July
22, 2001-In correspondence with College Coaches through e-mails and by meeting them in person at tournaments I have learned that College Coaches of top Div I programs only scout two or three big tournaments during the summer because of budgets. Most tell me that two of those three tournaments usually are Colorado and the U18 ASA Gold Nationals. As a
consequence, it is critical to get exposure at Colorado and the U18 ASA Gold Nationals if you hope to sign with a respected Div. I College softball program.
The Greater Houston area has monopolized qualifying their teams into the U18 ASA Gold National Tournament for at least the past three
years. What I mean is that for the past three years in Texas, the only U18 ASA Gold softball teams qualifying for ASA Gold Nationals are from the Greater Houston area. No Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, Bryan softball team has qualified in the past three years for U18 ASA Gold Nationals.
This year there are six U18 ASA Gold Teams going to the U18 ASA Gold Nationals in Marietta, Georgia and they are all from the Greater Houston area. They are The Katy Crusiers, Texas Storm (Houston), Spring-Klein Hawks, Tomball Hawks, Missouri City Magic and Spring-Klein Impact Gold. The Katy Cuisiers qualifed for the Nationals in Georgia automatically because they won the ASA Gold Nationals last summer. Texas Storm qualified by winning the first ASA Gold Qualifier in Texas this summer in Killeen, Texas. Spring-Klein Hawks qualified by winning the second ASA Gold Qualifier in Texas at Katy. Last week, Missouri City Magic, Tomball Hawks and Spring-Klein Impact qualified in the ASA Gold Regionals held in LaPorte, Texas.
Last summer (2000), only four Texas teams qualified for the U18 ASA Gold Nationals in St. Louis, Missouri. They were the Katy Cruisers, Texas Heat from Kingwood, Cy-Fair Intruders Gold and Texas Eclipse from Spring-Klein. All four teams were from the Greater Houston area. The Katy Cuisers won the National Championship
by winning 7 games and losing 1..
In the 1999 summer, seven Greater Houston teams qualified for the U18 ASA Gold Nationals in Chattanooga, Tennessee. They were the Katy Cruisers, Texas Heat, Cy-Fair Intruders, Spring-Klein Hawks, Missouri City Magic, New Edition Gold from Tomball, and
NW 45 Thunder from Spring, Texas.
The U18 ASA Gold Tournaments help the
players obtain recognition for the ASA
All-American Teams. Kristen Schmidt for Texas Heat, Catherine Osterman for the Katy Crusiers, Nicole Deeter from Texas Heat and Jenni Allister form
the Katy Crusiers made the 1999 ASA All-American Team.
Many of
the Olympic team members are previous
ASA All-American Team Members. At the beginning of this summer, the USA "A" and "B" Olympic team members were released. There were four Texans. They were all form
the Greater Houston area. They were Cat Osterman, Lindsay Gardner, Brittany Sneed and Kim DePaul.
Players from outside of the Greater Houston area have recognized that the Greater Houston area has monopolized softball in the State of Texas and travel great distance to play with these Greater Houston area teams each summer to get exposed. For example, this summer Nicole Denes and Natasha Jacob travelled from Coppell, Texas to play with the
Cruisers. Amy Bradford travels from Lufkin High School and Christina Gwyn from Big Springs to pitch for the Spring-Klein Hawks. I am sure there are others!
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