Part of the soaring costs today is connected to the specialization in each youth sport. Parents see each 8u practice as essential to getting a commitment, and they start hitting lessons then instead of just having batting practice. They want the practices to resemble Olympic practices at 12u instead of practicing like the Olympians did when they were 12- which probably involved multiple sports and a much shorter softball season (I stole that from a book, "Range").

One of the few options for the middle class parents being financially squeezed is to find a good local coach at a young age, develop skills and work ethic, and then hope to make a team that will be seen by colleges at 15u or 16u- reducing the huge costs from 6-8 years to 2-3 years. I know of three players who were on B-C level teams through 14u and then joined a more visible team at 15u and are committed to mid majors, and one who waited until after 15u for 16u committed to a mid major.

But trusting that a 13u player can develop skills on a B/C team, while admitting they are not facing top competition, is scary. And frowned upon by many on this board.