Mississippi will be the first state to require the four most dangerous positions (including catcher) to wear face masks in High School.

Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch

Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.

May 16, 2016
946
93
So did they do it for boys (baseball) too?

They probably should. Was speaking with a surgeon who specialized in facial injuries, his DD was on the 10u rec team i was coaching. And he mentioned to me that over last 10 to 15 years, he'd seen a sharp drop off in cases involving facial injuries from softball. He said, "we just don't get them anymore". But, there was no drop off in baseball related facial injuries. He never understood why, until his DD came out for rec softball, and he saw the girls wearing face masks for the first time.
 

J.Galt

Banned
Feb 8, 2019
135
28
As for my suggestion on making the game safer (in addition to the bats comment) ... maybe it’s time to make the field bigger. Why exactly are 10u girls playing the same base distance as NCAA?

Pitchers are farther away but the fielders are the same distance.
It's starting to look like college baseball in the late 90s. Remember they started making drastic changes to the bats after the 98 CWS when USC beat ASU 21-12 or something ridiculous like that.
While I don't know that I'd move the pitcher back, maybe to 45 feet but push the bases and fences back to 75 feet and 250 feet and limit the bats to a drop 5 or drop 3 before someone gets killed.
I don't care how competent of a fielder you think you are, Auburn's pitcher didn't stand a chance.
Also, from age 13 on, boys are playing on a field 150% the size and are much farther away from the plate when a ball is hit. We put our sons farther back and limited the bats they could swing greatly, why do we care more about the safety of males than we do the females?
 
May 26, 2019
7
3
New Richmond, Wi
People view this many different ways. It’s not about girls being fragile, or less skilled than boys. These girls are playing Add a much closer distance and your physics shows that the speed of pitches, speed/velocity off bats etc. are more than baseball....the shorter distance reduces reaction times.... when was the last time you saw a baseball pitcher get hit square in the face with a throwdown to second from a catcher, Texas softball player on Friday? This is an about girls being weaker, inferior etc. it’s about safety and the effects of Paul something can impact players life not just now but in the future.

I make all my infielders wear masks, and if they choose not to then they are playing in the outfield 🤷‍♂️

And curious, haven’t catchers had to wear facemasks for the last 30 years?
 
May 29, 2015
3,731
113
Can we drop the tired cliche about girls being weaker/feebler yet? (Obviously not, as even the jewelry debate has turned into a sexist charged debacle.) Player safety has nothing to do with gender.

As Jfiebs noted, it is about reaction time. My suggestion on the expanding the field is something I have believed in for the last two decades as a parent, coach, administrator, and now an umpire. I have three daughters who played, one up into college. I have a son who played baseball. My belief has stayed the same.

It has to do with the game in direct context to the size/age/ability of the players. Now we also have the technology of the game to contend with.

I am not a fan of requiring face masks, but I understand the need for them. My direct point on the face masks is that there is no standard testing/certification on them (currently). Requiring them is a bad idea until there is a performance standard. This weekend I was taking note of the face masks girls were wearing ... there is some pretty cheap junk out there.
 
May 29, 2015
3,731
113
They probably should. Was speaking with a surgeon who specialized in facial injuries, his DD was on the 10u rec team i was coaching. And he mentioned to me that over last 10 to 15 years, he'd seen a sharp drop off in cases involving facial injuries from softball. He said, "we just don't get them anymore". But, there was no drop off in baseball related facial injuries. He never understood why, until his DD came out for rec softball, and he saw the girls wearing face masks for the first time.

You are seeing more and more facial protection on batting helmets in baseball, all the way up to the professional level. It is the “C-shield”, not a cage like softball, but it is more common every day.
 
May 26, 2019
7
3
New Richmond, Wi
I'd agree they "should". Until they do though, it's a sexist, double standard.
It’s not sexist by any means, boys are able to wear them too and unless it’s mandatory through your club/association it’s not required for girls to wear them, it is purely a recommendation in most places.... you go watch men’s slow pitch and the majority of pitchers wear them if they are play class C or higher
 
Jun 29, 2013
589
18
Can we drop the tired cliche about girls being weaker/feebler yet? (Obviously not, as even the jewelry debate has turned into a sexist charged debacle.) Player safety has nothing to do with gender.

As Jfiebs noted, it is about reaction time. My suggestion on the expanding the field is something I have believed in for the last two decades as a parent, coach, administrator, and now an umpire. I have three daughters who played, one up into college. I have a son who played baseball. My belief has stayed the same.

It has to do with the game in direct context to the size/age/ability of the players. Now we also have the technology of the game to contend with.

I am not a fan of requiring face masks, but I understand the need for them. My direct point on the face masks is that there is no standard testing/certification on them (currently). Requiring them is a bad idea until there is a performance standard. This weekend I was taking note of the face masks girls were wearing ... there is some pretty cheap junk out there.

The good news is that most of the parents (like me) who buy them for our DD's are going to be just as concerned as you are about quality, and will do our homework before buying one. I agree in theory that there should be some standard that mask vendors have to meet, but I disagree that we should wait until there is a standard before mandating them. Ideally, your way would be my choice as well but if the standards can't be agreed upon by governing bodies (and I guarantee that somewhere someone will argue that no masks are necessary because she played and didn't need one to try to derail the movement towards mask requirements), the overwhelming majority of people will make every effort to buy a good quality mask. And I do disagree that masks shouldn't be required, the benefits far outweigh any impediment to players, no different than requiring a bicycle helmet IMO.
 
Last edited:

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
42,830
Messages
679,481
Members
21,445
Latest member
Bmac81802
Top