College Scholarships

[illpete23]

I for one am not upset about the big universities cutting back, because that leaves the door open for smaller schools (like mine) to sweep up players that were once untouchable assets. The best type of softball player for me to recruit is one with a 4.0, because they are "free" for our softball fund...

[deadeye]

I re-read my post, and I may have come off as a bit defensive. Sorry about that.

 

I only get the Chattanooga paper and haven't seen where Megan has been playing. They tend to follow only the local girls. If she is playing, that is super. thumb She deserves some innings. And yes, she knew what she was getting into. She is a national talent, playing behind an even bigger national talent.

 

I guess that was my point all along. Choose what fits rather than what sounds good. The opportunities have really increased in recent years. Not less than 5 college offers over the past 2 years came from brand new programs. Yes, Florida recruited her, but only offered a partial (books, dorm, and out of state fees).

 

FYI to Antwan and slr52, her coach is retiring this year. She would have stayed if he was staying, but they have not chosen a coach yet. Too much up in the air and the school and offer she got was too good to pass up.

 

I think Nashville has some great ball being played. I don't think the level of play has gone down. However, I think the rest of the state is catching up. Neither Chattanooga or Nashville are as dominate as they used to be. Maybe some of lack of dominance has to do with the split between division 1's and 2's and how some of the privates decided to end recruitment practices, or maybe it is a lot of things. I do know that 10 years ago, SEC schools (minus LSU) weren't considered the nation's elite in fastpitch. Now, there are several that are in the top 20. Maybe the step up made them more attractive to out of state athletes and broadened the recruiting pool.

 

Another name to throw out is Gretchen Prugh from Maryville, now playing for UK.

Edited March 22, 2005 by deadeye

[slr52]

Abbott being "an even bigger national talent" is an understatement. She is 6"3" and gets in the mind of the batters very quickly. When you are 5"7" it is hard to intimidate anyone!

[Bleacherbum]

Bleacherbum,

 

Of the six fall signees at UT for next year four are from Tennessee - Vaughn from Lenoir City, Hammond from GPS, Fulmer from Maryville, and Peroni from Goodpasture.  Currently there are seven Tennessee girls on the UT squad.  So there are some Tennessee girls getting noticed.

 

Deadeye,

 

Glad your daughter is enjoying a great year at her JUCO.  I think I know who she is, and she is a very fine pitcher.  I'm not surprised at her success.  I noted also from your post that she is opting to move up to DI next year instead of playing out her option at the JUCO. 

 

On the other hand, regarding Megan "riding the pine," she was very much aware of what her playing time would be when she chose UT.  Her reasons for choosing Tennessee were the coaches, players (she has really enjoyed her teammates), and a particular academic degree that she is interested in which is not offered at many schools.  She also wants to see if she can be successful at that level of play.  She knew going in that she would pitch behind an All American and she was fine with that.

 

The most important thing is for each girl to find the situation that is best for her. 

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SLR, yes, i'm aware of the number of girls from Tennessee that have signed with UT...its good that Ralph Weakley is doing that. the previous coach at UT got fired because he didnt sign any from this state. It is known that Ralph has in his contract that he has to recruit a certain percentage of tennessee girls for the team. The Hammond girl and Pieronni are SEC callibre players, but I dont think the others are. I'm sure the only reason that Fulmer is signed is because she is the football coaches daughter, and it doesnt cost anything against the scholarship totals if she goes there for free. She probably wont get to play any, if at all.

Megan rhodes is doing just fine at UT, as I figured she would. It was a good fit for her.

[brother]

There are alot of things that have contributed to the decline of Tennessee girls playing softball at "bigger schools". Most have been mentioned.

 

Only in the last five years (really 3) has the rest of the SEC began catching up with LSU and Alabama (you forgot Alabama previous poster). These schools are now in the Top 25 and recieving national recognition for their programs. This has increased the pool from which the schools can recruit. In this same line of thinking, the better the teams get the better players they must get to maintain their success. If that means going to Texas, California, and Arizona then that's what they will do.

