Im going to get flamed but I feel theres a good difference in the quality of bat when comparing a FS1 to a new Xeno.
Yes, but you can stay with the bat you have. No rush--I watch a lot of college and I would say most have 23s-24s; keep in mind we are not a softball mecca here, but we do have at least five D1s within driving distance. If money is no issue, I have hitters in HS with two bats, one for slower pitching and one for faster pitching. And sometimes a bat that is longer (2" if you jump right away) just makes you uncomfortable at the plate for a bit, as you have to back away to get the barrel over the plate.
Some of the girls swinging -10s are going to a -11.
Is this a slow pitch forum?Does an ounce and an inch make that much of a difference???
Yeah, I was going to say it, but I remembered this is a family forum.
I don't have a radar to measure any of that. And I agree with the cage vs live hitting - I have seen many a batter hit totally different vs live pitchers. Bottom line is that she loves her bat enough that she forked out the money for it (and at 15 that is a lot of manual labor that she had to do to earn it). So after looking at all of the posts I told her love the bat that she has, learn to swing it well, continue to get stronger and see what happens...Force = Mass x Acceleration therefore, if your DD does not loose any bat speed when she swings, the heavier bat should provide additional force. I would suggest measuring her bat speed and ball exit speed with both bats to see how they compare. I would also be careful that you do not assume that being a "cage hitting phenom" with a bigger/heavier bat will translate into more power against live pitching.