@SpeedDemon posted:With respect....no. That's not how "D1 female sports work".
That's how softball recruiting used to work before the NCAA changed the rules in 2018.
Softball lead, and baseball followed, to make Sept. 1st junior year the opening point for first contact. The softball rules even make it illegal to circumvent the process via club or HS coaches.
So while there are still some softball players who verbally commit before 9/1 the number is down dramatically and it's rare to hear about early commits anymore.
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Just like in baseball, college softball coaches will keep offers - even full offers - open for the most talented players right up until the summer after graduation. Which means that the most talented softball players have a lot of choices while less talented players have less choices.
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Pre-2018 other "female sports" recruited later than softball, except for lacrosse. It was the womens and mens college lax coaches who first approached the NCAA in 2016 about limiting early recruiting. Softball copied the lax timeline after it was codified in 2017 and baseball agreed to go along with the softball timeframe. Most other sports have now followed suit.
The question was, “What is your experience?” My daughter’s offer was in the summer of 2004. She was a 2007. By offer I mean verbal. Nothing is official until an NLI is signed senior year.
The timeline is ridiculous. Most kids this young don’t have a clue what they want to do for a major. Fortunately, my daughter did. It made it easy for her to select the school she chose.
The 9/1 junior year rule is still a bunch of BS. Talented athletes are still receiving offers long before then. It should be an enforced rule across the board for all sports.