Topic: Pre season top 3 LI travel softball teams in each age group

ANY THOUGHTS ON THE YOUNGER TEAMS 10U, 11U, 12U. IM NEW TO THE ISLAND AND NOT SURE IF THERE ARE TOO MANY YOUNGER TEAMS OUT THERE

Well after this weekend a few things have changed:

16U--LI Express Blue out/ Fire and Ice Inferno In

14U- Bandits Out,Team LI still #1,  Riptide up to second, third is tough maybe Chargers

on the door step--- Bandits-torlincasi, Team LI 13U won Silver Bullets Tournamnet, Long Island Express--only team to give riptide a game--5-4 ITB Loss. Express have lost to eventual tournamnet champion in each of the tournamnets they were in

Good for the Express but the top three are still the same.....Team LI, Riptide and Bandits Torlincasi - no doubt about it. 

My daughter plays for one of the 16u Teams that was in this past weeks ASA Qualifing Tournament at Flynn Park. She plays on a team that is not really competative yet. I was there and saw all the teams and the the 2 from Long island were the best. L.I. Riptide (94) and TLI (94) regardless which level they play at they stand out from the rest. They are strong, fast, can pitch, catch, throw, play defence, and are well coached. They know how to win.

 There were 3 or 4 teams from New Jersey and Pa. and upstate who were very good  The Newtown Rocks ,  NJ Jaguars, Central Jersey Lighting and Junction Girls. The 16U level was not as overall competitive as the 14U but the top teams were interchangeable. Nice to see two teams from LI with that kind of talent! Both should represent LI on a national level very well.

 How do I get my daughter hooked up with these two teams or am I dreaming,don't get me wrong the Team that she plays on is very nice and the girls are very nice but they don't play at that level. 

Mom---

Those two teams that you mentioned have been together for quite a while and add maybe 1-2 girls per year. If I were the coach, I would not be looking to change anything unless obviously an injury occurs. What position does your daughter play?

Don't think your dreaming, your Daughter has to go to their tryouts! Since it is already june teams usually have their set roster for the summer right through to the nationals at the end of July beginning of August. However every travel team on the Island hold tryouts in august and they usually post the dates in sports section in newday. The posts are printed every friday. If you look in this fridays paper you'will see the listings for all the sports, I think it is called the coaches corner.  They usually begin listing for fastpitch mid to late July. If they don't post in newsday(which can be very expensive) Teams also post their tryouts on their websights. You just have to go down to the tryout with a positive, confident attitude and not be intimidated because the team has a good reputation. Have fun, if she's good she'll be fine.

That's great advice. In addition to that, don't be afraid to pop a coach an email. Sometimes you can fill a need that no one even knew they had.

Also, does anyone know what's going on with the 16U Bandits? Rumor has it that they're popping kids up and down from the 18U team?

MomPlayedSB, I am very curious as to why you have LI Riptide as a top team in 16U when they did not make the final 4 in that tournament?

I said I saw both L.I. Riptide (94) and TLI ( 94) (both Tournament Champions) and both were very impressive and I felt that the both of them could compete on either level with no problem. In fact L.I. Riptide,  I was told won a 16U Tournament last week and that the girls from both teams have played on one team or the other team over the past 5 years and are interchangable. My other opinion was that the 16U group was not as strong as the 5 or 6 upper level teams in the 14U group such as the Jersey Jaguars, Newtown Rocks, Junction Girls and Pegesus, all 3 16U Express teams were unimpressive. I could only compare from my point of view from watching my daughters games at 16u and than watching the surrounding games in between.  My daughters team being an unimpressive 16U. I admired the L.I. Riptide and TLI  for  their skill of softball in all it's facets, and the very fine coaching and feel they are a cut above the rest and wish that my daughter could play with a team like those.

Great advice. You want your player to get better? Join a better team and fight to move up the roster.  And then you'll see improvement.  

If you're looking for a team, we're actually looking for a player. While we play at the 18U level (16U age eligible and we are playing a 16U Nationals), we're looking for a girl in either the class of 2011 or 2012 who we can help develop into a great player.  We have a similiar makeup as the Riptide and TLI 94 squads. Our players have been together for quite a while and if you ask anyone our girls play hard for each other. We win and lose as a team. Like the people above you said, if you're interested pop us an email.

Bandits..............interested in how they will stack up?

Interested to see how many girls can actually go. The Binghampton qualifier is in the middle of the week. Isn't that the team people are saying are bringing girls down to the 16U level because the organization couldn't field a team? Please correct me if I'm wrong about that because there are all kinds of rumors flying around about that organization right now.

In the Suffolk County area the 10U Blaze (SYAG) & 12U LI Cardinals are quality teams without the steep price tag associated with travel.  These organizations are more localized traveling teams with particpation in local tournaments.

speaking from experience,  it you've got problems with your club team,  get it fixed internally,  don't air it out on a public forum. Especially for a 12u team, don't sling mud on a high school forum site. Deal with it directly, no reason to escalate for all to see. 12u is a tough year, don't make it harder than it should be.