USSSA bat regulation changes

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Jun 6, 2011
4
0
Central Iowa
I'm sure it is for fastpitch, basically the same things as slowpitch. The person from USSSA that emailed me the info referred me to the the "National Info" tab on their fastpitch site. He specifically told me in the email that beginning 2013 all bats have to have the 2012 mark.

At least they are giving manufacturers and customers some advanced notice. I'm glad they are requiring stricter standards. Hopefully, it will put all girls on a more even playing field no matter how much the parents pay for a bat.

Below is part of what is on the USSSA site: (BTW - If you don't care about USSSA, don't bother reading it. I'm just trying to provide some useful information. Doesn't really call for your opinions about the organization.)

"IMPORTANT USSSA BASEBALL AND SOFTBALL ANNOUNCEMENTS:
 BAT STANDARDS
 RESPONSIBILITY FOR ILLEGAL BATS
 RISK OF INJURY
 PROTECTIVE GEAR
 INSURANCE AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION
JANUARY 10, 2011
Risk of Injury
The American games of Baseball and Softball have always had the risk of a player (or even a coach or fan) being
struck with a ball during a game (or even during the warm up activities prior to a game). Unless the very nature of
the game is altered, it is hard to imagine the games of Baseball/Softball without some risk of injury from batted or
even thrown balls. Even with the best players in the game and even before the advent of modern balls and
modern bats (today’s wood bats being much better than the wood bats of yesteryear), injuries have occurred and
sometimes they have been serious. It was 1937 and one of the first All-Star games was being played, perhaps the
best pitcher of his day—Dizzy Dean-- was on the mound when his career was ended with a batted ball injury. But
while there is and always has been some risk inherent in the games of Baseball/Softball from being struck with a
batted (or even thrown) ball, the games of Baseball and Softball remain among the very safest sports in America.

Composite Bats
USSSA has been made aware in recent years that composite bats may become softer and therefore perform
better when used excessively, abused or damaged. And even more concerning, it became clear that players can
accelerate this improvement by altering their bats. To address this issue, USSSA has passed stringent penalties
for the use of altered bats and is in the process of making available compression testing machines for under $500
for use by ball parks and players alike to determine when bats become too soft. In slow pitch Softball, USSSA has
reduced the compression of the ball to half of what it once was, has reduced the COR by over 20% and changed
the pitching rule to allow the pitcher to release the ball from as much as 6 feet behind the otherwise designated
pitching plate which is 50 feet from home plate. No such changes were made to USSSA licensed baseballs as the
Bat Performance Factor (“BPF”) for Baseball is significantly lower than that of softball: 1.15 BPF for Baseball and
1.20 BPF for Softball. But for certain youth Baseball ages, USSSA has used a 50 foot pitching distance instead of
46 foot and has lengthened the base paths from 60 feet to 70 feet to allow the game to have the room to be
played as it was traditionally designed.
The New Mark
In addition, USSSA has now implemented new rules for testing bats before a manufacturer can license its bats
for use in USSSA play. Under the new rules, bats will no longer be licensed for USSSA play if they can
significantly improve beyond the BPF standard with use, abuse or damage. Beginning in the fall of 2011, such
new engineering standard bats will carry a new and very prominent USSSA mark. In addition, the manufacturers
will be required to address the issue of making bats that are less susceptible to alteration before the new mark
can be used. While other sanctioning bodies have chosen to ban older composite bats, USSSA has determined
that it would be grossly unfair to disallow a bat with no notice to the retailers, manufacturers and customers who
had previously relied on USSSA rules in the sale or purchase of a bat."
 
Jan 25, 2011
2,282
38
wow,sounds like they are not doing anything different than ASA.They are only 5years behind ASA,it still is not going to make a even playing field.Parents will still buy $300 bats and others will buy $30 bats.
 

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