Bleacherbum

I never have stated that she wasnt a great girl. I have stated that she is probably the best shortstop in tennessee...but coming to watch her play, and being interested, are totally different than offering a scholarship...they probalby have many other girls that they are interested in...UCLA has been playing softball for over 40 years, and they have never offered a scholarship to anyone in tennessee...so you can draw your own conclusion

If you would read my previous posts, I never said that they wouldnt sign with top 25 teams. I just said that they wouldnt sign with top 10 teams, except for maybe UT...the left coast teams dont recruit this far south, especially UCLA and no, injuries do not doom a girl forever, but it will give a coach something to look at in the future when its time to offer scholarships. I have dealt with coaches that forbid a kid to play any other sports in high school if they want to sign with them, and if they go ahead and play and get hurt, the scholarship wont be offered.

not a pessimist at all...but I have been thru the recuiting wars as a parent and a coach..so I know what the coaches do....they give girls plenty of hope, then dash them when it comes time to sign. and parents feed off the possiblility that their little "susie" is going to play for a top 10 team, when in reality, it may never come about. they need to realize this at an early stage, so they dont eliminate some good schools hoping to get the scholarship offer that never comes

i'm not going to buy that...I know how UCLA operates, they dont offer anyone a scholarship in their junior year...colby is probably the best shortstop in tennessee, but she wont be offered a scholarship to ucla..I can see her going to Tennessee, would be a great fit for her....sorry that she tore her knee up playing basketball...has ucla been wanting to talk to her since that happened?..as I said before, recruiting letters, and even phone calls dont make a guaranteed scholarship offer...she may be on their radar screen, just like about 200 other girls, but only about 3-4 will be offered.

Is this topic supposed top mean anything?

Three things that are automatic in life....death, taxes, and Gibbs contending for the state championship

Catbiddle, for someone who pretends to know alot about high school softball, you should know these schools are different, although they are only about a mile apart from each other. Brentwood is a AAA public school, and Brentwood Academy is a private school. both have traditionally been strong in softball over the years. Brentwood is the stronger of the 2 this year by a long shot, since they have a whole lot more pitching, and pretty good hitting and defense. BA is young and having to use a girl to pitch that isnt her best position. Brentwood should be one of the teams to beat to get to the state tourney, I think BA will struggle a little this year

your so full of it..there has never been a girl from tennessee to ever be offered a scholarship to UCLA, and probably will never be one. There has only been one girl from tennessee to ever play for ucla, and she had to walk on after transferring from another school. I never said the girls from tennessee werent capable of playing for a top 10 team, I just said they werent going to be offered scholarships. the girl from brentwood that is going to brown was telling everyone earlier that she probably was going to LSU...guess what, the offer never came...not that there is anything wrong with brown...she is better off going there..great school..and the girl from FRA doesnt have the ability to play at a top 10 program

congrats to spring hill for finishing 2nd, although the silver division is not exactly a who's who of high school softball...but I have seen other spring hill teams that couldnt have come in 2nd...so maybe the future is bright in spring hill

my head is not in the sand...i just know from watching girls softball for at least 20 years and see who get offered scholarships. Look at the top 10 schools now, and look at their rosters...I bet you wont find a single girl from tennessee on any of the rosters except for UT...and they have several because its in the coaches contract that he sign tennessee girls... I know many girls that got "unoffical" visits to schools, and many telephone calls, but never an offer....so maybe you should look at reality yourself...and dont give alot of girls a false hope of going to a big school when they probably need to look what best for them at a small school.

very few tourneys have ambulances at games. It is just not cost-productive for that, but the good tourneys will have EMT's present to help out with injuries. Its required for football games to have ambulances....better watch out for what you ask for...girls softball has enough problems getting support from administration since its not a money-making sport....if you keep adding expenses, one day you will see what happens in college, they will start eliminating sports such as softball that eat up a school budget.

