NorCal 12U 06 - almost final rant

[BB12]

This weekends friendly in Lincoln was a great event, except the Taco dude ran out of food on Sunday.

Lots of player movement talk, Fall recruiting, and the usual drama made the down time exciting. The organizations should have had fall tryout information booths and uniform fitting in Lincoln.

Looks like the Tri-Valley mutual admiration society hit the panic button and awarded a Grapettes team in the San Jose area and another in Sacramento. I guess 2006 was a bad vintage for kids in the Stockton and Modesto areas.

The only thing I can think the Cabernet Grapes and the new San Jose Grapes will have in common is Brandy, the drink (not the stage name for your favorite "dancer") The Marin Grapette parent sips their brandy after dinner by a fireplace, and the San Jose Grapette parent will chase theirs with Strawberry Fanta around a barbecue.

The coach they picked to run the "new 06 San Jose Grapettes team" will look awesome in that purple leotard. Its going to take Love, Trust, and Belief for him to get into it, but just the mental picture of him in the leotard should enhance his tryout numbers.

The "Travel team search - Sacramento" facebook page created some nice drama this week, when a representative of an organization pretended to be a concerned parent and went on a ridiculous rant about about "parent coaches" and a bunch of other promotional crap disguised as a "Public Service Announcement"

It was obviously an overreaction to the addition of the new AASA Escobar, Firecrackers, Breeze Warren, Grapes 916 teams that will water down the Sacramento/Elk Grove 06 group to the point that any parent with $3K and a kid with an 06 birthday can live the same dream the rest of us are living.

Why not push the "academy"? Put out some cones and lots of bow-nets, roll balls at kids, have a muscular person there to make the kids do exercises they should be doing on their own, and to top it off some former college players who throw front toss for dollars while they utter slogans like "strong top hand" "dont cast" and "stay balanced", all while checking their texts.

Those of you on the anti-parent coaching bandwagon and falling for the "academy style" hustle should realize
the top 12U Norcal Teams all have parent coaches:

Grapes 06
AASA Mortimer
SJ Sting
Nuggets
Sorcerer

All the 06 "academy" players and their parents are welcome to come watch the parent coached kids play at PGF in Huntington Beach next week. Maybe your academy will pick up your admission.

The top 3 teams this weekend were probably:

Cabernet Grapettes Moose
Nuggets 06 Woods
AASA Mortimer

The "Super Friendly" should become a regular (rotating) event going into 2020. The 6GG - 90 min drop was a great format, the fields were nice and the competition (all PGF qualified teams) was good.

Last thought, would you rather see the addition of more 06 teams going into fall or would you like to see the better teams consolidate?

Is 1st year 14s the best year to consolidate and build a strong team? Imagine if two of the top teams combined their top players ....they could send the rest to the academy for "professional training"...

Good luck with the ping pong balls at PGF, pray you dont draw Birmingham Tbolts or Diamond Sports Hotshots in 1st bracket game and enjoy the end of a very long season.

[Onebadmouse]

@BB12 - Always a great assessment of Norcal Travel Softball. How about this... play where you think is best. Play for the coach you think is best. Play for the team you think is best. Play for the organization you think is best. You will either make a good decision or a bad decision. Every organization has its pros and cons.

After this past weekend and going into PGF Nats, the teams that should be at the top are:
AASA Mortimer
Grapes Moose 06
Sorcerer Bigley
Nuggets 06
Sting

I would like to mention that all of the Platinum and 07 teams that participated this past weekend were impressive. I see a great future in those programs and looking forward to watching them compete in HB.

Let's see what the landscape looks like on August 5th after a Norcal Team takes home a PGF Title. Hopefully it's the one I am rooting for

[Dynamutt]

Curious as to why Lady Magic isn’t on the list (No, I don’t have a kid or relative or neighbor on that team... I see they’re competitive so I’m genuinely curious)

Strongly agree that different coaches and organizations are a fit for different families. I’m grateful for lots of local options.

[tommyd2142]

Having played Lady Magic many times in the spring they were always in the top 5 on my rankings. They are very deep in pitching and have great hitting 1-9 On any given weekend these teams play a lot of close games and they all win were ever they play!!
Grapettes (Moose)
Nuggets
AASA Mortimer
Lady Magic
Sorcerer (Bigley)
San Jose Sting
Not necessarily in this order... Gonna be interesting going into fall!

[BB12]

The Norcal march to PGF has finally arrived, while heading down the I5 this morning, I passed a car with window paint saying, Love, Trust, Belief!

I initially thought it was a church missionary group, but then I saw "the battle flag"....A pair of yoga pants tied to the antenna and felt like my kid was part of a NorCal Softball invasion force....

I cant plug the brand of the leggings, but the clearly visible "racing stripe" tells me they were used during a grueling weekend of softball.

Roll on Norcal lets have at least team make it to the weekend.....and remember in 6 weeks we will be back in Stockton starting all over again.....

Oh and sorry about the omission of the Lady Magic in my rankings, they are top 5 , I was on a rant about the "special needs" parent who posted the phony PSA warning on Facebook about "parent coaches" and I left the Magic out because "technically" they dont have a parent head coach...Matt Boykin is as good as they come and his team is very solid.....I think TommyD2142 likes their pitching more than I do, but they can swing it...

I am headed over to the Four Seasons in Newport Beach for happy hour, staying at the Super 8 in Rancho Cucamonga if you want to hang and shotgun some Natty Lights.....

[d831smso]

Any news on how NorCal teams performed at PGF? 10U, 12U, OR 14U?

[notthisagain]

Any news on how NorCal teams performed at PGF? 10U, 12U, OR 14U?

No NorCal finishers.
12u Nuggets went furthest.
Pgf website will post order of finish
sometime this millennium.

[BB12]

The "final rant" is coming.

I am having my septic tank unclogged after having an end of the season party following 9th place at the NSA World Series in Modesto.

Later this afternoon I am headed to a park in Sacramento to check out an "academy workout " where there are no parent coaches, no PGF Premier wins, and lots of cones, bownets, and dog fighting.

Should be interesting, watching the pro's out there rolling balls while some dude with a big white belt and white shoes trys to sell "the academy" style of softball. I will be sure to have my checkbook ready. LOL

I will post the "Final" 12U rant, after a couple menthol cigarettes and a "Sacramento Screwdriver" Royal Gate Vodka mixed with Orange Fanta. When in Rome...