I guess I'll admit my daughter had a D1 or Bust mentality, but it really didn't have anything to do with softball. She decided early on that she wanted to go to a big school with the big Saturday football tailgating experience and large alumni base.

Unfortunately, most D2 and lower schools just don't offer that. After her junior year she realized that the big school dream wasn't going to happen so she played out her senior year and has had a awesome college experience without softball at her big D1 school.

My point is, the D1 dream isn't always about looking down on the lower levels, but instead what they want to get out of their college experience.