Actually, I doubt many of the underclassmen have been actively recruited by top 10 teams. The only thing that is being done with them is to get the recruiting letters that hundreds of girls get. Just because they get a letter, doesnt mean the team is going to offer a scholarship. UT knoxville is the only team in the top 10 right now that will be offering girls from tennessee any scholarships..and that will be only one or two at most each year.

good post juliona...too bad that parents of kids, and maybe the kids themselves, think just because they have been successful on travel teams at an early age, it automatically makes them the best players on the high school team. But there is a big difference in being successful playing 13-14 year olds, and playing against 18 year olds....most freshmen have never faced pitchers that have alot of movement on the ball...most really good riseball pitchers dont develop that until they are at least sophomores, so the freshmen havent seen those yet, and probably cant hit it...so while they may be better athletes as freshmen, it doesnt mean they are ready for the high school level and playing girls 4 years older than them...if they are better, it will eventully come out..thats what playdays and scrimmages are for at the beginning of the year...and the season too for that matter...its all about finding the right combinations by tourney time that counts.

I agree with coach23...while the best chances of being recruited for top 10-20 teams are playing gold, if you have a young team, its better to do well in an 18A tourney, than to go 2 and out in a gold tourney. Most girls from around here aren't going to play in a top 10 program anyway, with very few exceptions. Alabama/florida/Georgia dont recruit in tennessee unless they are highly exceeptional athletes, and Tennessee will only recruit maybe one or 2...the remaining teams are west coast teams that never recruit around the south

20 years of watching...it happenes every year..they lose against soddy, then they start getting mad and making excuses..either its the girls not playing hard, or the coach isnt making good decisions...its never that soddy is just better than they are....glad they won in florida, but that doesnt mean you can beat soddy..or any of the other good teams from chattangooga

As always, OOLTEWAH will have a competitive team, but somehow the parents will get involved ...causing a split of the team when they cant beat Soddy or some of the other real good teams. Ootewah could compete for the state every year if they forced the parents to stay home.

ERA...for your information...Tim was the umpire, and he is considered one of the better umpires in town..although he does have a tight strike zone, it was not as bad as I have seen. The reason Brentwood scored so many runs is not because of the tight strike zone, its because mcGavock's pitcher is not dominating, as evidenced by hunters lane scoring 14 against them last week. McGavock did a great job of putting the ball in play, but that is not what caused errors as you stated. One was an easy pop fly that was dropped, the other occured on a looping fly ball where 2 players went after it and accidently collided. Your point about the 3rd pitcher is exactly my point. Why didnt they use the 3rd pitcher when it was clear that neither the 1st or the 2nd pitcher used were having a good day. And Lott, which was the one not used, happened to be the MVP pitcher of the district tourney just completed. How would you have liked it if Coach Breeden decided to pitch your other pitcher instead of going with their best (Falon) against Lincoln county, and you lost 9-8?

You probably were not at that game...and didnt see those girls crying after the game...I just hope the coaches apologized to them for not giving them the best opportunity they had to win.

With all the young players that Brentwood has coming back, they should no doubt be one of the favorites for next year.

softballscout..my point exactly...when you get to postseason, you play your best...from the past month, the Lott girl was their best...she pitched in all the "big" games" leading up to the regionals....the one they started...Harmon..is also a good pitcher, but she didnt pitch much the past month...she didnt have McGavock'snumber, so they made a wise decision to go with another pitcher....however, my contention is they should of started Lott from the getgo....I bet Bretnwood is the only team in the state that didnt use their no. 1 pitcher yesterday....even Goodpasture used Peronni against a team they run-ruled.

The last month of the season, it was clear that Lott was no. 1, and mashburn was no. 2, with harmon being no. 3...Lott and mashburn pitched all the games against the tougher teams....there strength was using a combination of the three, so why didnt they use the third combination when the other two were having an off day?

If a pitcher gives up 6 runs in the last inning, you would of at least thought the coach would of made a substitution somewhere with their no. 1 pitcher still left to use....one of the dropped fly balls was made by the pitcher..and after that her head was clearly not in the game. She gave up 5 other hits and a walk in the inning... the other fly ball was from an unfortunate collision by two players....the poor coaching comes from why do you let your best pitcher not pitch in a game when the other team scores 9 runs?...by them not pitching her, it gave a clear indication that they thought they had the game won from the beginning and they were gonna save her for wednesday.

the girls could care less who wins an all tourney team...the only ones that have their feelings hurt are the parents who think little suzie is the best player in the city.

jet...nothing to be ashamed of losing 1-0 to Red Bank...everyone knew you had the pitching to compete...but its a different level hitting the ball against chattanooga pitching than the league your team is used to seeing day in, and day out.