 

Another point that was made was about GA. GA has become the new center for softball in the southeast. The softball being played in high school there is phenomenal (not to mention the summer ball which boasts the 5th place team in 18U Gold from last year and another top 20 finisher and many teams that had fantastic showings in younger ages). I would put the top 3 teams in GA 5A up against any team from TN and they would win 8 of 10 games. You can dispute that all you like, but I've seen both and in most cases there is no comparison. I would say the top ten high school teams in GA, regardless of classification, and the top ten in TN, regardless of classification, and there is simply no comparison. The team that won 5A state in GA this fall sent one pitcher to U of Virginia and one to U of South Carlina. The team that finished second sent their pitcher, who was pitcher of the year, to U of North Carolina.

 

Coach Acheson at Tennessee Tech has filled his roster with GA players. These players recieve no lottery scholarship money and get out-of-state tuition as opposed to the much more reasonably priced TN players.

 

MTSU, who has a new coach with an impeccable resume, just signed a class of 4 players. Two of those players for next year are recieving full out-of-state scholarships and live less than twenty minutes from Chattanooga. One is a AA player and one is a A player from GA.

 

UTC signed a player last year (who starts for them as a freshman) to a scholarship for out-of-state tuition from the afforementioned single A Georgia school, and has signed one from the previously mentioned AA school for next season.

 

Chattanooga State as well has more or as many GA players on their roster than TN players. At least two of their three pitchers are from GA, not sure about the third.

 

I would say that all of the 16U-18U Chattanooga summer teams have GA players on their rosters. The Chattanooga Heat, who have been around forever, has so many GA players that they are starting their season in the next few weeks.

 

Sadly, from my estimation the gap is widening.

[Bleacherbum]

There are alot of things that have contributed to the decline of Tennessee girls playing softball at "bigger schools".  Most have been mentioned.

 

Only in the last five years (really 3) has the rest of the SEC began catching up with LSU and Alabama (you forgot Alabama previous poster). These schools are now in the Top 25 and recieving national recognition for their programs.  This has increased the pool from which the schools can recruit. In this same line of thinking, the better the teams get the better players they must get to maintain their success. If that means going to Texas, California, and Arizona then that's what they will do.

 

Another point that was made was about GA. GA has become the new center for softball in the southeast. The softball being played in high school there is phenomenal (not to mention the summer ball which boasts the 5th place team in 18U Gold from last year and another top 20 finisher and many teams that had fantastic showings in younger ages).  I would put the top 3 teams in GA 5A up against any team from TN and they would win 8 of 10 games. You can dispute that all you like, but I've seen both and in most cases there is no comparison. I would say the top ten high school teams in GA, regardless of classification, and the top ten in TN, regardless of classification, and there is simply no comparison.  The team that won 5A state in GA this fall sent one pitcher to U of Virginia and one to U of South Carlina.  The team that finished second sent their pitcher, who was pitcher of the year,  to U of North Carolina.

 

Coach Acheson at Tennessee Tech has filled his roster with GA players. These players recieve no lottery scholarship money and get out-of-state tuition as opposed to the much more reasonably priced TN players.

 

MTSU, who has a new coach with an impeccable resume, just signed a class of 4 players. Two of those players for next year are recieving full out-of-state scholarships and live less than twenty minutes from Chattanooga.  One is a  AA player and one is a A player from GA. 

 

UTC signed a player last year (who starts for them as a freshman)  to a scholarship for out-of-state tuition from the afforementioned single A Georgia school, and has signed one from the previously mentioned AA school for next season. 

 

Chattanooga State as well has more or as many GA players on their roster than TN players.  At least two of their three pitchers are from GA, not sure about the third.

 

I would say that all of the 16U-18U Chattanooga summer teams have GA players on their rosters.  The Chattanooga Heat, who have been around forever,  has so many GA players that they are starting their season in the next few weeks.

 

Sadly, from my estimation the gap is widening.

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I guess that is getting back to my original question, why are other states producing more or better players than tennessee?...is tennessee becoming more of a volleyball, soccer, basketball state?...I'm not sure if I agree with your assessment that the top 10 teams in Georgia would beat any tennessee team...i'd put Goodpasture and Soddy up against any of them.

