Bat Sharing????

[CoreSoftball20]

I can only really speak for the high school side of it.

The HS coaches have a reputation of the school, and themselves on the line. I have had a high school coach take home and inspect my DD's bat to make sure I was not doing anything to it.

Sure, a player may have a "hot" bat that looks legal, and probably is. The coaches will continue to let her play with it.

But in high school, I have never seen a whole team using a hot bat that sounds wrong. That is just plain stupid.

When you are considered a top shelf area HS team, the others are watching you very closely. Many are very knowledgeable. You will get caught if you are this dumb at the higher levels.

12U travel, not so much. And possibly in lower level HS play to try to get an edge. I repeat, at the highest level HS game, too many eyes out there. Beat the opposition fair and square tends to be the only/best way.

The fans/umpires are too smart by then. I have seen just above everything, and know what to look for. I am not in the minority either.

Umpires are for the most part, not smart on these issues. They don't know enough about equipment, and many fans think they know too much...haha. We will agree to disagree on this post.

Also, I have been around as much as anybody and involved in every aspect of bats. Played for 20+ years and still do at a high level. I am a Rep for 4 manufacturers, I own a store, and have dabbled in the FP coaching by teaching hitting individually.

 

[SCDad]

And if you watched a game and suspected a bat was being used illegally against your team, you would be the very first to say something to the umpire, from behind the fence.

Though you are probably more knowledgeable than most, there are many just like you. It is not the umpire to watch out for. It is fans like yourself who do the policing.

 

[CoreSoftball20]

Though you are probably more knowledgeable than most, there are many just like you. It is not the umpire to watch out for. It is fans like yourself who do the policing.

Actually, I wouldn't say a word. Not my place. I don't get to watch much as I play a ton of ball, on top of my regular job and my store. But when I did catch a game because my fiance' used to coach or to see a player I was helping out, I actually had more fun listening to the fans and parents. It amazes me and I get a chuckle out of it.
The main reason I wouldn't say anything, I get more sick of the people that cry wolf and have no clue, only because their kids are losing, then the ones that aren't playing on the up and up.

 

[SCDad]

Actually, I wouldn't say a word. Not my place. I don't get to watch much as I play a ton of ball, on top of my regular job and my store. But when I did catch a game because my fiance' used to coach or to see a player I was helping out, I actually had more fun listening to the fans and parents. It amazes me and I get a chuckle out of it.
The main reason I wouldn't say anything, I get more sick of the people that cry wolf and have no clue, only because their kids are losing, then the ones that aren't playing on the up and up.

I look at it differently. If a player has to doctor their bat, by definition, they are not very good, a loser.

Winning is a mind set. Part of that mind set is not cheating. That is more my point than anything.

Trying to gain an advantage, within the rules, is different. I take some of your responses to mean that there are more illegal bats out there than most know.

A good example of this is to always put your bat in the house, and not stay in the car, in a cold climate. We did this when DD was young. Now, we do not even do this. It simply does not matter much anymore. When DD strikes the ball right, it is gone. Otherwise it is not. Much more to do with her swing and the contact made, than anything about the bat. Though she does play with the best equipment.

The winning teams/players know they don't have to cheat to win. That is what I have seen with our players.

I cannot speak for the others, except if you want to truly be a winner, do it fairly.

 

[4 girl's dad]

What makes me question what they were doing is that, in my short experience, I have not seen one bat fit every player on a team, length and weight. I could see it if there were two maybe three of the same brand of bat but different sizes and they all shared. But not one size for a whole team. Could it happen, I'm sure. But still, its seems odd to me.

 

[CoreSoftball20]

I look at it differently. If a player has to doctor their bat, by definition, they are not very good, a loser.

Winning is a mind set. Part of that mind set is not cheating. That is more my point than anything.

Trying to gain an advantage, within the rules, is different. I take some of your responses to mean that there are more illegal bats out there than most know.

A good example of this is to always put your bat in the house, and not stay in the car, in a cold climate. We did this when DD was young. Now, we do not even do this. It simply does not matter much anymore. When DD strikes the ball right, it is gone. Otherwise it is not. Much more to do with her swing and the contact made, than anything about the bat. Though she does play with the best equipment.

The winning teams/players know they don't have to cheat to win. That is what I have seen with our players.

I cannot speak for the others, except if you want to truly be a winner, do it fairly.

There certainly are more out there than people know of, and sometimes the people you think don't need it or aren't doing it, are. I could shed some insight into this stuff all day long and talk for hours, but that wasn't the point of my post really.

I was really trying to answer the question of the post. I was trying to make a point of cost issue. If every parent bought a garbage 40 dollar bat, you would have a team with 12 crap bats to use on the fence and every parent paid 40 bucks or whatever they did. Lets assume this team is legit hopefully. Lets say a team bought a new Xeno for 230 and there are 15 girls on a team. That's 15 bucks a parent and all the players are now swinging a great bat. That's less than what the parent would have spent on garbage.
Even if said team bought 2 Xenos, you're at $30 each parent. So here is a young team, swinging the best bats and the parents aren't out anymore money for their daughters to swing the best.

 

[Freak13]

LS Xeno have S1iD inner discs connected to the end cap. The disc keeps the barrel from compressing to much upon impact with the ball.
If the inner disc are still in the bat you should hear a ping/glass sound on solid hits. You can also hear something similar to a rattle when the bat is dropped on the ground.
If the bat has ben altered by removing the disc it will sound more like a normal composite bat not exactly the same but close.
By removing the inner disc the bat is as hot or hotter than a shaved bat and maybe hotter than a senior slowpitch bat.
Xeno are same as the LS slow pitch Z2000's. I've heard the difference sound the Xeno & z's make when altered it's obvious.

Keep in mind LS Xeno's are the hottest bats out and it's not uncommon for teams to share bats when they cost $300+.
Do some fastpitch teams use altered bats yes they do!!


See more 2013 Louisville Slugger Z2000 ASA
See more Louisville Slugger | Xeno Fastpitch Bat

 

[SCDad]

SCDad: why jump to such a negative place just because players share bats.

It was my opinion the original poster was begging the question with his use of words "sounded hollow, just weird, everyone on the team using it".

So I went with it, without dancing around it.

I also remember when DD was young, and the girls would share, jump to try the bat their friends were having success with. Without really knowing?

And as they get older, they get their own bats. Don't want to use someone else's bat. Believe it or not, the last thing a great hitter wants to do is use a fellow players illegal bat. All for an extra 20 foot distance. Once you can clear 200 ft, or 220 ft. on your own, it does not really matter how much farther it goes.

Maybe I take this issue for granted. After hearing some of these posters, I am glad I went there. Will probably look a little closer at players who are right at the 200 foot mark, and trying desperately to get it over the fence more.

The other part folks fail to realize, is the bat manufacturers are doing everything in their power to not only make the best bat within regulations. But also make the hitting zone, or sweet spot, as large as possible. A drop 9 bat has a larger sweet spot than a drop 10 bat. Altering the bat may increase the distance on the exact sweet spot, but probably makes the sweet spot smaller.

The true power hitters want to be able to hit home runs even if they do not hit the sweet spot. Well over 1/2 of DD's HR's are this way. It is how far the ball goes when not hit on the sweet spot which matters as much as the one's stuck just perfect. Really the size of the sweet spot becomes the most important. The one's struck perfect are long gone. It is the others that matter.

I believe that is exactly what the "regulator" on the Xeno, my DD uses, tries to accomplish. It reduces the spring back in the sweet spot, while at the same time making the sweet spot larger and increasing the spring back toward the end, and toward the handle, of the bat.

 

[02Crush]

Thanks for all the replies. I know girls at a young age will share here or there. That is when one kids says, hey do you mind if I try your bat. But for the ENTIRE BATTING ORDER to warm up with their own bat, then swing this one Xeno. Especially when the height range on the team is everything between 4' and 5' tall. My reference to the hollow sounds was two fold. YES the S1iD technology give their bats a different sound. But also, composite bats have a deep thump sounds when hit hard. It does not sound hollow. I am positive we have competed against altered bats but there is really no way to find out other than to scale it. Most manufacturers make the bat 1 oz more than the actual weight. If it is at or below weight that would seem obvious. But no one checks in 12U TB. I have seen HS and MS umps line em up and check everything to the best of their ability. I can see those who are not of means to buy this type of equipment however, I have never seen an entire team do it. We have some players who are not of the means to buy a new $300 bat every year. But we all put out heads together to find the players a "deal" on an overstock or older model or even a players old bat that still has some life to it.

 

[fastpitch]

I have seen this before in LL for teams that have players/parents who aren't into spending lots of money on bats. They all chip in $25 and buy a top bat for the team use during games.

Just curious, were they really hitting the ball well? I can imagine a team thinking a bat is lucky if they are hitting well and just all deciding to use the same bat, especially at the younger ages (10/12). I know as they get older and the competition gets better, they are very particular about the bat they use and would rarely think of using someone else's bat in a serious game. But at that point it seems everyone has a $300 retail bat or two. At younger ages only a few have that $300 retail bat.

TBH, I can't imagine there is that much advantage for a doctored bat at 12u. Maybe a mens softball league where they are launching 280-300 foot+ bombs, but not 11/12 yo girls. And maybe I'm just too trusting, but I would never imagine anyone going through the trouble to do this at 12u. I've been around relatively high level travel for a few years now and have never once spoken to anyone who has admitted to me that they have doctored a bat (not that I ask) so I'd guess if someone actually did that, it would be a secret and an entire team wouldn't know it was doctored.