery that came with it made me want to go back to lower leagues where I could enjoy the game more.

Lower leagues here understand the point: you're playing with friends, and there should (almost) always be beer in the parking lot. And everyone agrees victory beer tastes a little better than loser beer.

Douchebaggery and slow-pitch softball unfortunately go hand in hand no matter what level or state.

 

[B~TOWN]

Midwest all them corn bread farm boys can all mash and played ball all there lives with some old stick and a yarn ball in the back pasture .

 

[Wartown]

Well New Mexico.....nah, I can't go through with it.

 

[Dakota Deerwood]

Truth, aren't 7 well known major players from the Gastonia area alone?

Gastonia has a population of about 40,000... and 39,925 of them play softball.

NC has very good teams... Down in Winter Haven last year (ISA Worlds) the last 3 teams we beat were all from NC... And to be honest, we had to play at a very high level to beat all of them. We were very fortunate.

 

[ddoubler]

TN has already had 3 teams win worlds and nationals this year... I think that the teams like Resmondo should be left out the equation. Yes, them guys and the guys they play are the best players in the country. I'm talking about competition of teams weekend in and out. The C,D,E teams that 99% of this board play on. I think this board somewhat goes 9% C... 20% D... And 71% E. I'm talking about those teams. Not teams that have ayers from all over the country play

 

[suthrner]

Even church league here is way more competitive than it should be.

 

[2Legit2Melee]

Not Alaska. Fishing/hiking/any other summer activity gets in the way of softball.

Nothing gets in the way of softball!!! haha

 

[jbo911]

Where at? I'm going to be up in Waycross this weekend, and that's pretty much in the middle of nowhere in SoGa.

For the Freedom tourney? I'll be there too. Hopefully GA beats FL if we play.

 

[ming01]

It is not Kansas.

or North Dakota

 

[ming01]

I don't know about all you haters on the "North" or places you can't play year round. Just because you can't be outside doesn't mean you can't hit, throw or take some fielding. Not to mention that offseason workouts are crucial. Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Nebraska and the Dakota's have some of the best ball players/teams in the country. There are 3 "A"/"B" teams right now I can think of off the top of my head that can play with anybody. Rip City out of the Quad Cities area (Davenport, IA), T's 13 (Omaha, NE), BPI (Cedar Rapids, IA) and BBS (Minnesota) are loaded with athletes, dudes that can mash and hella sponsor money. Rip City came down to the Combat Classic in OKC (Boomer) earlier this year and gave Easton/Long Haul a run for their money. Rip City, last year, went up to Corky's (One of the largest tourneys in the country) and took out Combat's squad and beat Sonny's (WY) for the title. T's is always in the running for any tourney they play in. BPI is a new team this year that was formed with break-offs from Rip City, T's and a couple other squads. But if any of you play major ASA ball you know T's and BBS because they've been around forever and a few of the USA team members have played for them. So slow you're roll on hating on the Midwest or "North". I'd put those teams up against anybody in the country. They'll all be in OKC later next month for "B" and then "A" Nationals.

Heartland from Bismarck, ND is a solid A team. Not one of the best but still very good

 

[ming01]

I'm going to take a wild guess and say most of the players on those teams aren't from those states.

Cant speak for the other two but Heartland Investors are all from North Dakota. Mostly Bismarck, some from Fargo

 

[biggm28]

I've always thought Ohio was over rated personally. They talk about all the conference teams they have... Turns out most teams pay that $10,000 fee to play conference bc E/D/C tournaments don't make. Paying that fee allows them to be able to play. Be wary of ohio "conference players"

Ohio has a few "good" teams, but for the most part Ohio sucks. Mainly because people from the biggest city's hate each other and would rather try to blow up middle on every pitch.

 

[D_Simms1IA]

TN has already had 3 teams win worlds and nationals this year... I think that the teams like Resmondo should be left out the equation. Yes, them guys and the guys they play are the best players in the country. I'm talking about competition of teams weekend in and out. The C,D,E teams that 99% of this board play on. I think this board somewhat goes 9% C... 20% D... And 71% E. I'm talking about those teams. Not teams that have ayers from all over the country play

If we're going by this I'm still taking the Midwest. I haven't seen any teams mash like they do. They are loaded with B, C and D talent.

 

[D_Simms1IA]

Cant speak for the other two but Heartland Investors are all from North Dakota. Mostly Bismarck, some from Fargo

^^^^^ Fact!