A correction to your statement about the 5th best team from Ga last year, a Georgia team won the Gold division this past summer...however, their most valuable player was already in college at University of Georgia, and she was from Illinois. And just because those girls signed with Northcarolina, Virginia, or South Carolina doesnt make them any better than Peronni, who signed with UT, which at my last notice, was far and away ranked higher than any of those schools. If they were so good, why didnt University of Georgia sign them, which currently has a better nattional ranking than those schools?

[Old Blue]

i have seen meagan rhodes pitch several times for ut she is playing don't know how much but she is not riding the pine....if you get a chance please go watch the ut vols play i got to see them play alabama on the sunday they lost but if you get a chance to see some of the big schools play like alabama,ut,georgia,lsu you would see some very wel played softball.

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You picked a bad game to watch..Rhodes got pounded and Tennessee made a lot of errors..Saturdys games with Alabama was alot better. (TN won both Sat.)

[coachrt]

A big plus that private & JUCO colleges have in recruiting is the student/teacher ratio. It's better to be a person in a smaller class than a body in an auditorium. This also equates to better relationships with fellow students, teachers & coaches.

[brother]

I guess that is getting back to my original question, why are other states producing more or better players than tennessee?...is tennessee becoming more of a volleyball, soccer, basketball state?...I'm not sure if I agree with your assessment that the top 10 teams in Georgia would beat any tennessee team...i'd put Goodpasture and Soddy up against any of them.

A correction to your statement about the 5th best team from Ga last year, a Georgia team won the Gold division this past summer...however, their most valuable player was already in college at University of Georgia, and she was from Illinois. And just because those girls signed with Northcarolina, Virginia, or South Carolina doesnt make them any better than Peronni, who signed with UT, which at my last notice, was far and away ranked higher than any of those schools. If they were so good, why didnt University of Georgia sign them, which currently has a better nattional ranking than those schools?

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There is no correction. The team that won 18U Gold Nationals last year is from Illinois. The pitcher from that team goes to Georgia and is from Illinois.

 

The reason Georgia did not sign these pitchers is that they currenty have two young pitchers on their staff, Katie Griffith and Kasi Carroll, one from Georgia and the other Illinois. The Georgia Elite finished 5th, Illiinois Southern Force finished 1st. Megan Rhodes and Danielle Peroni are both from TN, and are both very good. I'm sure the cost of their tuition is and will be supplemented by the TN lottery which means more scholarship money to go around to others.

 

Another glaring fact, the 18U Gold Nationals were held in Columbus, GA last year, just down the road. Only two TN teams qualified for Gold Nationals and to my knowledge were the only ones attempting to qualify. Megan Rhodes (and please don't take offense if you know Megan personally because I do not and don't know her circumstances) did not play on an 18U Gold team. Again that is not a slight against Megan just stating the fact that the top pitcher in the class of 2004 did not play summer ball on the highest level possible.

 

Excuse me if I was misunderstood. I did not mean that all ten of the top teams in Georgia would beat ALL the teams in TN hands down. But I do believe the top half of the GA teams would handle the TN teams and the bottom half of the GA top ten would handle the bottom half of TN. Keep in mind that this "top ten" is hypothetical and could in no way be determined to any degree of accuracy.

 

And no, you're right, these players signing with these schools does not make them better than Danielle Peroni. I hope Danielle and Megan wear the rest of the SEC and the country out when they get their chance. But, the three pitchers mentioned above played on those summer teams that finished higher than the Nighthawks in Gold Nationals.

 

Back to your original question about why? I don't know. One answer is that there is simply a higher population in GA, which makes the odds so much better of the state producing athletes. This is evident in the fact that GA has 5 classifications in all sports still. Couple that with the fact that UGA and GA Tech have FOOTBALL rosters with a majority of kids coming from their state. Georgia Southern is also a 1-AA power with most of it's kids coming from in-state. University of Tennessee has hardly any, statistically and compared to other SEC programs, from our state. The Tennessee football team is filled with players from all over the country.

