Quote:
Originally posted by greymule
The highest level of the Trentonian tournament was completed yesterday. Pretty much the same teams as last year. Sixteen or so teams from six or seven states.
However, the scores this year were quite different. Last year, a couple of games saw more than 80 runs, and 40+ was common. Several teams had single innings of more than 15 runs. (One of my games was 18-17 going into the second.) Most teams hit their 6-homer limit early and then continued to hit balls over the fence inadvertently for outs.
This year, I don't know of a game that went over 30 runs, many were below 20, and some were below 10. Two teams that scored over 80 runs in a game last year had a 5-2 game this year. The championship final was 12-7.
The team that won last year was shut out in the winner's bracket final this year.
This year, the ball was changed to a Trump 44 core 525 compression that was a beanbag by the second inning. Also, the banned Miken Ultras were used last year but not this.
Does anyone out there think that these two factors might have had anything to do with the decrease in run production?
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IOW, home run hitters hit the home runs and the rest had to play the game as it was meant to be played
I don't believe the COR/COMP made the difference here. I think it was the ball. From what I have seen, the Trump doesn't hold up very well.
Meanwhile, the balls are much different than what most of you think. If you noticed, ASA added a 'zero' to the end of many of their standards this year and the reason was because the manufacturers openly admitted they were producing ball at a higher level than expected. For example, when ASA spec stated the COR was to be .47 or .44, the manufacturers met their obligation. Of course, the balls they produced were .479 and .449, but that was legal as they provided the specs directed.
This is the type of cat and mouse game being played.