Extra Elite 100 Rankings: Parents… We HAVE to Talk About Player Rankings!

This is Brentt Eads, Executive Editor of Extra Inning Softball.

With Extra Inning Softball adding thousands of new readers weekly, it’s time I wax philosophical about our rankings… the good, bad and ugly.

Let me start with a story.

A few years back, I was at an NFCA Convention and a college coach made a bold and surprising statement…. He said:

“If I see a parent carrying his or her daughter’s bat bag, I will cut her immediately off my recruiting list.”

The essence of that story was: players need to be independent and manage themselves, yes, but also that parents need to not baby their daughters and certainly not intrude when it comes to their roles as softball players.

No coach wants to deal with a parent looking over his/her shoulder and being a distraction. Trust me on this one. College coaches have enough to stress out about without worrying that their back-up shortstop’s dad is going to complain about playing time.

Speaking as a parent myself, I know how easy it is to step in for your child and want to make life easier for them. But, like the chick breaking out of the egg and strengthening itself in the process, if parents interfere they run the risk of impeding the growth of their daughter, not helping her, even when intent is good.

Softball parents… let me be blunt: many of you are, or are becoming, problematic in softball, at least when it comes to player rankings, in stressing out not just your club coaches but sometimes your own kids!

I’m going to address how, what should be a reward for your favorite athlete is, instead, becoming a headache for your daughters and their club coaches.

What Extra Inning Softball Rankings Are Meant to Be

As I’ve explained previously, I have been in high school sports my entire work career including stints at ESPN and working on-air and online with Fox Sports and many other media entities in print, online and on-air.

The first part of my career I was in football and was heavily into recruiting media similar to how I cover it in softball. In fact, many of the ideas I saw in football rankings and recruiting I’ve brought to the softball scene because, simply, it worked.

I saw how Top 100 lists generated a lot of enthusiasm, attention and coverage in football (as well as basketball, basketball and other sports).

As far as I know, I was the first to develop player rankings in the softball space like it’s done in other sports (at least as extensively as we do it).

Here are some key points and philosophies I have about rankings and why they should be a good thing for the sport:

1. Primary reason: honoring the athlete. Period. End of story. This is in recognition for all their hard work to date and projection that they will be impactful in the future at the next level, whatever level that may be.

2. Second: bring discussion to the sport. When I was at ESPN, I was stunned to see the analytics showing that, at least at that time, 98% of all traffic in the high school age was around the recruiting/rankings database. Players care and college fans do too.

3. Extra Inning Softball rankings are different from scouting services. Those like Derek and Joann Allister and their family at OnDeck Softball do scouting at their events; many do testing and measurements. That’s part of our rankings, but not our primary focus.

4. Primary nominations come from club coaches, but we do a lot of cross-referencing with other club coaches as well with college scouts. If a player makes it or DOESN’T, it’s because of a network, a spider-web of references and recommendations. In other words, one club coach does not make or break a player’s positioning.

5. Parents are welcome to nominate their athletes but should understand that the information they provide is used primarily for background information such as stats, honors, accomplishments, photos, human interest ideas, etc.

6. We post class rankings multiple times, each class on an annual basis, so if Sally Smith does not make it the first time or is not ranked high enough in some peoples’ estimation, it will most likely be adjusted over time. Cream rises to the top, right? Even for late bloomers, they can make it as time goes on. The rankings get honed and refined over time. Naturally, as more players are nominated, the pool to draw from equates to more competition for those spots.

7. It’s an ongoing process. As the athletes get older and mature in their game, we continue to fine-tune and modify the process to fit the demands and feedback we receive from coaches and scouts, etc. Inevitably, players will emerge, some will rise, some will drop, some even quit the sport. It’s an organic, ever-changing journey… just like life!

8. Honest truth here: top players usually play for top travel ball organizations. That’s why you will see a lot of kids at established programs and playing against other top player and teams (which is what colleges really want to see).

9. Playing at top events run by PGF, The Alliance, Triple Crown, USA Softball, USSSA, etc. does carry weight. The best players play the best and if you do well, say, at PGF Nationals, that is going to elevate your stock. No surprise here…

10. Stats. They are important, yes, but they are background info, not the end all to beat all. A player in a “C” league might hit .800 but is that better than a .400 batting average against the elite teams (see #8)? You know the answer… and batting .500 in the summer nationals is certainly different than hitting .650 in the fall when teams are experimenting with lineups. Take stats with a grain of salt sometimes…

Parental Involvement… and NOT in a Good Way

Hopefully, those 10 items help clarify the way we learn about athletes as part of our research.

Let me reiterate for the 115^th time that being in the top 100, top 500, of anything is an honor.

For a player to say she was ranked in the top 250 of her class (or 25, 50, 300, 500….), it’s something she can tell her grandkids some day!!!

That is cool. And that HONOR is something we hope validates and motivates these wonderful athletes.

But…

As we did the 2025 class recently (and 2023 Extra Elite 100 starts in about two weeks so we’re gearing up for the next round), we saw some, let’s just call it disappointing behavior going against what we feel are the 10 points listed above.

Here are three very real examples I received in the last week (names are removed for obvious reasons), but you can see how some parents are not appreciating the spirit of why rankings are done.

