PG is close to dead and buried in Austin. All of the good fields are now run by Five Tool.

Pretty sure that Cedar Park thing is a pipe dream.

Definitely don't agree with that. 5 Tool has Zorn and that's it. They turfed the infields but I find that facility to be garbage. But 5 Tool has definitely increased market share this spring, I think mostly bc Canes teams pretty much exclusively play there. The location in Zorn has also increased their participation from San Antonio area teams.

PG participation has been down but I think that's mostly bc most programs haven't started yet and Canes playing 5 Tool. There is 160 teams in PG this weekend. Over 300 already signed up for the April NIT. PG owns Henley, Westinghouse and Black Star, all fully turfed fields. They seem to be doing better at upkeep but tournaments and gate fees are more expensive.

I think what lies in the middle will be the interesting thing going forward. 5 Tool is using Taylor this weekend, PG has tourneys at Northeast Metro. Fields are crappy at both, so perhaps the next investment separates them. I know they are building more fields at Henley and obviously the Cedar Park thing would be a game changer if it ever happens. Does 5 Tool continue to rake in gate fees with no field maintenance like they did at PG? Will be interesting to see how it plays out, but 5 Tool has definitely made inroads, can they stay there or be like they always were when they ran PG. I think PG is doing better now, so the competition is good. Should also make more manageable tournaments where there aren't 35 teams in a bracket. At the end of the day its all a racket and making the baseball experience more expensive, so there probably isn't a winner here other than lining some pockets of the organizers.

Yea I guess you are right. I didn't realize that many were still playing PG.

Goignt o disagree on Zorn. We like Zorn a lot.

V Tool runs a better tournament and it is not even close. They also have Crossroads in Temple this weekend which is a great facility.

That being said the biggest problem in Austin is, to your point, poor facilities. Most are really garbage. We rarely even go to Austin anymore. We play in Houston, CS, and Franklin. We are one of the last independent teams still standing and proud of it.

We remained independent the whole way through select ball. Congratulations on not caving in.

Zorn just seems all run down to me. We played there before all the infields were turfed and the fields were trash. The turf we played on was sloped and very inconsistent. Maybe it needed more break in time. But the outfields were still garbage, cringe on every ground ball that its going to hop 10 feet in the air. A nice facility for the parents is great, but I'll opt for nice turf fields every time. Take Taylor for instance, like the facility, plenty of parking but the fields are terrible. I do really like Temple, nice facility AND they take care of the fields, but its 2 hours for us.

I may be wrong, but I think PG will win out here. If they follow through with what they've said on field improvements. Have to remember, all the things people complained about Austin Select baseball all these years, are now just the same guys running 5 Tool. If 5 Tool stays status quo, PG will win back the masses.

Absolutely hate PG tournaments, glad we aren't playing them anymore.

Have a 14u majors player and have been playing in "Austin" and "San Antonio" area since 8u. Honestly I don't know the difference from Taylor, Georgetown, Round Rock, Pflugerville, etc. To me they all run together. We played in Lake Travis this past weekend. Not great facilities. Houston facilities have us beat but it doesn't bother me. It is what it is and we play who shows up. I assume most of the *****ing is from the younger level parents.

What bat or what size bat do you coaches/dads like to use for hitting balls to your players?

Jbob04 said:

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What bat or what size bat do you coaches/dads like to use for hitting balls to your players?

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LS custom fungo in 36"... https://custom.slugger.com/custom/fungo/wood/maple/s345/customize#color

Whatever size my kid swings.

Farmer1906 said:

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Whatever size my kid swings.

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Yeah that's what I've been doing for the past 8 years or so. Been thinking about going the fungo route.

Do any of you Austin area guys have 9u teams? We'll be playing some 5 Tool, PG, and Small Town tourneys in the area this Spring (after playing all STS last fall). Looking forward to seeing how we stack up in some of the bigger tournaments.

Yep. We are on Texas Hustle out of Taylor area. We are playing Five Tool this weekend in San Marcos. There is a Five Tool in Taylor this weekend but with the threat of rain we moved down south to be on Turf. Who are you playing with?

Nice. I see y'all are registered for the same 5 Tool March Madness tourney on 3/22-23. Do you know how they do the split between Taylor and Burnet?

And, not that I'm in any way anonymous on here, but since it's me a couple other dads that coach the team, I'd rather not nail down specifically who we are in public... but if you want to chat, shoot me an email at aggieeng06 at gmail.

Good luck 9u guys. We are 13u and in Temple this weekend. We got the best fields which is nice.

Enjoy 9u.

Cold today. Could have been worse. But it was cold.

My boys want 2-0 and only allowed 1 run. But we had an easy draw and it's going to heat up quick tomorrow.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend