Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More general softball question. Middle schooler who loves the sport, plays rec, rec+, all stars. Wants to play in high school in this area. Can anyone share success stories of making JV team as freshman w/o doing travel?

According to the (multiple) high school JV coaches I know and high school players, at most FCPS schools that would be very typical, especially for a rec+ player. Even at Lake Braddock, which has a very good program, I heard of years where they only cut one girl from JV and that was because she literally refused to run at all for practice. There are FCPS schools where you don't have to play travel to make varsity even, but they are fewer.

This is really good info; thank you. DD lives and breathes softball, but for various reasons, travel just never worked out (plus rec league is strong, great friends and coaches, etc.). As HS nears though, it's hard (for her - and privately for me) not to question path when you see travel happening all around. While I know nothing is guaranteed, it's good to know this is a common path to play in HS, starting on JV.

Anonymous wrote:More general softball question. Middle schooler who loves the sport, plays rec, rec+, all stars. Wants to play in high school in this area. Can anyone share success stories of making JV team as freshman w/o doing travel?

According to the (multiple) high school JV coaches I know and high school players, at most FCPS schools that would be very typical, especially for a rec+ player. Even at Lake Braddock, which has a very good program, I heard of years where they only cut one girl from JV and that was because she literally refused to run at all for practice. There are FCPS schools where you don't have to play travel to make varsity even, but they are fewer.

More general softball question. Middle schooler who loves the sport, plays rec, rec+, all stars. Wants to play in high school in this area. Can anyone share success stories of making JV team as freshman w/o doing travel?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No idea, but their baseball program is atrocious. In general, I'd think a baseball or softball program that never gets on a field, won't be very good.

The baseball program has teams at several levels (two age groups have A and B teams) and they certainly aren't all "atrocious". I don't know about the softball program but the baseball teams play 20 plus games a season and several tournaments...on fields. Where else would they play? Not sure where you're getting your information from but it's wrong.

Not PP, but I assume they were referring to not practicing on fields. But I think STJ also gets permitted fields by NCS (though there are, as usual with this county, too few fields and too many teams), so I think that assumption is wrong. Of course they have their indoor facility, but as far as I understand that's not the only place they practice.

That's correct. The teams practice at both the facility and at assigned fields.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No idea, but their baseball program is atrocious. In general, I'd think a baseball or softball program that never gets on a field, won't be very good.

The baseball program has teams at several levels (two age groups have A and B teams) and they certainly aren't all "atrocious". I don't know about the softball program but the baseball teams play 20 plus games a season and several tournaments...on fields. Where else would they play? Not sure where you're getting your information from but it's wrong.

Not PP, but I assume they were referring to not practicing on fields. But I think STJ also gets permitted fields by NCS (though there are, as usual with this county, too few fields and too many teams), so I think that assumption is wrong. Of course they have their indoor facility, but as far as I understand that's not the only place they practice.

Anonymous wrote:No idea, but their baseball program is atrocious. In general, I'd think a baseball or softball program that never gets on a field, won't be very good.

The baseball program has teams at several levels (two age groups have A and B teams) and they certainly aren't all "atrocious". I don't know about the softball program but the baseball teams play 20 plus games a season and several tournaments...on fields. Where else would they play? Not sure where you're getting your information from but it's wrong.

We have a written offer for 12U and we’re considering it. We also saw them in the fall and it was rough, but they had a lot of good girls at the tryout we were at.

We’ve met both the 12 and 14U softball coaches and really liked them. They were giving strong coaching even during a tryout.

Our friends have boys on the baseball teams. They’ve had good experiences with the coaching, team dynamics, etc. But still some mgmt and organizational hiccups.

We know two girls given verbal offers for 14u but nothing in writing and the whole thing seems really disorganized.

Anonymous wrote:We saw the 12u team in the fall, and it was....ROOOOUUUGGGHHHH. None of the pitchers were even getting close to the strike zone, and anything in the zone was getting crushed

I would hope they've gotten better by spring, and GC has them winning a few games this spring, and the games being closer, so that may actually be a good sign that the coach knows what they are doing and the that the girls are improving

But I would definitely see if there are some open practices to attend before making any decision

From what I heard they picked up (and are picking up) more talent. Not sure this reflects on the coaches.

We saw the 12u team in the fall, and it was....ROOOOUUUGGGHHHH. None of the pitchers were even getting close to the strike zone, and anything in the zone was getting crushed

I would hope they've gotten better by spring, and GC has them winning a few games this spring, and the games being closer, so that may actually be a good sign that the coach knows what they are doing and the that the girls are improving

But I would definitely see if there are some open practices to attend before making any decision

They were brand new this past year. Usually takes a few years. The 12u team was a C team but played in a B tournament or two I think. Both the 12u and 14u teams have losing records this Spring/Summer.

No idea, but their baseball program is atrocious. In general, I'd think a baseball or softball program that never gets on a field, won't be very good.

We have some friends who are headed there for the upcoming 2024-2025 season. They were impressed by the facilities and the cost for what was on offer. Our friends were told Saint James intends to grow the program.

Whenever I have talked to the front desk people at Saint James for anything they don't know much about anything going on there, so I wouldn't worry about that part of it. I'd see if you can't get contact information for the softball director directly and email that way.

I’ve only seen them at two tournaments. I heard the team is new. Don’t know much more.

Does anyone know anything about the girls travel softball program at The St.James in Springfield/Alexandria Va area? Or have personal experience with them?

Specifically their upcoming 14u team this coming 2024-2025 season. They have no information on their website and did not respond to an email inquiry specifically to their softball program. (Not a good sign) Then when I called the main number, they also had very little information to offer.

Thanks!