What was the reasoning? That softball umpires are too dumb to judge if the batter attempted to contact the ball or not?
The "old" rule (which is the same as for baseball) served us well for many decades. It was first changed in NCAA softball a few years ago. NFHS followed suit a year or two later. Then the dominos started falling...NSA and USSSA also changed their rule to match the NCAA rule.
I'm not sure about the dozen other sanctioning bodies- I have enough trouble keeping the ones I actually work straight!