<p>How does softball recruiting work at Division III colleges? If you aren't recruited, can you still play? How good are the players? Are they all former stars on their high school teams? Can you just show up as a first year student and try out for the team? I'd like to hear about liberal arts colleges that are strong academically, though not necessarily all that successful in softball. Any insight into the following colleges would be especially helpful: Amherst, Bates, Beloit, Bowdoin, Colby, Carleton, Grinnell, Hamilton, Haverford, Kenyon, Macalester, Oberlin, Pitzer, Pomona, Skidmore, Swarthmore, Wesleyan and Williams. </p>
<p>I don’t know much about softball, but my D plays a sport at one of those colleges. What year are you? Do you play on a team outside of your high school? Club coaches are often helpful with recruiting questions, or your HS coach might be able to help. </p>
<p>My D was not specifically recruited by the coach at her college, but she filled out a recruit profile and e-mailed the coach that she was interested in the college and playing her sport there. She had not even met the coach before she applied. She did send a video of some game play that we had. The coach kindly put in a good word for her with admissions. I would suggest - look at the current rosters of the teams, see how many players they have and how many will be graduating. Also look at their record and competitiveness. My D was interested in actually playing, not sitting on the bench. She was admitted to 8 of the schools on your list, but several the teams were so competitive that she had not even bothered to contact the coaches because she did not think her skill level would measure up. She was admitted on her academics, and ability to play her sport was one factor in her final choice between very good schools.</p>
<p>Other places she had some coach interaction were clinics and camps. If a college coach holds a clinic, she would get a chance to see you in action and may be able to tell you if your skills would be a fit for the team. </p>
<p>I think it would be better to contact the coach ahead of time rather than just show up to try out, at least let her know you are coming in the fall and interested in playing. Good luck! Maybe someone with softball experience will chime in.</p>
<p>Amazing Blue: The NFCA ( national fast pitch coaches ass’n) annually runs an Academic Recruiting Camp in Pennsbury, PA in June.nplayersbfrom all over the country fly in for this. </p>
<p>Academic requirements are 3.5 GPA and 1750 SAT or 26 ACT. You have to complete the registration form and send in your transcript and test scores. If your D wants to play at the academic DIII’s most of these schools are at this camp looking at players, as the are pre-screened academically.</p>
<p>My D attended the NFCA Academic Camp last year as a sophomore and will again be there in June. She has some of the same schools own her list.</p>
<p>My niece plays for a school,in the Centennial Conference and has played against Haverford & Swarthmore in the past week.</p>
<p>The level of play in the NESCAC is quite high. My daughter was recruited for softball at Amherst, Williams, Bowdoin etc (she will be going to play at Yale) and we were greatly impressed with the skill level. The entire roster consists of all-conference type players and almost all have played elite level travel ball. Many if not most had opportunities to play at D1 programs. I am doubtful there is much or any room for walk ons.</p>
<p>Thanks for the helpful responses! The NFCA academic camp website also was very informative. Are the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, North Coast Athletic Conference and Midwest Conference comparable to the NESCAC conference? Are there significant variations within the NESCAC conference? I’ve seen videos of the Amherst and Williams teams, both of which looked terrific, but I wonder whether Hamilton, Colby and Bates compete at the same level. Incidentally, my daughter plays on a good travel team, but she’s at best an average player on the team. She’s well above average on her high school team, but players from her high school rarely go on to play college softball. I don’t know whether she will be all-conference, but my guess is she won’t.</p>
<p>While there are stronger and weaker teams in NESCAC, they all tend to be populated by former high school all-stars (including Hamilton, Colby and Bates). A player who is above average in high school at a high school that itself is not a softball powerhouse likely would not catch the eye of any of the coaches from those programs. I believe the same holds true for schools like Carleton and Macalaster. What year is your daughter? I would encourage you to attend a good number of showcases and camps this summer. At camps like Pennsbury you will see coaches from the full gamut of schools (Amherst, Carleton, MIT at one end, Penn State, Virginia Tech, UVA, at the other end) and you’ll be able to tell which players they are focusing on. That will give you the opportunity to assess your daughter’s skill level in the context of who they otherwise are recruiting. You will see that, even at the D3 level, the players are very, very good, and pitches are very, very fast with lots of movement. Even at D3 it is the real deal.</p>