 

Summer teams from TN used to compete on a national level and beat the teams from the west coast in Nationals. Most young ladies in GA were playing slowpitch at the time. So maybe the answer to the GA/TN debate is simply a matter of mathematics. And the answer to the debate overall is a lack of interest in playing at the highest level across the board.

Edited March 23, 2005 by brother

[Bleacherbum]

There is no correction. The team that won 18U Gold Nationals last year is from Illinois. The pitcher from that team goes to Georgia and is from Illinois. 

 

The reason Georgia did not sign these pitchers is that they currenty have two young pitchers on their staff, Katie Griffith and Kasi Carroll, one from Georgia and the other Illinois.  The Georgia Elite finished 5th, Illiinois Southern Impact finished 1st.  Megan Rhodes and Danielle Peroni are both from TN, and are both very good. I'm sure the cost of their tuition is and will be supplemented by the TN lottery which means more scholarship money to go around to others. 

 

Another glaring fact, the 18U Gold Nationals were held in Columbus, GA last year, just down the road. Only two TN teams qualified for Gold Nationals and to my knowledge were the only ones attempting to qualify.  Megan Rhodes (and please don't take offense if you know Megan personally because I do not and don't know her circumstances) did not play on an 18U Gold team. Again that is not a slight against Megan just stating the fact that the top pitcher in the class of 2004 did not play summer ball on the highest level possible.

 

Excuse me if I was misunderstood. I did not mean that all ten of the top teams in Georgia would beat ALL the teams in TN hands down.  But I do believe the top half of the GA teams would handle the TN teams and the bottom half of the GA top ten would handle the bottom half of TN. Keep in mind that this "top ten" is hypothetical and could in no way be determined to any degree of accuracy.

 

And no, you're right, these players signing with these schools does not make them better than Danielle Peroni. I hope Danielle and Megan wear the rest of the SEC and the country out when they get their chance.  But, the three pitchers mentioned above played on those summer teams that finished higher than the Nighthawks in Gold Nationals.

 

Back to your original question about why?  I don't know.  One answer is that there is simply a higher population in GA, which makes the odds so much better of the state producing athletes. This is evident in the fact that GA has 5 classifications in all sports still.  Couple that with the fact that UGA and GA Tech have FOOTBALL rosters with a majority of kids coming from their state. Georgia Southern is also a 1-AA power with most of it's kids coming from in-state. University of Tennessee has hardly any, statistically and compared to other SEC programs, from our state.  The Tennessee football team is filled with players from all over the country.

 

Summer teams from TN used to compete on a national level and beat the teams from the west coast in Nationals.  Most young ladies in GA were playing slowpitch at the time.  So maybe the answer to the GA/TN debate is simply a matter of mathematics.  And the answer to the debate overall is a lack of interest in playing at the highest level across the board.

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I stand corrected..you are right, the gold was won by the illinois team with the girl from georgia...but even with the two young pitchers, Georgia desperately needs another pitcher because their number one pitcher this year, Michelle Greene is graduating...and as far as I know, they have not signed one for next year. A top 10 program like theres is now, needs three pitchers.

 

I know megan's summer team didnt compete in the Golds last year, because they didnt really have the team to do so. Most gold teams have an entire lineup of Div 1 prospects, or girls already in college, and her team only had a few division one players. They entered the 18-u division, and didnt do very well, mainly because Megan came up with a sore arm and couldnt pitch.

 

You other comments were well put. thanks

Edited March 22, 2005 by Bleacherbum

[Bleacherbum]

There is no correction. The team that won 18U Gold Nationals last year is from Illinois. The pitcher from that team goes to Georgia and is from Illinois. 

 

The reason Georgia did not sign these pitchers is that they currenty have two young pitchers on their staff, Katie Griffith and Kasi Carroll, one from Georgia and the other Illinois.  The Georgia Elite finished 5th, Illiinois Southern Impact finished 1st.  Megan Rhodes and Danielle Peroni are both from TN, and are both very good. I'm sure the cost of their tuition is and will be supplemented by the TN lottery which means more scholarship money to go around to others. 

