SOFTBALL: 2008 All-Area team

Hey, I was wondering ... has anything notable happened with any of these "All-Area" players (or "any-area" players for that matter) in summer ball? Any big college recruiting news?

From previous blog discussions ... isn't travel ball where it all happens anyway?

Indeed

Jim

damn that was refreshing

I just wanted to take a moment to congratulate all the players who made the All Area and All League teams this year. I would also like to thank all the other players who didn't make the list for showing up at practice everyday and giving all the selections a chance to compete in practice and rise to a level of achievement for their individual efforts. The truth is together all the players on the All Area team would tell you they would be nothing without their team-mates. All the selections would gladly give back the award for a CIF Championship. All of them would tell you that they would never go to practice if it wasn't for their friends that play. High School Softball is not what it use to be. Travel Ball has done a good job of elevating the talent and all college coaches recruit from travel not high school.

So lets give thanks to all the players that made the 2008 softball season better because if they didn't have they're friends to go to practice with they just wouldn't go. So for all the players who helped a player make the All Area or All League selection a toast to you and your efforts because without you none of this would have happened.

As long as every player gave the effort this year that they're proud of then its okay not to make the list because in great attempts its okay to fail as long as you work just as hard next year.

Thank you to all the players that brought me a tremendous amount of enjoyment this year.

chk,

while your relentless perservance is admirable, it appears unlikely any degree of peace awaits you. Many here understand your distress, since All Area selections, MVP's, etc... always seem tweaked, skewed in some direction, overloaded in another and rank with omissions. It does not necessarily equate to inept reporting or failed calculations of available statistics...or even perception, PR or variable levels of competitiveness league to league, etc. It sometimes boils down to these criteria - and a bunch of others you yourself have done well to highlight. In the end a player or two is selected and others of often equal or "greater" skill is left off and it sucks. It happens year end and year out and is a guaranteed topic of heated debate as any archive will show you.
It is not that your points are not well made..it is that they will not or never resolve the matter to the degree you aspire. Controversy will be ever-present and unanimity will be absent. If the SG/Keith duo is unqualified to select and publish their picks...what is your solution?

Wow...help

Chk: I saw Parada and Ellingsworth pitch this season on multiple occasions, as did Keith.

goteamgo,

I agree with subjectivity being prevelant in this situation and I aknowledged that in my earlier statement. But, I get the feeling from Scott that until I just pointed it out, he didn't even know or didn't care that Parada was the RHL pitcher of the year and that Ellingsworth was splitting time with a pitcher who had a better era and finished the games while Ellingsworth excellently filled in a utility role. (This not about her, she is a great player.)

Subjectivity on the part of the media should not be accepted if it is uninformed and I didn't say that had to "get it right" I said that "its about making a real effort to get it right." Hence the debate.

chk -

You (or they) will never "get it right" regarding these selections, because they (along with the other all area selections made by the San Gabriel Newspaper Group)are subjective in nature. One persons opinion versus another persons opinion, and always subject to debate.

I still find the discussions entertaining.

Scott,

So if you and Keith Lair picked the team, why did you leave Amy off (not even an honorable mention) and put several Prep league players on the team ahead of her?

The Prep League coaches felt she was the best player in the entire league this year and yet you completely leave her off the team. I think an explanation is in order

Scott,

I am absolutely not pointing to any specific instance. I am talking about the whole season. Melissa Vega pitched 65 innings for Temple City with a 1.8 ERA and Ellingsworth pitched 86 innings with 2.59 ERA. Just about every game they played Ellingsworth would pitch until the teams caught up to her then Vega woud come in and finish. Ellingsworth would then go to first base, where she was very valuable as a fielder and a hitter, like I am sure she will be in college.

If you didn't know that you are truly exposing yourself.

Like I said before, Ellingsworth, for sure, deserves to be All Area, but in the Utility position, because that is what she was. Parada won Pitcher of the year in the RHL because that was what she was and she should have first team. And that award, I believe, was voted for by the coaches in the RHL, the ones you consulted, right? To me it is obvious, but what do I know?

How about the end of season Top 5?

GoTEAM GO,

If you haven't noticed I called for attention to detail all year by this writing staff, for your sheer entertainment, and it hasn't happened. It has nothing to do with daughters, its about making a real effort to get it right.

