NCAA DIII World Series

Last weekend's NCAA DIII World Series was a treat to attend. Peace College did a terrific job of hosting the tournament at Walnut Creek. Some notes about the tournament:

1) It was worth the price of admission to watch the teams' pre-game warm-ups. Each team was unique, organized and had obviously spent loads of time practicing their routine. In several cases only the starters were on the field running through their paces while the bench players lined up along the dugout side baseline and cheered on their teammates. Fun and inspiring.
2) The enthusiasm on the benches was remarkable to watch. There was never a time when kids not playing were not focused on the game, encouraging teammates and keeping the energy high for the entire team.
3) Hustle is an apt description of these teams. Fort the most part, players did not jog, they sprinted to their positions. Pitchers, too.
4) The coaching styles were varied, but there was a common denominator - discipline and execution. It was clear that these teams spent a lot of time practicing situations, players positioning and especially how to play the bunt and defend against slap hitters.
5) The pitching was all about location and movement, as you would expect. Few pitchers dominated although St. Thomas (MN), the eventual champions, did have terrific kid who few kids could get around on and she had superb location.
6) Like any level of play, advancing on the bases was often the key to grabbing a win. To that, there were several times when runners took full advantage of fielders not hustling or not paying close attention to gain another base. On the other hand, there were situations, too, when runners getting to a bag would pull up, lose sight of the ball and miss opportunities to advance. Good lessons on both counts.
7) St. Thomas was the defending champions and repeated, mostly because they could hit anything thrown at them. Practically every player in the lineup was a solid hitter, which means they were adept at hitting breaking balls, off-speed pitches, and anything just off the plate.
8) The differences between top DIII play and DII? I'd say mostly the speed and size of the players, although it was obvious that any of the top eight DIII teams could fair well in most DII conferences. Why? Execution. These teams were simply extremely well prepared, made few misttakes and played hard every play.

Great experience.

 

How would they play against DI schools?

 

DIII Top Teams

Frankly, I don't see them being competitive at that the DI level by any stretch. Not enough speed, size and depth. And, there's the question of trying to hit pitching in the mid-60s. They would, I think, be competitive with middle of the road to bottom end DII programs, but we're also talking about the best eight DIII teams in the country. It would be extremely tough for them to consistently hold their own, say, in your conference or against the top two or three teams in most DII conferences for the same reasons sited above. They are solid fundamentally, but with the exception of one, two or three athletes on each team (as you might anticipate), the rest of the players would most likely fall short of what's needed to do the job.