Vendetta vs x-12

I am thinking about getting my 8U DD a 29/17 in of these two bats. She has been using an Easton FS300 28/17 aluminum bar and the don't seem to last more than a couple of weeks before the flat spot and loose their pop. I have thought about getting her a CF9 or LXT but 29/18, but I am concerned about the weight of those bats.

Just a little background about by DD...she almost 8, 51" tall, and 80#. She goes to weekly professional hitting lessons. Money is not really an issue, but I want to get her in the right bat. Is ka curious if anyone has used the two bats?

BrianTx01 said:

I am thinking about getting my 8U DD a 29/17 in of these two bats. She has been using an Easton FS300 28/17 aluminum bar and the don't seem to last more than a couple of weeks before the flat spot and loose their pop. I have thought about getting her a CF9 or LXT but 29/18, but I am concerned about the weight of those bats.

Just a little background about by DD...she almost 8, 51" tall, and 80#. She goes to weekly professional hitting lessons. Money is not really an issue, but I want to get her in the right bat. Is ka curious if anyone has used the two bats?

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I think at 80#'s she'd be big enough to swing a 29/18 CF or LXT (I'd hold on a xeno). The composite Easton's are known to be heavy not sure about the aluminums, but they likely won't feel much heavier than what she's swinging now. I don't have direct experience with the two you asked about but I do with the drop 11 CF and LXT's.

My Dd is only 75lbs (12 yo). She's been swinging a -10 LXT for 2 years now. It swings light. I imagine your DD would be more than fine with a -11. There are 6 girls on DD's team who have had the Demarini -11, most have since moved to the -10.

The aluminum Easton's are all within about within 1/10th of ounce of their sticker weight. I weighed serval samples of them with my certified fishing scale. Their composites are a different story.

KPower said:

My Dd is only 75lbs (12 yo). She's been swinging a -10 LXT for 2 years now. It swings light. I imagine your DD would be more than fine with a -11. There are 6 girls on DD's team who have had the Demarini -11, most have since moved to the -10.

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I like that LXT. I have used that bat myself in the cage and the ball just pops off that bat and it doesn't seem to get bite back with swing. My DD liked it too on demo night. The problem was she wasn't feeling chipper and although she hit well off the tee she didn't hit well when I front tossed to her. I think she was just pretty tired that day.

I am curious if any of those girls using the CFs ever complained about hand sting? Since I don't ever put my DD in front of a pitching machine (her hitting instructor says they are bad for girls learning to hit kid pitch), I took a 32/21 demo cf9 and LXT into the cage and took some cute. The CF9 seems to bite back quite a bit if I missed the sweet spot.

BrianTx01 said:

I like that LXT. I have used that bat myself in the cage and the ball just pops off that bat and it doesn't seem to get bite back with swing. My DD liked it too on demo night. The problem was she wasn't feeling chipper and although she hit well off the tee she didn't hit well when I front tossed to her. I think she was just pretty tired that day.

I am curious if any of those girls using the CFs ever complained about hand sting? Since I don't ever put my DD in front of a pitching machine (her hitting instructor says they are bad for girls learning to hit kid pitch), I took a 32/21 demo cf9 and LXT into the cage and took some cute. The CF9 seems to bite back quite a bit if I missed the sweet spot.

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I don't know about bite back. I do know that all 6 of the girls on DD's team who had the -11 bat had CF8s and all 6 broke theor bats. They were all bigger girls than DD. That is why they all went to the drop 10s. Demarini seems to be very popular in our area. I think DD went with the LXT to be different and now she's an LS girl for life.

From what I understand the weights are largely a factor of non structural components... such as the end cap and the insert that goes from handle to barrel. The Wilson factory rep told me that the barrel, connector, and handle are all the same on a -11 and -10. Then again, he also told me that the sticker weight was correct.

Here are some weights from the bat weight database:

Vendetta 29/17........................AW 17.8 oz
CF9 29/18...............................AW 18.6 oz

LXT 29/18 (2017).....................AW 19.5 - 19.7 oz
X-12 30/18 (2015)....................AW 19.0 oz ...no 29 listed but I assume it 18oz.

The weight on the CF9 is not much more than the Vendetta, but at this age weight seems to be an issue. I am not sure why, but the CF9 seems to be more popular than the LXT with younger batters... perhaps it is the paint scheme.

Bat sting is a bit issue. My DD used a 28/16 worth Eclipse for a whole and hit well with it but after using it one day on a cool day it stung a little and she wouldn't swing hard with that bat again. Mental games with young players are sometimes frustrating.

My daughter started swinging a 29/18 cf6 as a 7 year old. Then bought her a 29/18 LXT plus that she said felt heavier. I had heard the lxt's felt a little more end loaded. I couldn't feel it myself but she could. She is currently 9, 78lbs and swinging a 29/18 cf9. She seems to like it over the LXT, but don't think there is any difference in performance.

First, realize four things. #1 The Vendetta is a middle of the road composite bat performance-wise. #2 You will probably be buying a new bat about every year and sometimes sooner as she hits her growth spurts. #3 You want her swinging the longest heaviest bat she can as long as her swing mechanics don't break down and she maintains her bat speed. #4 You want to try and get her into a -10 bat as soon as possible. This means that if you have to keep the same length and go up an ounce in weight, do it as long as point #3 is followed. The more mass behind the contact point of the swing/ball, the further it goes given the same swing speed and mechanics. At this point, if your DD likes the feel of the Demarini bats, stay with those. Otherwise, move on.