I do not have a daughter, but I enjoy reading these softball blogs for the sheer entertainment value.("My daughter is better than yours!" My daughter should be an all-star!"

Live for your kids, not through your kids.

Chkyrslf: We call coaches to get their feedback. I'm sure I've seen more area teams than you have and my beat was baseball, but you seem to have all the answers. And your question about Maxpreps is funny because there are still a lot of schools who don't put stats up. Who shouldn't be there Chk? If it's about Ellingsworth and Parada, we both saw plenty of both. And as far as her being pulled early, you must be talking about the time she got beaned by a ball on the leg and couldn't continue pitching.

There is no way that the two of you alone have the info to make solid decisions. You must judge people on what you saw when you happened to see players, right? And the rest that you haven't seen, have got to be based on what you heard or from maxpreps, right?

Riddle me this:
Who are the top 10 teams at the end of the season after all is said and done? (Top 5 will do as well.)

Keith Lair ultimately picked the team with my input. We weren't influenced by anyone.

Here is the deal. These awards do not make much sense. Most of the players that got awards deserve the awards that they got, but there are so few awards relative to the amount of players and leagues. The star news does not see enough games but there are a few people with special interests who influence the decision makers because they give the impression that they have seen the games that Scott and the others didn't see.

It is a farce but it is our farce.

RN, I think you are referencing the comment by MS. They didn't say Amy wasn't a good player. On the contrary, they said she is a "very good player".

Also, congradulations on her Prep League MVP's.

However, I would agree with MS, "she's not the same level of player as infielders Mun or Grant". Also, there are very significant differences in the level of competition between the Rio Hondo and the Prep Leagues, and MVP status says a lot within that league, but beyond that league it doesn't.

I would also agree with Bob, it doesn't make sense that another Prep League infielder was selected to the PSN All-Area team before the Prep League selection for MVP.

In the end, does it really matter? I think not. Amy will go on to Villanova and Jordan will go on to Stanford and there is no doubt that their future successes and acheivements will far exceed what they achieved on the high school softball field. Which makes this discussion all very silly!

This is to MS,Katherine Clancy Pitcher from Mayfield did get an Honorable Mention.As far as Amy goes you probably don't think she is in the same level of play as Mun or Grant.Do any of the 2 girls have 1 or 2 League MVP'S like Amy's 2 that she has.

The level of softball competition within the Prep League is way below a couple of other area Leagues. Even within the Prep League the play is pretty substandard.

If a Prep League team wants to gain any level of respect for their teams or players, they need to take on some reasonable non-league competition outside of their league and win a couple of those games. Instead, Prep League teams shy away from reasonable competition.

Didn't the Flintridge Prep. varsity team get slaughtered by La Canada's JV team this season?

The Mayfield pitcher (Katherine Clancy) was selected as an Honorable Mention by PSN.

Amy should have been 1st team infield as she was selected MVP by the Prep League coaches which should put her ahead of other girls from the Prep League on the PSN team. I wouldn't take anything away from Jordan Richard-Craven, I think she is an excellent player, but Amy was picked ahead of her by the Prep League coaches for Prep League MVP.

How does the Mayfield Pitcher get awarded Pitcher of the Year by the Prep League and doesn't get an Honorable Mention from the PSN All-Area team and yet the Flintridge Prep. Pitcher gets the Honorable mention from the PSN All-Area team ... go figure?

I don't see what the Home Run Derby before a seniors only exihbition game has to do with selection of the PSN All-Area team. It shouldn't have any bearing. However, that Mayfield infielder is a very good player. She's not the same level of player as infielders Mun or Grant but she was at least worthy of Honorable Mention from the PSN All-Area team. There is one PSN Honorable Mention infield player that even batted in the .100's according to an unrelated article in the Glendale News Press last week.

I know Amy is not a pitcher,but she was the Prep League MVP both this year and last year.She also won the Home Run Derby at the Private vs. Public GAME.You have 7 Prep League players on this List and not one won Prep MVP Honors 2 years in a row.The only 1 that has won any award on this list is Katherine Clancy ,Prep League Pitcher of the Year.I know she is a 1st team 2nd Base,you probably misplaced her name somewhere.

Where is Amy Vergel De Dios? She should be on the first team! Was she accidentally left off the list? I would think the fact that she won the home run derby at the Public vs. Private game would have pretty much guaranteed her a spot on the first team.