Bat legality question

DD has been playing ball for a while and she has never had a "bat issue." That changed over the weekend. She's in the middle of her high school season and her primary bat has been checked before every game. For the first 6 games there were no problems. Then she played in a three game high school tournament on Saturday and prior to the first game the umpire rejected the bat, indicating that there was a rattle. If you shake it very vigorously it does rattle ever so slightly. My daughter describes it as "one small rattle per 8 shakes" and I think that's pretty accurate. If it matters, it's a Worth 2Legit.

Anyway, needless to say that she used her backup bat (2014 Xeno) for the three games on Saturday. On Monday, she had another conference game. I never discussed what we should do with the 2legit - I guess i assumed that she knew she couldn't use it. Well she did use it and indicated that it passed inspection prior to the game.

So now I don't know what to do. It has passed inspection by 7 different umpires. it has failed inspection by one umpire. I bought it from an authorized dealer and we are well within the warranty period. My plan is to return it even though it passed inspection 7 out of 8 times. My dd thinks I'm being silly and actually said that her high school coach has encouraged her to keep using it. My fear is that if she happens to injure another player, I would be absolutely guilt stricken and worried that she used an illegally hot bat, even if the bat had passed inspection prior to the game. Plus it seems obvious that if it's within the warranty period, i should just exchange it. I actually took it out of her bag and have it with me today - so for certain she won't use it this afternoon.

What would you do?

Rattles don't go away, they get progressively worse. Exchange it now while you're still in the warranty period.

This^^^^^^^^

The rattle is an indication that the inner wall of the bat is breaking apart. This will eventually happen to almost all of the composite bats as they go through their life cycle. The fact that it has happened with the one year (I assume) warranty period is an issue. Return it. The danger here is that the bat could break apart when hitting the ball and a large piece of bat with a jagged edge could be flying around the field.

As to passing inspection, some umpires are more vigorous than others in shaking bats and listening for rattles.

Return it.

Unfortunately...has to be returned. Hopefully they will get you a replacement ASAP. DD had an Easton that had a very slight rattle....in the very first game she used it in. Blue heard it and threw it out. We were playing in a weekly league at the time, and I asked him about it. He told me he would make sure all of the umps in the league knew about it. Back it went. Easton rep said it was more than likely just a piece of glue from the end cap, but they did replace it.

Most rattles are a piece of excess epoxy that has broken loose in the barrel. It does not effect the performance of the bat, but umpires will throw it out if they hear it. I am 98.2% sure the bat is NOT any hotter than it was before the rattle, so I would not worry about injuring another player with a "HOT" bat.

IMHO you have two choice: 1) return the bat now for a warranty replacement, or 2) Keep using the bat until you get close to the end of the warranty and then replace it. If you go with option 2, I would advise your DD to always have a backup bat on hand in case the umpire tosses it. I would also set the bat out "handle down" for bat inspection. If the piece of epoxy is in the handle it is less likely to "rattle" when shaken. If the bat was out of warranty you could attempt a repair by drilling a small hole in the grip cap and putting some epoxy into the hole in an attempt to "glue" the loose piece permanently in the handle. This action, while illegal because it is modification the bat, does not increase the bats performance.

You never know what umpires are going to do when it comes to pulling bats. I've heard of a few bats pulled for little rattles, which most of the time is most likely glue or epoxy as mentioned. I would play it safe and get it replaced. Their was a girl on DD's middle school team that had a 2-Legit that the end cap had busted off, and it was never pulled for whatever reason.

Defective bat

Not defective, as said before this happens with composite bats after being used for awhile.