Ok, lets talk about bats. From what I understood at the National ASA umpire school I attended last month and if I miss understood maybe Gary will clarify but ASA mandatory approved stamp for tournament play that was to go in effect this year is not. They basically said that all softball bats that are not altered or illegal will be acceptable for all play whether or not they are stamped. It sounds like High School ball though will stick with the ASA ruling that they the bats are going to need the sticker to be legal. They mention in the school that alot of the bats with the stickers have worn off and it would not be fair to make the bat illegal just because it no longer showed the stamp.
I did a tournament last year which we had to check the bats bpf rating which had to be 130 or lower for the bat to be legal and it had to have the rating on the bat or it was removed for the rest of the tournament
I guess I was lucky but when I played SP and pitched I never took a shot directly but had many that buzzed by before could react. Did see this year 3 or 4 incidents where the pitcher did take direct shots to the head and a couple of them were carted off to the hospital.
As in everything it comes down to the almighty $$$'s but do think ASA and the other organzations should be able to get together on at least this very important point and come up with a uniform bat regulation and some restriction on the bat manufactors to try to put some safeguarding in for these pitchers. I havent done any FP but in SP when you have these 250+lb big boys swing for all their might it can get pretty ugly.
Also would like to say I dont think softer core ball are the answer, the players will never go for it and it turns into really ugly ball
Wonder what some of you experienced blues think should be done if anything?
Don
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