EXAMPLE 1: Don’t Include in Rankings if Not High Enough

This mom wanted her daughter ranked highly even though she had quit her previous team and wasn’t currently on a team. Ironically, the player WAS recommended by the previous head coach but without a current team it is difficult to obtain updated information.

When we told the parent, her daughter would be in the top 500, here is the response we received:

Not in the 400-500s. That’s a complete joke. I’m sorry. I know y’all have worked hard on this and I’m not trying to be insulting; however, if she can’t be ranked fairly and based on what she did on the field then I don’t want her name mentioned.

It’s very evident she was taken off the running when her previous coach said she wasn’t on the team anymore. This is not a team ranking. It’s an individual ranking, so in my opinion it shouldn’t matter where she is playing right now.

Did you even read her submission? If so, I’d like to know how you can justify putting her 400-500 and I can tell you no coach that knows her would tell you that either.

This was the second round of doing the 2025 class and she was not in our records previously or wasn’t talked about by any other coach. We were going to at least get her in the system to watch for the future, but that did not happen. It’s important to note the we cross-check and cross-reference so the nominating coach is not the only person’s opinion we take into consideration.

EXAMPLE 2: Player IN the rankings but Mom wanted her out

This was a first… a player made the rankings but the parent wanted her OUT.

Here’s what was written:

My daughter plays travel ball and you ranked her. She is too young to be ranked and I demand you remove her from the rankings as a parent. 7th graders should not be worried about how they ranked.

No problem removing her, it’s easy to do… but why?

Here’s part of what I wrote back in response to this person’s email:

You do realize that this is a great honor, be she in the top 100 or top 500, right? To be recognized at this stage for her talent and hard work means someone is high on her.

I’ve had kids ranked in the 490’s write letters of appreciation that they were recognized and that all their hard work was validated. And they’ll use this as a motivator to keep working hard and get better.

Here is a letter we received from a player:

I just wanted to thank you guys for following, evaluating and considering me for the 2025 rankings. Thank you for believing in me, supporting me and for the exposure you bring to me, my team and the sport of softball.

I can only imagine the amount of time and effort it takes to put together such a comprehensive list. I am certain you have to deal with some unhappy folks so I just wanted you both to know you are appreciated beyond measure.

I hope to see you guys soon and I hope you all can continue to follow our team this season!

Blessings, Anna (March 20, 2021)

I’m happy to oblige as thousands of kids and their club coaches across the nation will be happy to be considered for her spot (wherever it may be on the list) and get on the radar of college coaches. Isn’t that why she is playing club ball to some degree, to get exposure to college coaches? Yes, college coaches are tracking kids at the 7th grade level and many are getting invited to campuses and camps at this point. And uses the rankings as a resource.

By the way, we don’t just pull names out of thin air, someone nominated her—probably a club coach—based on her hard work to this point and projection to be a college-level athlete.

Example 3: Parents hounding club coaches

Finally, I am protective of club coaches who are becoming more and more criticized by parents who are not happy with their daughter’s ranking and wrongly blame the travel ball coach for Little Stephanie not being rated where Dad and/or Mom thinks she should be.

Please see #4 above regarding club coaches!

I recently received this note from a club coach who, in my opinion, is doing everything right but is still drilled by parents… this is NOT right!

Here’s what the coach wrote me:

I had parents coming to (me) asking last night if I was going to nominate their kid.

It’s just hard for me being the head of the organization without a kid involved trying to justify and explain why those others are higher and why some may not get picked.

I am glad y’all do these for the kids but now it’s turned into parents getting such a big head and getting mad and quitting because they feel their kid should be higher or should get picked.

I am struggling too because once I do nominate someone and they get picked then the parents get this big head and feel their kid is too good to sit and try to tell me how and where to play their kid.

I just hate how parents are over all this.

One of the aspects of my 20-years in this job is realizing how amazing club coaches are, all of the effort and sacrifices they put in to help young girls strive to achieve their dreams. They are usually pretty accurate when estimating where their players should be considered for rankings because:

1. if they “oversell” then college coaches (and me!) will be wary of their recommendations and,
2. if they “undersell” then players and parents aren’t happy and consider finding a program and coach that will promote them appropriately!

From my perspective, the longer a coach stays in the game, the more he or she is an asset to the world of rankings because of his expertise and ability to accurately recommend where a player should be considered in her class.

Finally, Parents: Thanks for ALL you do!

Parents: you ARE wonderful. You love and support your daughters and will run through hell in a gasoline suit to provide a way for your athlete to reach her dreams. The time, cost, energy… it’s all fantastic and there is no doubt you GREATLY love your student-athlete!

Just realize that part of their journey, on and off the field, is not just handling failure but also handling success. And it’s OK if your favorite athlete isn’t as high as you think she should be in the rankings… it gives her something to work for!

Mom and/or dad: support and trust in your daughter, her coaches and, best you can, in the ranking process. Be kind to them/us and let them fail sometimes because that’s where the growth comes.

Know that the rankings are NOT a reflection of who your daughter is as a person, but an early indication that someone, somewhere admires her.

Be encouraging and loving so your kids will forever be grateful for these days in their softball uniforms.