I had posted a question on another thread and decided that I should just post the question myself.
How good does a Softball Pitcher have to be to be seriously considered as a potential recruit by a college coach?
I am currently a sophomore Pitcher on a travel team. My prep-school does not offer softball as a sport. I play on a mediocre team in the Northwest and we do attend showcases. I am currently pitching 56-58 mph. I’m not one to bowl any batter over with my speed. I tend to rely on my movement pitches to get my strikes. I am a good student. 4.0 unweighted GPA. 2270 on the SAT (first sitting). I’m still trying to decide if I should rewrite it for a higher score.
I think that I might be able to catch the coaches’ attention with my GPA and Test Score but the problem is, I’m short (under 5’ 4") and my fastball is in the mid to high 50s.
I’ve tried looking up the players currently playing in the NESCAC, Ivys, SCIAC, etc. I see the teams that they’ve played for but nothing tells me how good of a pitcher they are. I know that they’re good. But how good is good? What are their pitching speeds? How good is their movement?
I know that I still have time to get stronger and possibly faster (by a mile or 2 at most). But do you think I stand a chance with coaches in the NESCAC, Ivys, SCIAC, Centennial, etc? Anyone with experience with this?
I don’t know much about softball per se, but I do have a kid who is an Ivy athlete. There is a fair amount of spread in ability among the conferences you mention. Have you tried getting a private pitching coach to improve your velocity? I see you mention about being in the northeast. Try googling Austin Wasserman. He works out of southern NH. He might be able to offer help.
How good is good? I don’t think it’s a number on a Jugs gun. Taylor Cabe, pitcher for Harvard said something about never throwing a fastball in a game because her’s was “too straight”, but in HS she had a 0.48 ERA and was Player of the Year on SC State Championship team. But as @nhparent9 said, you’ll probably find a broad range of ability between D1 Ivy and D3 NESCAC.
With a 4.0 unweighted and a one-time 2270 SAT, your academics are fine. Talk to your club coach to help get a true assessment of the level you could play on the collegiate level.
Varska, my private pitching coach who was a former student and then assistant coach at a Div 2 school told me that at my skill level, I would be able to play div 2 and definitely a high academic div3. She confirmed that I am not div1 material, which I took to mean that I wasn’t Pac12, Big 10 material which I knew already and am ok with that. She couldn’t tell me if I was Ivy material because she’s never seen them play.
Do you know how competitive the Ivys are?
My fear is, with the NESCAC, Ivys, ect schools being so competitive, I worry that I won’t be able to get accepted based on my grades and test scores alone. I feel that I still need support from a coach to secure my acceptance.
Girlee, it is a great thing to to seek and receive advice from this forum. One area where the advice will be wanting for skill sports (as opposed to timed sports) is the “will I be good enough to play” area. No one should directly answer that question, and if you get an answer you shouldn’t rely on it. We haven’t seem you play, and most of us are not college coaches. I would say that most college teams, including D3, are a significant step up for the typical high school player who is all county in his and her sport.
Beyond that, recruiting for a sport like softball is a supply and demand thing. Unlike baseball, you don’t need to roster 10-15 pitchers. If a coach needs a pitcher and is having trouble recruiting someone, maybe the coach will recruit someone who is less skilled – to be conservative. If the coach is flush with pitchers, the coach won’t be looking for anyone. So there is that variable.
What you should do is put your big toe in the water and see how warm it is. If you live near an IVY, go to the college softball camp. If you can, bring a parent who will be objective about comparing your skills with the other girls. Same with a camp at the D3 level. Afterward, go up and ask the coach where you fit into college athletics. Again, don’t rely on one coach’s opinion. You should also send some tapes in to coaches by email and be aggressive with asking about your skills. Specifically ask them “what do you think.”
If your coach feels that you’re not D1 material, you probably wouldn’t be a supported recruit in the Ivy League. Conference-wide, the Ivies may not be as strong as PAC-12 or ACC, but they do play and beat teams like Maryland, Penn State and Iowa St. Your grades and test scores are excellent, but you’re right, without support you’re just another strong applicant in a pool full of strong applicants.
Top academic D3’s, on the other hand, might be a great fit. NESCAC and UAA (WashU, UChi) can also support athletes through admissions but it can be a little trickier in the D3 world to gauge the strength of that support. In all cases the grades have to be there, but I think you should be in pretty good shape in that department.
Maybe your coach can reach out to some of these coaches on your behalf to help initiate a conversation.
Hi Girlie, I would agree that the stronger Ivy teams can and do compete successfully with other D1 teams. They play at a level higher than NESCAC for sure. I have seen several Ivy teams and several NESCAC teams play, and that was certainly my impression. NESCAC is uneven. Tufts is the national champ while several other teams hardly won any games at all. I think that your grades and SAT scores will get a lot of attention from top academic D3 schools. I would encourage you to go online, decide which schools you might be interested in actually attending, then fill out the online questionnaires and email the coaches.
Another thing I would suggest is to go watch a D3 game or two this spring if you can. I see you are in the Northwest, are you anywhere near a college that fields a decent team? Go and watch, just to see the level of play. Here are the NCAA regional rankings: http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/softball/d3/regional-rankings. Only one team is in the Northwest, I think, but maybe your local team plays one of these, and it can give you a sense of how they play.
And one more thing: coaches are very impressed with players who can hit and get on base. Try to find time to really work on your hitting (as well as all the time that pitching takes). We know a girl playing at Tufts. She wasn’t a superstar but could hit consistently and get on base. Also, to add, another girl we know was recruited pretty strongly at Pomona and she was honestly a mediocre travel ball player, but had grades and SAT scores like yours. The coach told her that it was a challenge to find ball players who had the academics for the school. And sometimes a pitcher is supported through admissions with the idea that she might be a back-up pitcher but play regularly at another position or pinch hit.