Thankfully ASA and HS require facemasks
 

Worked a freshman game yesterday not expecting anything major to happen. How hard can freshman pitchers throw and how well can any of them really hit?

Runner on 3rd, is taking huge lead down the line just in foul territory on the pitch. Big girl up to bat and pitcher lays a belt high pitch on the inside half of the plate. Batter turns on the pitch and hits about the hardest line drive I have ever seen right down the 3rd base line, runner never had a chance. She was kind of in mid stride with her right hand up when the ball was hit. Ball caught her in the hand driving it back into her face mask and ball hit her dead center in the facemask. The impact immediately took the helmet off her head and threw it back about 15' and lifted the girl off her feet and dumped her on her back.

The girl got up and dusted herself off. The only apparent injury was a split and bleeding fingernail from getting smashed into her facemask. If she hadnt had a facemask on, the ball would have gotten her square in the nose and or mouth. Would not have been pretty.

It's definitely a dangerous sport out there, and anyone who thinks otherwise is simply delusional.

At the Senior Men's in Burlington, I saw pitchers wearing this odd, bird-shaped face mask. Kinda took me by surprise at first, but I later realized, "wow, that's smart!"

Looked kinda like this.

We see the defensive masks all the time on the infielders, especially the corners and F1. In fact, at the Men's D Western last year, I'd say about 1 of every 3 F1's had them on.

And it's not just the fast-pitch game anymore. The slow-pitch game, I'm seeing more and more pitchers wear all kinds of protection, from the hockey-style catcher's helmet to soccer shin guards to catcher's leg guards, even down to football linemen armpads on the non-pitching arm. On some occasion, I'll see batters (yes, batters in slow-pitch) wearing batting helmets because they're down-right frightened of getting whacked while running the bases.

And frankly, I can't blame them. I had one fella last year get beaned in the side of the noggin from a throw to 1B from the shortstop. Poor guy got a concussion and had to be carted off by an ambulance.

I realize that in some cases, it looks silly. However, as I stated before, these are actually the smart ones. They value good health, and I'm all for that!

You are correct, that would have been terrible.

However, it raises a question to which no one has really ever given me a satisfactory answer.

Understanding that this may not have made the difference in the play cited here, just where are these runners think they are going?

They are only 60' away and reducing that distance with every step. Unless it is a squeeze play, just how fast to the need to get to the plate? Okay, so if the bases are loaded and less than 2 outs, you may need to get there quick, but at what price? This girl was lucky she was hit where protection existed. What happens if she takes this ball in the chest? We wear chest protectors for a reason, runners do not. Granted, being young may help in reaction and recovery, but a ball at a speed 30% greater than that of a pitch can do some serious damage to the human body regardless of age.

I get moving toward the plate helps, but some of these girls come blasting toward the plate at full speed which is dangerous no matter what type of protection is being worn.