RANKINGS
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It’s the morning of the launch of our Class of 2022 Elite 100 list and the natives are getting restless. Not surprisingly, some are critical of the spotlight on top athletes and Extra Inning’s Brentt Eads talks ratings, why they’re done in the first place and who wants them (you may be surprised)…
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Later today, we kick off the Extra Elite 100 Rankings which has been a month in the making… you can check out the schedule here.
Interesting—but not surprisingly—there’s been pushback including comments responding to our announcement last week that the rankings were coming out.
“Please stop this non sense (sic),” said one comment.
“The glorification of early recruiting. Most if (sic) their content revolves around it,” said another, which seems to be tying Extra Inning Softball content and coverage of rankings to the increased commitment of players as young as sixth grade.
The parents of the early recruited players roll their eyes at the naysayers. One parent recently reached out to us, awed at the vilifying aspect of the “haters” (sic). “What’s funny is that these people think we push our kid,” she shared. “This is the childhood she is choosing. It isn’t us. Trust me, I’d rather go on cruises all summer. For some girls, this game is more important that anything else—some girls love it that much. It is their childhood—the travel, the memories, the friendships—it is just revolving around a team of girls who share a passion.”
There seems to be two main reasons people are against player rankings:
1) they don’t like them overall
2) they don’t like younger athletes being put in the spotlight because it adds pressure to their already stressful lives. I’ll address that one in a minute…
First, let’s talk about WHY we do the rankings in the first place: the quick answer is because the softball community wants them.
1) WE LOVE LISTS
We as Americans love lists (look, I’m creating one right now). We want to know where everything stacks up and how it compares. This includes softball players and their teams.
There is a demand for these lists and, contrary to what some may think, this includes players, parents, club coaches, and, yes, even college coaches.
Someone recently posted on our Facebook page recently something to the effect that, “No college coach even looks at these top 100 rankings.” Uhh… wrong.
I was talking to someone high in the game recently, and it was pointed out that the rankings are used as a resource by college coaches to start their recruiting at age divisions and to validate they haven’t missed out on some players. At Mary Nutter this weekend, I even had several college coaches ask about the lists and make comments about how they use it as a recruiting tool. And why wouldn’t they? It doesn’t mean they agree with how players are listed, it just means they use it as a resource—one of many at their disposal.
A few months ago, one of the top club coaches in the game—let’s just say he’s won National Championships—told me he needs to be more involved in providing information on his players because college coaches are saying they use it as a way to learn more about the prospects on the market.
You know who else likes the rankings? Sports Information Directors at colleges: it gives them info on players and something they can add to their Signing Releases when they have player info such as where a signee is listed and also where their class ranked overall.
2) DIALOG AROUND SOFTBALL
Time has proven that the rankings create a discussion around the sport. Like the Elite 100 or not—if you have a vested interest in a team—club or college, have an athlete that age, or simply just care about softball and follow the age level, you’ll probably have a strong opinion one way or another: “Yes, we played again that athlete and she is legit” or “Wow, she’s so overrated, we beat her — our pitcher is better” or the very common “Why isn’t our player on the list and she is?”
3) HONORING THE PLAYERS
The ranking’s primary reason for existence is that it honors athletes who work their tails off. Why shouldn’t softball players be recognized for all that they do? They put a bazillion hours practicing to hone their skills, taking lessons, travelling to games and tournaments and playing—all practically 52 weeks a year now, why is it a bad thing to honor them by saying, “You’re one of the top players in the country at what you do?” Who wouldn’t want to be considered one of the best at anything, especially something they love?
4) MORE FASTPITCH COVERAGE
Yes, I’ll admit it: the Elite 100 adds to our coverage at Extra Inning Softball and, frankly, adds authenticity and legitimacy to what we do. Why? Because we get this information from the key influencers in the sport and allows us to create relationships with people who know the sport best.
The best reason I’ve ever heard for doing rankings comes from the person who’s been voted the No. 1 Most Influential Person in Softball: legendary Hall of Famer Sue Enquist, who as a player and coach at UCLA won 11 National Championships. Sue told me long ago: “Brentt, you’re either in the tribe (of softball) or you’re not—you’re in the tribe because of your rankings. Don’t ever give those up.”
5) USE AS A MOTIVATING TOOL
I’ve come to learn that the rankings are a strong motivating tool for players. I’ve worried that it creates undue pressure on players and I’ve found it’s quite the opposite.
A quick story: concerned that I was “feeding the beast” of adding stress to athletes’ live, I was talking to a Top 25 college head coach and asked if the rankings were a bad thing in this way, in his opinion. He laughed and said, “Pressure? I’ll tell you what pressure is: when a player sees me leaning over the fence watching her knowing a scholarship is on the line involving thousands and thousands of dollars… THAT’S pressure! Being put on a list, that’s nothing.”
I’ve been sensitive to this from the very first list I did—the Class of 2014 Hot 100 to this new list of 2022’s. I’ve asked the top players in practically every list—from Jenna Lilley (2014) to Amanda Lorenz (2015) to Kenzie Hansen (2019, Oklahoma commit) to many others—if being No. 1 in their respective classes put a target on their backs.
Each one gave pretty much the same answer (and I’m paraphrasing): I already push myself hard enough, to be No. 1 in my class is an honor and it forces me to work harder to justify the ranking and the confidence in me. But ultimately I know it’s what I do on the field that will validate my performance.
In conclusion, I’ve counted and I’ve overseen nine years of classes—with most of them being updated two or three times, meaning I’ve gone through the process of compiling 20 top 100 lists, which now go as deep as 500 players.
I once stopped to count the hours it takes to produce a list and it ranges to between 70 and 80: there’s the hours and hours of research contacting coaches, watching players in person, compiling the data and info, assembling the list and whittling it down to the final ranking order, writing and editing the bios, pulling photos and finally, putting it all together and posting on the website. And that isn’t counting the years of relationship building it took to develop the lists in the first place.
I take these lists very seriously and don’t just throw them together—a lot of time, energy, and effort goes into making them as accurate as possible. It’s important to say that this isn’t an exact science: there’s no scientific way to compare a shortstop from California to a pitcher in Oklahoma to a power hitter in Illinois. But it’s fun and as mentioned above, it’s something that the market has enjoyed since they were first compiled many moons ago.
And it’s important to note as well that one benefit of starting young—like the Class of 2022 players—is we can update the list over the next several years and see it evolve as players get closer to entering college. It’s typical that each list will change 25% from the list before it as new players emerge. Again, I’ve been told many, many times by players that—when knowing that an updated list is coming out—it fires them up to work hard and perform well so they either move up the top 100 or enter it if not in already.
Will everyone like them? Of course not, but as long as the softball market finds it of value I will continue to do it and, hopefully, help grow the sport. That’s what it’s ultimately all about.
— Brentt Eads, President/Executive Editor
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Agree? Disagree? Feel free to write me and let me know what you think. I can take it either way! Email: [email protected]