 

Another glaring fact, the 18U Gold Nationals were held in Columbus, GA last year, just down the road. Only two TN teams qualified for Gold Nationals and to my knowledge were the only ones attempting to qualify.  Megan Rhodes (and please don't take offense if you know Megan personally because I do not and don't know her circumstances) did not play on an 18U Gold team. Again that is not a slight against Megan just stating the fact that the top pitcher in the class of 2004 did not play summer ball on the highest level possible.

 

Excuse me if I was misunderstood. I did not mean that all ten of the top teams in Georgia would beat ALL the teams in TN hands down.  But I do believe the top half of the GA teams would handle the TN teams and the bottom half of the GA top ten would handle the bottom half of TN. Keep in mind that this "top ten" is hypothetical and could in no way be determined to any degree of accuracy.

 

And no, you're right, these players signing with these schools does not make them better than Danielle Peroni. I hope Danielle and Megan wear the rest of the SEC and the country out when they get their chance.  But, the three pitchers mentioned above played on those summer teams that finished higher than the Nighthawks in Gold Nationals.

 

Back to your original question about why?  I don't know.  One answer is that there is simply a higher population in GA, which makes the odds so much better of the state producing athletes. This is evident in the fact that GA has 5 classifications in all sports still.  Couple that with the fact that UGA and GA Tech have FOOTBALL rosters with a majority of kids coming from their state. Georgia Southern is also a 1-AA power with most of it's kids coming from in-state. University of Tennessee has hardly any, statistically and compared to other SEC programs, from our state.  The Tennessee football team is filled with players from all over the country.

 

Summer teams from TN used to compete on a national level and beat the teams from the west coast in Nationals.  Most young ladies in GA were playing slowpitch at the time.  So maybe the answer to the GA/TN debate is simply a matter of mathematics.  And the answer to the debate overall is a lack of interest in playing at the highest level across the board.

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You seem to know alot about Georgia high school softball.....do they still play a half school year of slow pitch, and the other half as fast pitch?

[FPFanatic]

This has turned out to be a good post with interesting stuff.

To the original point taken by bleacherbum, I think the overall level of talent

is better now than 10 years ago or even 5 years ago, why the talent is not going

to the "big schools" is probably because these schools are recruiting all over the

country as another post mentioned. These schools will get the talent wherever

they can because there are only a few exceptional local athletes like a Camille

Harris or a Megan Rhodes from time to time. These are the kind of student

athletes that can compete against the top big schools such as from the PAC 10

and SEC and BIG 12.

 

Speaking of the PAC 10 which sets the standards, look at

their pitchers, they are big, tall, Amazonian girls, these are the kinds of pitchers

that these schools recruit. UT went out and got one of this type of pitcher a couple

of years ago to turn their program around. This is the same trend as in baseball

years ago when everybody wanted a big pitcher like Johnson, Clemens, Smoltz,

and Schilling. The smaller D1 schools will still get the small to average size

pitcher, but you can bet if they could get one of those big girls, they would.

 

Also, it was pointed out about Georgia producing more talent these days, Alabama

can also be included in that as well. Murphy has always had a lot of Alabama girls

on the team, which is remarkable since the state has only played fastpitch for

just a few years. In fact, an Alabama team won the 18-U NSA "A" in Columbus, OH last year by beating a local Tennessee team, the Xtreme Edge, if I'm not

mistaken. Alabama high school and travel teams have more than held their own

against the surrounding states over the last few years. Also, just a couple weeks

ago, against the top 24 JUCO teams in the country, Wallace-Hanceville (Ala.) won

the Gold Bracket JrNCAA Leadoff Classic in Lagrange, Georgia. (Chattanooga

State was something like 2nd or 3rd in the Silver Bracket, as I recall).

 

Also as someone else pointed out earlier, who cares if someone goes D1 or D2 or

D3 or NAIA or JUCO, its a great accomplishment to the student athlete wherever

they are given a scholarship, and a great reward for their hard work, dedication,

and sacrifices over the years (not to mention those by us parents also, lol)

 

Just my humble opinion.