I agree that parents should take charge of their kids safety. I've seen more than one instance of a parent wanting the player to wear a mask, but the player refusing. To me, that's a very easy solution...you're not playing until you put it on.
However...
The argument that the mask might itself contribute to injury / death when hit by a softball appears speculative, counter-intuitive, and without foundation. It certainly runs counter to everything I've personally seen with them. That's like saying we shouldn't have seat belts or airbags in cars because THEY could cause injury in a collision.
I'd really like to see an example of a successful lawsuit showing how a mask injured a player BEYOND what would have happened had the mask not been there. If such a lawsuit was brought, it would come against the manufacturer, and would allege some type of design or manufacturing defect. An injury lawsuit against a state sports regulatory agency for requiring a piece of commonly used gear in the interests of player safety seems a long-shot.
This requirement, I believe, only extends to high school. Most high schools are part of government organizations, and their sports are regulated by state agencies. So, the appropriate regulatory body "sticking their nose into this or other sports situations" is entirely normal. Your aversion to the government getting involved seems at odds with your argument that "there is no standard". In the absence of that elusive "standard", manufacturers have a vested interest in making their protective equipment safe and effective. Good products rise quickly, and bad products sink fast. Sometimes, an idea is good enough to not have to wait for one regulatory body to catch up with another.
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