SouthbayFP wrote:California teams that were invited in Premier:
6. Cal Nuggets- Extra Innings rank 67
7. Corona Angels Tyson- rank 16
10. Explosion- rank 13 or 24
13. Grapettes- good team, not ranked
22. Ohana TIgers Gold-
23. Power Surge- rank 22
25. So Cal Athletics- rank 44
26. So Cal Choppers Fausett- rank 52
27. Sorcerer Schroll- rank 52
31. Universal Faspitch Garcia- who are they?
32. USA Athletics Rogers- good team, not ranked
I don’t have a problem with any of these since almost all have been ranked in the past. The Grapettes and USA Athletics are returning teams in the age group. Both competed last fall.
What team is the Universal Garcia? I never heard of this team. I recall he coached an 18U team. But who is this new team? Did they earn their merit under another team name? Red Flag #1.
Where are the Batbusters, Athletics Mercado, and Firecrackers? They are not some of the best 14U teams? I am no a smart man, but I do believe OCBB Mascarenas, AM Tidd, AM Ornelas, CA Perez are better than most California teams on the list.
Maybe I am wrong though. Maybe PGF isn’t about politics. Maybe they give berths based on team merit. But who am I kidding.
I'm trying to follow your argument, but I don't think we are looking at the same list. Universal Garcia was not included in the 14U ranking because they were playing 18U in 2019, so I don't know what's going on there. Also, OCBB Mascarenas was ranked #6 on the list I'm looking at, and AM Tidd # 8. There were several Explosion teams playing 14U in 2019. In my opinion, and based on their record against quality competition, Hilliard was without question the best of the batch.
The ranking may not be perfect, and I can't speak for every team in all 50 states, but for CA, I think they came pretty close to getting it right. Is there any CA team that you know of that should have been included, and if so, who would they have knocked off the list? I do believe Firecrackers Ricks deserved an honorable mention.
On a side note, what happened to all of the people in this forum that used to engage in conversations like this? For the past 7 months it's been all politics and childish name calling, mostly from the usual resident experts down in SoCal. It kind of feels good to finally have a conversation about softball for just once after 7 months. Thanks for initiating it.