Have any of you attended this tournament before? It looks very competitive.Any hotel recommendations?
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What age group?
The competition is very good and the fields are pretty spread out. We stayed in Harriman both years (12U and 14U).
The competition is very good and the fields are pretty spread out. We stayed in Harriman both years (12U and 14U).
13U playing for MSA Black
Wow! what a collection of great teams that are going to be there. Can't imagine the Elite 32 being better than that.
Wow! what a collection of great teams that are going to be there. Can't imagine the Elite 32 being better than that.
BITS is a great tournament, and it usually has a strong field. It is very spread out, so choosing a hotel location is non-trivial.
The differences to the Elite 24 (or next summer 32) are substantial. The Elite is at the Disney complex, with excellent centralized fields, takes a week, tends to have one game per day, with many non-baseball activities. It is relatively expensive compared to BITS. Each year there are a handful of teams which are very strong, and a similar number which are overmatched. The communications by USSSA folks can be not so good, but the management of the complex is very professional.
BITS is shorter and tends to 2 games per day, the field conditions are spotty, the fields are so spread out that the weather can vary significantly between sites, tournament management is usually struggling to keep up, but there is a large number of very good teams. Each year, some teams don't show, and the replacements are local teams that are outclassed.
I think that the teams entering BITS have less geographic diversity.
There's a pretty good chance of rain or lightning at both sites. At Disney, the schedule may get delayed, but either everybody plays or nobody plays. At BITS, the schedule can end up out of sync from location to location.
The differences to the Elite 24 (or next summer 32) are substantial. The Elite is at the Disney complex, with excellent centralized fields, takes a week, tends to have one game per day, with many non-baseball activities. It is relatively expensive compared to BITS. Each year there are a handful of teams which are very strong, and a similar number which are overmatched. The communications by USSSA folks can be not so good, but the management of the complex is very professional.
BITS is shorter and tends to 2 games per day, the field conditions are spotty, the fields are so spread out that the weather can vary significantly between sites, tournament management is usually struggling to keep up, but there is a large number of very good teams. Each year, some teams don't show, and the replacements are local teams that are outclassed.
I think that the teams entering BITS have less geographic diversity.
There's a pretty good chance of rain or lightning at both sites. At Disney, the schedule may get delayed, but either everybody plays or nobody plays. At BITS, the schedule can end up out of sync from location to location.
We had been to BITS the last 2 years. It was a great trip. The Holiday Inn Express in Harriman was great too. Friendly staff and nice rooms with comfortable beds.
I remember the first year we were there there was lightening the first day. Our afternoon game got post-poned until 11:59 pm. We played and unfortunatley a game after ours was scheduled. That poor team stayed in the hotel in Knoxville (40 minute drive) and had an early game the next morning. They tried to get the schedule changed but they wouldn't. 13 yo kids played until 3 am and had a 9-10 am game the next day. Brutal.
Also, not the highest quality officiating. Disney's has been good but Tn. was not always that great.
Fun trip for the experience and glad we went, but also glad we won't be going back.
I remember the first year we were there there was lightening the first day. Our afternoon game got post-poned until 11:59 pm. We played and unfortunatley a game after ours was scheduled. That poor team stayed in the hotel in Knoxville (40 minute drive) and had an early game the next morning. They tried to get the schedule changed but they wouldn't. 13 yo kids played until 3 am and had a 9-10 am game the next day. Brutal.
Also, not the highest quality officiating. Disney's has been good but Tn. was not always that great.
Fun trip for the experience and glad we went, but also glad we won't be going back.
I take it that the overall competition the BITS is better. Is the upper echelon at Disney about the same? Either way sounds like both are great tournaments
lodi14,
Looks like I gave the wrong impression. It's just my opinion, but I think the Elite 24 (of course, I have no experience with the Elite 32) is a stronger group of teams, on average, because the upper echelon are clearly stronger. Both tournaments have some outclassed teams.
BITS tries hard to diversify each pool geographically. So in pool play, a team from Florida is unlikely to play another team from Florida. In contrast, the Elite 24 was set up with an unconventional format which attempts, with partial success, to pit strong teams against weaker teams in the first two games. It's seeded double elimination after the first 2 games, which also pits strong against weaker teams.
The effect is that a strong team is more likely to face weaker teams until late in the Elite tournament. In the late stages, only upper echelon teams remain.
From observation, it is apparent that BITS unofficially seeds teams so that, by plan, no pool holds two very strong teams. But the quality of the remaining teams in the pool varies from pool to pool. So in BITS, again in my opinion, it is more likely that a good, but not upper echelon team, will go deep into the tournament, and maybe even win.
Looks like I gave the wrong impression. It's just my opinion, but I think the Elite 24 (of course, I have no experience with the Elite 32) is a stronger group of teams, on average, because the upper echelon are clearly stronger. Both tournaments have some outclassed teams.
BITS tries hard to diversify each pool geographically. So in pool play, a team from Florida is unlikely to play another team from Florida. In contrast, the Elite 24 was set up with an unconventional format which attempts, with partial success, to pit strong teams against weaker teams in the first two games. It's seeded double elimination after the first 2 games, which also pits strong against weaker teams.
The effect is that a strong team is more likely to face weaker teams until late in the Elite tournament. In the late stages, only upper echelon teams remain.
From observation, it is apparent that BITS unofficially seeds teams so that, by plan, no pool holds two very strong teams. But the quality of the remaining teams in the pool varies from pool to pool. So in BITS, again in my opinion, it is more likely that a good, but not upper echelon team, will go deep into the tournament, and maybe even win.
Thanks 3 Finger for the clarifaction, Of course I look forward to going to TN. to watch. A trip to Disney would be icing on the cake.I know it will be a tough road to get there though. We are going to what I would think are some pretty big shows, Atlanta Super in March, Charlotte in April,Great Lakes invite in Toledo in May, Michigan Super the week after the BTIS and the Michigan Major Elite in June. Not all of the above tourneys are there berth awarded but the comptetion should be good. It seems like it is so far away from now but I know it will be on us before we know it. Oh well at least it not snowing here today 
What size fields do they play on?
IndyCoach , here's a link http://www.battleinthesouth.com/
