Someone posted Mississippi is behind in softball

[Ranchdawg]

They were wrong. How good is softball in Mississippi? We have a high ranked team at every level!

D1: #17 Mississippi State
D2: #4 Mississippi College
D3: #10 Belhaven
NAIA: #14 William Carey
JUCO: #2 Co-Lin
High School: #2 Northwest Rankin

 

[615dawg]

Softball has come a long way in MS since the MHSAA got rid of slow pitch. Both Belhaven and MC (as well as Co-Lin) have legit shots at winning a national championship. No one in MS is beating NWR this year, so whether they win the national championship is whether Katy drops another game in Texas.

Need to get the MAIS to start playing in the spring instead of the fall and that will help.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

There’s nothing holding back the softball in Mississippi. Travel ball is fine as long you take care of the pitchers, and that’s not a problem for softball. As far as American development, MS is doing fine in that sport.

 

[WGWFA]

Yall must not remember the Hillcrest fast pitch dynasty days. Yes, that was 20/25 years ago but softball in Mississippi has always done well.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

Yall must not remember the Hillcrest fast pitch dynasty days. Yes, that was 20/25 years ago but softball in Mississippi has always done well.

I don’t remember that. Certainly remember the baseball teams from that era.

Only problem with softball or baseball in MS is the overall population.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

One more team to add.

Jones beat Co-Lin to be their district A-seed to JUCO World Series. Co-Lin also advanced and is the B-seed out of the district.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Double post.

 

[BobSacamano]

Co-Lin won the natty last year.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Co-Lin won the natty last year.

Yep. Beat Jones in the National Championship game.

 

[The Cooterpoot]

They were wrong. How good is softball in Mississippi? We have a high ranked team at every level!

D1: #17 Mississippi State
D2: #4 Mississippi College
D3: #10 Belhaven
NAIA: #14 William Carey
JUCO: #2 Co-Lin
High School: #2 Northwest Rankin

MS is terrible comparatively to most states. We've got a lot of lower level teams but nothing top level. Same as travel ball. Go look how few P5 softball players EVER other than at State and OM, who neither have had past success much at all. You can almost count them on one hand. We don't even have a D1 Juco. Carey has one ever championship appearance. NWR isn't top 2 in the country either lol. Guess how many MS are in the regionals not on the squad at State/OM. Heck, we only have one starter from MS ourselves. There's just not much high level softball here.

 

[patdog]

MS is terrible comparatively to most states. We've got a lot of lower level teams but nothing top level. Same as travel ball. Go look how few play P4 softball EVER other than at State and OM. You can almost count them on one hand.

Even MSU only has 5 girls from MS on our roster. UM only has 3. I think that says all you need to know about the quality of high school softball in Mississippi.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

We don't even have a D1 Juco.

Eh. The difference between D1 & D2 in some JUCO sports is minimal.

Softball & Baseball are two such sports.

Soccer though has a little wider difference. Back when Mississippi Jucos were in the D1 league, it was difficult to get past the Texas schools which they were often paired up against at the time.

It’s a little easier for Mississippi schools to advance in D2 soccer now.

 

[The Cooterpoot]

Eh. The difference between D1 & D2 in some JUCO sports is minimal.

Softball & Baseball are two such sports.

Soccer though has a little wider difference. Back when Mississippi Jucos were in the D1 league, it was difficult to get past the Texas schools which they were often paired up against at the time.

It’s a little easier for Mississippi schools to advance in D2 soccer now.

Not in softball. The top D1 teams are generally considerably better than Jones and Co Lin. They also produce more P5 talent. D2 rarely sees P5 players afterwards beyond walk ons. We signed a CoLin kid this year (best player in MS Juco). Jones has traditionally been the best program and in all those years, produced nothing as far as P5 players.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

MS is terrible comparatively to most states. We've got a lot of lower level teams but nothing top level. Same as travel ball. Go look how few P5 softball players EVER other than at State and OM, who neither have had past success much at all. You can almost count them on one hand. We don't even have a D1 Juco. Carey has one ever championship appearance. NWR isn't top 2 in the country either lol. Guess how many MS are in the regionals not on the squad at State/OM. Heck, we only have one starter from MS ourselves. There's just not much high level softball here.

The softball/development is not the problem. It’s the population. You’re not even looking at the real issue when it comes to MSU/Ole Miss.

And you can’t say it’s bad coaching - bad coaching is just a staple of softball and baseball. Just gotta deal with it, mainly because it doesn’t take much coaching at the younger levels.

The players we have are good - so that tells you that MS is doing its part. You want to grow the sport, have to add more people to the state, and get them to have kids to play ball. Period.

 

[ETK99]

Carey has 3 kids from MS starting by the way. Juco would have a lot fewer if they didn't have very restrictive OOS limits.
USM is mostly OOS kids too.

 

[ETK99]

The softball/development is not the problem. It’s the population. You’re not even looking at the real issue when it comes to MSU/Ole Miss.

And you can’t say it’s bad coaching - bad coaching is just a staple of softball and baseball. Just gotta deal with it, mainly because it doesn’t take much coaching at the younger levels.

The players we have are good - so that tells you that MS is doing its part. You want to grow the sport, have to add more people to the state, and get them to have kids to play ball. Period.

No, population is only a part of the problem. There's almost no P5 development in MS. Dykes who played at AL played travel OOS. So did Johnson eventually who is at Washington. There are no top softball organizations in MS. They almost never play in the top level of the PGF.
You're welcome to name all the good MS produced players in P5. Good luck....
Again, if jucos didn't have tight limits on OOS kids, they'd sign a lot more OOS kids too.
D1 schools in MS can't maintain a program on MS kids. Heck, they barely sign them.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Not in softball. The top D1 teams are generally considerably better than Jones and Co Lin. They also produce more P5 talent. D2 rarely sees P5 players afterwards beyond walk ons. We signed a CoLin kid this year (best player in MS Juco). Jones has traditionally been the best program and in all those years, produced nothing as far as P5 players.

I was speaking in generalities of D1 & D2 as a whole but can see how I could have been unclear since I also went into scheduling specifics with soccer.

A big difference between those divisions is the financial commitment the jucos have towards travel for their student athletes to their homes.

Given the OOS stipulations for Mississippi’s Jucos, I’m not surprised that those sports are D2.

I don’t really see jucos — whether D1 or D2 — as a source of National P5 talent in softball or soccer— as well as of course football.

Baseball is of course a different story as is Track. Hinds has a well regarded JUCO track program and has had student athletes transfer to P5 schools.