step-up bats

I've been conservative about spending $$ on bats, believing strongly in the old adage that only a poor craftsman blames his tools. Not that my dd's are swinging bricks -- they have older Anderson bats that have lots of life -- but we think the time they spend with their hitting coach matters more.

That said, I was hitting pop flies for the girls the other day and borrowed a player's CF8 and thought "holy #%$" It seemed to me that the bat was adding 20-30 yards to my usual casual swing.

My 14U is about done growing and I've been thinking about rewarding her effort in practice with a new bat. If you were going to invest in a quality bat that would last for a few seasons, what would be your choice? CF9? LXT? Marrucci? Something else?

She's a contact hitter, not a bomber. We get complements all the time on her nice mechanics but she holds back a little too much to make sure she makes that contact. We talk about it all the time...

I wish it wasn't true, but the better bats make a difference. DD loves her old CF6. She is going to a CF8 soon but likes the LXT and the Xeno too.

Mine is definitely a Demarini girl. She has a CF8. Her first "real" bat (ie, not $30 at Academy) was a used CF4 I got off Ebay.

DD loves her LXT. She's on her second one - not because it broke, she just outgrew it. She didn't sven want to consider another bat. She has 6 teammates (out of 11 girls) who swing CF8s or CF9s. But 4 of those have broken at least once. DD did try out the Demarini slapper bat yesterday and really liked it. She loved how the wrap on the handle went the other way.

The CF8 -11s seem to break left and right. I know a bunch of girls whose have broken including ours. When we did our warranty replacement we got a -10 instead. I haven't heard nearly as much about those breaking. When a teammate's -11 broke they replaced hers with a CF9. Hopefully whatever the issue is with the CF8 -11 they fixed it in the CF9s.

The better bats make a huge difference, that's fact. They severely outperform the low end bats out there.

DD loves Demarini. Just got the CF9 and really likes it, definitely has nice pop.

Honestly you are not going to go wrong with a Demarini, Xeno or LXT. I would probably see if a few of her teammates would let her swing theirs for a practice BP session. After that it is really just about feel.

You can probably find last years model used at a discount but it's probably pretty close to what @Coresoftball can do for this years model so I would ping him after you have checked out prices on the internet.

Good luck it's always fun.

Our team had a Xeno, a CF8, a LS X12, & an Easton FS3 this season. I used each of them in practice to hit fly balls to the outfielders, & noticed very little difference among the Xeno, CF8, & FS3 as far as distance. They each had a different feel, but similar hitting distance for me. Didn't care too much for the x12, but the other three were great bats. Let her swing them and see which one she likes.

I'm in the same boat. I take my 7 year old to hitting lessons a few times a month and I work with her. I got her an AXE bat last year. She barely uses it, my lead off hitter used it more. She uses an Addias bat we bought from a yard sale. Also we were given an Easton (well used) bat that her instructor wants to work towards.

She has a mean looking swing and she can quickly get around. I've been looking at bats and really have no clue. Growing up, I didn't get quality bats. My dad has changed his tune with my younger brother (by 20 years). He has all kinds of high end bats and it shows. Just not sure what to look for. I'm such a noob.

DD is 52" and 55-65 pounds (my back says 65).
Using an Addias: 27" 18oz, Model #FPVQSH2K12
In the bag AXE: 28" 16oz, Model #L136A
Working towards Easton: 29" 19oz Model #FP14550 (She said this was a little heavy for her.)

Keep rocking what we got or aim higher?