[Manny A]

There is a reference in the NFHS Case Book where an illegal bat is removed from the game "or made to be legal". But in those situations, what made the bats illegal was something that could be fixed by removing tape and pine tar from the bat handles. The question is: When a bat cools back down after being placed in a warmer, does that make it legal again?

The rules are not clear on that. NFHS (and NCAA, by the way) consider warmed bats as altered bats that are structurally changed, which is in the same category as rolled or shaved bats. Frankly, I think that's a ludricous comparison. Structural changes to rolled or shaved bats are permanent in nature. I've never seen anything anywhere that says structural changes to warmed bats stay that way even after being cooled.

But because NFHS lumps warmed bats together with rolled and shaved bats, they leave no recourse to make those bats legal. The one case play in the case book about warmed bats does not say anything about those bats becoming legal once they're cooled off.

So to answer your questions, if a team doesn't have any bats to use, then a forfeit is warranted. What else are you going to do? The other team isn't obliged to provide them with equipment. Serves the team right for putting every one of their bats into their hillbilly bat warmer. And as for game 2 of a DH, they'd better go to the store and buy one bat that hasn't been structurally altered if they want to play.