Club Event News: College Coaches Can Mark Their Calendars for Three Must-See Showcase & Tournament Events This Fall (with Another Big One in January!)

The summer travel ball season is coming to an end, but we continue to see Power 5 head and assistant coaches at Nationals evaluating talent.

Talking to them at top events over the last month, they’re very much looking forward to catching their collective breaths before hitting the road for the fall’s evaluation period.

So, in the spirit of helping our college coach friends plan ahead, we’re giving them three weekends this Fall to mark on their calendars as must-see events:

• Oct. 15-17, 2021: Team NJ Fall College Showcase
• Oct. 29-21, 2021: Arizona Fall Invitational
• Nov. 12-14, 2021: Clearwater Fall Classic

And here’s a bonus one that will take place right after the Holidays that college coaches are already highlighting on their calendars:

• Jan. 15-17, 2022: Arizona Fastpitch Classic

Trust us when we say these four events will have top club teams competing and elite college programs watching.

All four are produced by Team New Jersey Fastpitch Softball, a softball events organization run by Jim Barsalona who has been in the softball event world close to 28 years now.

Last Fall we detailed how Barsalona had added another “hot spot” to his successful event lineup after great success in running tourneys in New Jersey and Florida previously: Arizona, where he and his wife Carol spend a lot of time.

He’s excited about the two areas of the country where his softball tourneys are growing quickly in addition to his home base of New Jersey where he’s already had strong events for decades.

“The mix of teams coming to Florida and Arizona this fall is exciting,” he begins. “We have a mixture of Alliance and PGF-oriented teams coming in to play the best competition, plus the teams and players get to see a great mix of college coaches at both locations.”

Here are the three Fall events & the one Winter one with comments from Jim that will be tent-pole events in the recruiting process this Fall and Winter:

Team NJ Fall College Showcase

“This even has teams from the East and Southeast with a few West Coast teams,” Barsalona says. “This will be the 25^th Annual Fall event so it will be huge. Team NJ at this time of the year always draws from 150-to-200 college coaches for the 96 attending teams. Limited spots are available.”

Arizona Fall Invitational

“This is the second annual event,” the event producer explains. “Last year we had 119 teams and this Fall will be even better with the high caliber of teams and we’re expecting a big college coach turnout too. Teams love the two-hour time slots and have the option to play five or six games (most go to seven inning games). It’s a very solid Fall national tournament.

Clearwater (Fla.) Fall Classic

“This is the third year in Clearwater,” Jim begins “and we can only take 84-to-86 teams, but with California, Arizona and even Pacific Northwest teams in addition to a lot of solid Southeast, Northeast, and Midwest teams coming, this is going to be amazing. I have very limited spots for Florida and we’re only taking top-level teams at this point. This will also bring a big college coach crowd. There are nine excellent fields at the Eddie C. Moore Complex and there are 14 fields with 10 being just four minutes away. Like the Arizona event, all games are two-hour time slots.

Arizona Fastpitch Classic

“The Arizona Fastpitch Classic will be played as the ‘new’ 16-field complex in Mesa, Arizona,” Jim adds. “It’s Martin Luther King holiday weekend and sure to bring the great crowds.”

With great backdrops, facilities, weather and talent, these four events are already drawing elite quality and quantity of competition.

Extra Inning Softball will be covering the four events and bring updates on who looked good.

— Brentt Eads, Extra Inning Softball