Softball in Mississippi

[615dawg]

Northwest Rankin won the High School national championship, one of just two undefeated teams nationwide.

Belhaven just took Game 1 of the National Championship Series in NCAA D3 - they have to be beaten twice tomorrow.

Copiah-Lincoln finish third at the NJCAA World Series.

Pretty good run. Hopefully State can start taking the next step. Feels like we are close.

 

[The Cooterpoot]

Already lost our FR 2B to the portal. Wish we'd grab the Parklane kid that's in the portal from Washington. Really need portal pitching and some power. We signed CoLin's best player Richardson who is a good hitter/athlete if she can make the move up.

 

[patdog]

I’m sure there are 20 teams each in TX, FL & CA that would beat NWR easily. I don’t know where those rankings come from but there’s just no way the best team in the nation is in MS.

 

[Anon1665155225]

I’m sure there are 20 teams each in TX, FL & CA that would beat NWR easily. I don’t know where those rankings come from but there’s just no way the best team in the nation is in MS.

Agreed. Got one here in Alabama that’s been doing all-stars and travel ball. Starting at the 12u stage, **** here gets real.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

The bigger question is, can any of those kids on NWR come play in the SEC? At MSU hopefully.

That's the big fallacy when it comes to travel ball culture and the consolidation of talent. Just because you've got a good couple of teams doesn't mean that the general area, city, region or even state is doing pretty well. It just means the best consolidated and learned to win together. And honestly, winning in high school doesn't exactly equate to winning in college, and then at the next step, whatever that is for any sport.

I'm not saying travel ball and playing more doesn't help, it does. You definitely can maximize the talent you have. But the question is, is the talent good enough that is going in the system? And is there enough of it?

On the other hand, winning a national title is a big deal. @patdog, you may be right, but someone put them up there. And this isn't like winning a single tournament - this is winning for a sustained amount of time, and also have the reputation as the best. I mean NWR is 7A, isn't that the biggest a school can be? Why we would assume some other school would beat them? Perhaps there is just enough of a good crop running around Castlewoods, the Rez and the Flohood apartments to put together the right mix. And they've probably been playing together since 6U, knowing the Rankin County travel ball scene. That helps the win column.

 

[patdog]

The bigger question is, can any of those kids on NWR come play in the SEC? At MSU hopefully.

That's the big fallacy when it comes to travel ball culture and the consolidation of talent. Just because you've got a good couple of teams doesn't mean that the general area, city, region or even state is doing pretty well. It just means the best consolidated and learned to win together. And honestly, winning in high school doesn't exactly equate to winning in college, and then at the next step, whatever that is for any sport.

I'm not saying travel ball and playing more doesn't help, it does. You definitely can maximize the talent you have. But the question is, is the talent good enough that is going in the system? And is there enough of it?

On the other hand, winning a national title is a big deal. @patdog, you may be right, but someone put them up there. And this isn't like winning a single tournament - this is winning for a sustained amount of time, and also have the reputation as the best. I mean NWR is 7A, isn't that the biggest a school can be? Why we would assume some other school would beat them? Perhaps there is just enough of a good crop running around Castlewoods, the Rez and the Flohood apartments to put together the right mix. And they've probably been playing together since 6U, knowing the Rankin County travel ball scene. That helps the win column.

How many of their players are being recruited by SEC schools? Just look at our roster and Mississippi’s roster. Not many Mississippi girls. NWR played 1 game out of state. Vs a 9-18 team from Alabama. Only win 3-1. You’d expect a true national top 20 team to win that one by 20 runs.

 

[The Cooterpoot]

NWR has zero SEC players. But to be fair, no other school in MS had one either. I see Halle Burns from Booneville is in the portal at OM. She was like a top MS player. Knew that was coming before she went. There's just no SEC talent in MS. MS produces none most years. Thats why Alana Johnson being in the portal after playing at Washington would be a nice pick up. In fact, most of the team at Washington is in the portal. Look what our kids that left last year in the portal did. Graff hit like .180 at OK ST. Buerlien pitched little at AR. We hit on so many FR this year but sucks to lose one.

 

[MSUDOG24]

NWR has zero SEC players. But to be fair, no other school in MS had one either. I see Halle Burns from Booneville is in the portal at OM. She was like a top MS player. Knew that was coming before she went. There's just no SEC talent in MS. MS produces none most years. Thats why Alana Johnson being in the portal after playing at Washington would be a nice pick up. In fact, most of the team at Washington is in the portal. Look what our kids that left last year in the portal did. Graff hit like .180 at OK ST. Buerlien pitched little at AR. We hit on so many FR this year but sucks to lose one.

What making assumptions about people will get you but have to say Cooter that you'd be one of the last people on here I'd guess would be our softball insider and expert analyst. Can't say I'm deep into it but go to a handful of our games a year and watch my fair share of Sunday and Monday SEC TV games so enjoy your insights and perspective.
Who you got tonight and to take the title?

 

[The Cooterpoot]

What making assumptions about people will get you but have to say Cooter that you'd be one of the last people on here I'd guess would be our softball insider and expert analyst. Can't say I'm deep into it but go to a handful of our games a year and watch my fair share of Sunday and Monday SEC TV games so enjoy your insights and perspective.
Who you got tonight and to take the title?

Tough call. Texas has better pitching but OK can smash. TX win that series earlier too. So probably OU if their pitching holds up. Texas has two girls I know. I'm expecting a good series.
Belhaven lost twice today in a big way too by the way. They finished runner up in D3.
John Cohen hired co-HCs at AU softball. Two TN assistants. Chris Malveuax is a solid coach but that's a reach for Cohen (unsurprised).

 

[MSUDOG24]

Tough call. Texas has better pitching but OK can smash. TX win that series earlier too. So probably OU if their pitching holds up. Texas has two girls I know. I'm expecting a good series.
Belhaven lost twice today in a big way too by the way. They finished runner up in D3.
John Cohen hired co-HCs at AU softball. Two TN assistants. Chris Malveuax is a solid coach but that's a reach for Cohen (unsurprised).

Heard that and appears we dodged the Sam to AU bullet. Fair to say you think that's a good thing?

 

[ETK99]

Heard that and appears we dodged the Sam to AU bullet. Fair to say you think that's a good thing?

I like Sam. When my kid played, I saw her recruiting a lot and Bratton too. I think it's hard to run a great program in MS and she's done a great job. Recruiting has improved but we need to get some big portal players (probably not possible at State). We keep moving forward and making regionals and nobody should complain. The two teams playing in the ship moving to the SEC just made it tougher. We need pitching and power next year. We also got real lucky getting our facilities built when we did.

 

[The Cooterpoot]

Sam and Bratton are hard workers. Sam has a lot of connections and has brought in a lot of help. I thought they did a great job this year with so many young players. With the PAC breaking up, and Texas and OU moving, the SEC is now THE softball power conference. You're going to see talent flowing into the league.

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

It's a tough hill to climb, especially when Oklahoma gets to have a home stadium every time they're in the World Championship Series.