Texas Tech has to be near the top with these six signees Mia Williams 2B SO Florida, .335 average, 18 HR, 44 RBIs Taylor Pannell 3B SO Tennessee, .398 average, 16 HR, 65 RBIs Jackie Lis SS JR Southern Illinois .358 average, 11 HR, 48 RBI Lagi Quiroga C SO California, .346 average, 12 HR, 44 RBIs Kaitlyn Terry P SO UCLA, 20-5, 2.64 ERA Desirae Spearman P SO New Mexico State, 11-8. 3.54 ERA Feel free to research yourself if you would like

Who would have thought 10 years ago great players leave those schools for Texas Tech.

I wonder if it’s a lack of NIL money.

Playing a part more in decisions? Or still mostly playing time or situation.

Last year, D1 Softball showed that 782 players went into the portal. This year, they show 935. That's almost a 20 percent increase. My gut feeling is that money is making a difference. Many mid-major players seem to be "testing" the waters to see what money is available. And it certainly seems that, for some schools, money is certainly available.

Depending on how much a coach subs, platoons, etc. Depending on graduations. Depending on... factors As soon as you have a built in good starter at a position. the rest of the players are just benchwarmers until there is an opening due to graduation, injury, really good incoming player that forces a move, etc. I know it is not that neat and clean but good teams with good players, people are either waiting their turn or moving on to find playing time... And it should not always been seen as "this player can't play at that level"..... Add in money now and...

players will not be able to play next season and some never again. It is sad to think that money could be the underlying reason for any player to go into the portal. The NIL and the transfer portal should have never happened. There are pro sports and there were amateur sports, and pandora's box was opened up and you can't put the genie back in the bottle. Who decided all of this was good for amateur sports? Getting Congress involved was the worse thing that could have been done. Congress can't do anything right to begin with. College sports to me has become so commercialized and the people making the real money in all of this are the lawyers, agents, specialists, etc. Are taxes charged the same way as they are on professional athletes? College football is being destroyed by these decisions. I just want college athletics to be back as they once were. Paying amateur athletes is garbage and it should have never been approved. The prices for pro sports have skyrocketed to the point and family of four in many cases can't afford to go anymore to a game. College football was already expensive for the larger conferences, it wont be long before college sports prices itself out of the market and this will cause financial hardships for the colleges.

I bet, for many, it is that they bottlenecked behind starters who may not graduate soon enough for some level of patience. Imagine anyone biding their time to play when we have Bailey, ***an, Bennett, and Ritter starting multiple years. Imagine coaches not platooning or subbing or when we had a revolving PH several years ago with players losing opportunities to be in the lineup if they had 1 bad game at the plate. If there over a 1000 players in the portal, I would bet that many are not there for the money or are not getting much money. Instead the motivation is more likely for playing time when softball is such a bottleneck sport.

by playing some position ...sure...they are praised as being a team player but, in reality, those players want to play. It isn't pure selfish but these players want to be on the field. If they are in a program in which their role does not seem likely to change for several years barring injury, graduation, a teammate transferring out, it isn't about promoting or not promoting the concept of team. Softball is a sport in which good starts start most games and bench players rarely get on the field except for random pinchhitting, pinchrunning, sickness, injury, graduation. etc The vast majority of transfers are seeking opportunities to play, or play at a higher level

so much. I am not buying it.

Just shows that there’s hope for old guys like me 😂

I finally was able to do a complete revolution on a bike at PT yesterday. Small victories. Now if I can get Ms. VT Chip back to normal. She busted her head last week - concussion, 14 staples, and 10 stitches.

Hope it heals up quickly.

keep plugging along.

wife's speedy and full recovery.

IMO it would be interesting to see when the dust settles the total number of players by school into the portal, the total that landed elsewhere(particularly equal or above their current level), the total number elsewhere, nowhere or below and the total number of transfers in. I think that data, if accumulated over time(not just one year) would be a good indicator of evaluation, recruiting and development at individual schools.