Too Much of a Good Thing
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by user ActiveSports
With softball season just around the corner, I'd like to bring up a development that happened over the off season that will be affecting it.
Last summer the Division I-A softball committee recommended a new maximum-contest limit for the regular season. Softball teams are permitted to schedule games on 56 dates throughout the season, and are free to schedule more than one game on each date. Some teams competing in this year’s Women’s College World Series had played more than 60 games before they got to Oklahoma City. The softball committee wants to institute a game limit which would allow schools to play a maximum of 56 games throughout the spring. This is the same number of games Division I baseball teams are permitted to play each season.
However, the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet voted against this proposal. So while softball is limited to 56 dates, many Division I programs play close to 70 games each spring.
Not that I don't love playing this game, but I think I would have appreciated a 56 maximum game limit when I was a student-athlete. Amidst all of the traveling and missed classes it seems that ten or so less games would benefit each individual student-athlete, mentally and physically, more than those games would benefit the team and/or season overall.
Do you think college softball teams play too many games?
