When you hear the stories and get the facts of some of the things going on behind the scenes with past and current Section V alumni going on to play in college it is really alarming.
Bri is an excellent pitcher dont get me wrong but her pitching career at Plattsburgh under Sean Cotter is nowhere near what she is doing at MCC. Keep in mind that some of the teams MCC plays are pretty awful. Sean left to take a coaching job in Mass and Bri's desire to pitch at a higher level are key to her transfer to MCC and use that as a springboard to a D1 school. Of course her Section V career of being allowed to pitch illegally for so many years played a part in her adjustments as at Plattsburgh this was an issue. Either way a very good pitcher but as you can imagine D1 schools are skeptical and with only 2 years of eligibility left that doesnt help.
Historically Section V Pitchers that go D1 tend to struggle. Nargi at St Bona dominated Section V and by all standards is one of our best alumni. Her career stats at the lowest level of D1 softball are not very good at all. Jordan Ingalls was another excellent Section V alumn who was recruited and signed D1 for her pitching. I can assure you that Youngstown is thankful she has a big bat as her college pitching career has been nothing less than awful. On the flip side Stacey Kuwik is having what I would call an excellent freshman campaign at Syracuse University against some very stiff D1 schools and doing it with both her arm and bat.
It's nice to see so many kids heading off to play in college at all levels and represent Section V. As I have said before and was attacked for saying colleges vary greatly in all levels (D1-D3). Keep the signings and activities in perspective. In fact some of the "signings" weren't signings at all but "commitments" as no athletic money came into play.
Side thought: Do you know that MCC plays in the lowest level of JUCO softball that is available? Sure the titles are nice but if players there are truly looking to play at D1 and D2 afterwards wouldn't a more challenging level of JUCO competition make sense? Like what they face on their spring trip?
Also take a look at the recruiting practices of some of the D1 schools. I will refrain from specifics but one recent D1 signee still to this day has not been seen by her college coach and was recruited off of press clippings and a video. Seems like an odd recruiting practice for a D1 school. I know of one recruit last year that committed to a school and was touted as a power hitting catcher. She is a contact hitting (.230) outfielder according to stat sheet.
In the end what you hope is that the girls make decisions about college that are realistic to their abilities and at schools that they will be comfortable at and leave with a valuable education. After all their futures are going to be in what they get out of their education. Over the last year or so we have seen a few Section V alumni go from school to school and level to level and it makes you wonder if then and now the school decisions are for academics or softball. If you are going to go to college and put in all the hard work academically and athletically that comes with being a student athlete it makes sense to do your homework and ask yourself "can I live and learn here for the next 4-5 years of my life depending" and "can I play here". If your signing D1 like some of the girls I have heard about for $1-4k in athletic money and some academic money that should be a sign that the coach thinks your a nice player but not someone to invest in. Especially if your kid is a pitcher where at this level most of the athletic money goes to Pitchers and catchers. When you look at Michelle Prong who is going to Stanford that gamble makes perfect sense to me. Big arm, great bat gives her a shot and no matter what happens athletically to walk away with a Standford education is pretty awesome. Walking away with a U of R or RIT education is pretty awesome too and it makes you scratch your head when you hear about kids that had all the opportunity in the world to go to school and play at these schools and be major contributors right away but passed it up for the dream to play D1 at a school with nowhere near the academic standards.
It will be very interesting to see how things shape up for Section v's current seniors over the next 1-2 years. This class of kids going on to play in college has to be an all time high.
When you hear the stories and get the facts of some of the things going on behind the scenes with past and current Section V alumni going on to play in college it is really alarming.
Bri is an excellent pitcher dont get me wrong but her pitching career at Plattsburgh under Sean Cotter is nowhere near what she is doing at MCC. Keep in mind that some of the teams MCC plays are pretty awful. Sean left to take a coaching job in Mass and Bri's desire to pitch at a higher level are key to her transfer to MCC and use that as a springboard to a D1 school. Of course her Section V career of being allowed to pitch illegally for so many years played a part in her adjustments as at Plattsburgh this was an issue. Either way a very good pitcher but as you can imagine D1 schools are skeptical and with only 2 years of eligibility left that doesnt help.
Historically Section V Pitchers that go D1 tend to struggle. Nargi at St Bona dominated Section V and by all standards is one of our best alumni. Her career stats at the lowest level of D1 softball are not very good at all. Jordan Ingalls was another excellent Section V alumn who was recruited and signed D1 for her pitching. I can assure you that Youngstown is thankful she has a big bat as her college pitching career has been nothing less than awful. On the flip side Stacey Kuwik is having what I would call an excellent freshman campaign at Syracuse University against some very stiff D1 schools and doing it with both her arm and bat.
It's nice to see so many kids heading off to play in college at all levels and represent Section V. As I have said before and was attacked for saying colleges vary greatly in all levels (D1-D3). Keep the signings and activities in perspective. In fact some of the "signings" weren't signings at all but "commitments" as no athletic money came into play.
Side thought: Do you know that MCC plays in the lowest level of JUCO softball that is available? Sure the titles are nice but if players there are truly looking to play at D1 and D2 afterwards wouldn't a more challenging level of JUCO competition make sense? Like what they face on their spring trip?
Also take a look at the recruiting practices of some of the D1 schools. I will refrain from specifics but one recent D1 signee still to this day has not been seen by her college coach and was recruited off of press clippings and a video. Seems like an odd recruiting practice for a D1 school. I know of one recruit last year that committed to a school and was touted as a power hitting catcher. She is a contact hitting (.230) outfielder according to stat sheet.
In the end what you hope is that the girls make decisions about college that are realistic to their abilities and at schools that they will be comfortable at and leave with a valuable education. After all their futures are going to be in what they get out of their education. Over the last year or so we have seen a few Section V alumni go from school to school and level to level and it makes you wonder if then and now the school decisions are for academics or softball. If you are going to go to college and put in all the hard work academically and athletically that comes with being a student athlete it makes sense to do your homework and ask yourself "can I live and learn here for the next 4-5 years of my life depending" and "can I play here". If your signing D1 like some of the girls I have heard about for $1-4k in athletic money and some academic money that should be a sign that the coach thinks your a nice player but not someone to invest in. Especially if your kid is a pitcher where at this level most of the athletic money goes to Pitchers and catchers. When you look at Michelle Prong who is going to Stanford that gamble makes perfect sense to me. Big arm, great bat gives her a shot and no matter what happens athletically to walk away with a Standford education is pretty awesome. Walking away with a U of R or RIT education is pretty awesome too and it makes you scratch your head when you hear about kids that had all the opportunity in the world to go to school and play at these schools and be major contributors right away but passed it up for the dream to play D1 at a school with nowhere near the academic standards.
It will be very interesting to see how things shape up for Section v's current seniors over the next 1-2 years. This class of kids going on to play in college has to be an all time high.
I bet the glass is always half empty at your house. How about giving these kids and programs a little respect?
Alex Hebert had a great game vs. Tompkins Cortland, defending National Champs, yesterday 2 for 2 3 RBI. I am sure Bre and the rest of the Section V alum also played well as MCC won both game 9-1 and 7-0.
Looks like a fourth National Championship in the future for the Tribunes.
Hybrid Mode
