Looking for first Composite

[Michael N]

My Daughter just made the move from Rec Ball to ASA . She is 12 years old , 5'3" and 110 pounds . Currently she is swinging a Worth Amp 31/21 and seems to be comfortable with bats in this size range . She is NOT a power hitter but more of a base hitter . We are looking for a good bat that will hold up to some cool weather usage . She tried the Easton Catalyst Demo bat but they only had a 32/20 and her bat speed was visibly slower . Even with me hitting it didn't seem to have much pop but did seem to be a lot more forgiving when the ball wasn't hit perfectly . What suggestions could you guys give me ? I am pretty much a clueless Dad who is looking to help her step up her game

 

[rachelsdad]

Have her try teammates bats if possible. I look for used ones there are plenty of dads that buy latest and greatest for their DD a lot of the manufacturers just relabels last years model anyways. Most of the time the bats are not even broken in yet, you get 2 benefits this way you pay less than half and a shortened break in period. If you have to buy new then you have figure out how much do you want to spend. As big as your DD is she should be crushing the ball my 12y.o. is 4'9" 78lbs and regularly gets the ball through the outfield facing TB pitching. Maybe use your money and get her hitting lessons without the proper mechanics she could be missing out on using a lot of her real potential.

Other than that all the major manufacturers have good bats, the most popular being Easton's Stealth or Synergy / DeMarini's CF4/CF5 / Louisville's XENO then Miken and Combat coming up behind.

 

[Michael N]

Unfortunately her ASA team is made up almost entirely of girls making the jump from Little League to club ball and the only 2 girls with decent bats are swinging a 30/18 and a 30/17 . Everyone says she has good mechanics and when she was hitting off a machine she was a slugger . The transition from machine pitch to live pitch last year has given her fits . As far as her size goes she is smallish for the 12U teams around here . Most of the girls have 3-5 inches and 20-30 pounds on her .

 

[Michael N]

My DD got to borrow a CF4 from her batting coaches Daughter tonight . She said it felt a little heavy at first but she adjusted well . I see either a CF4 or a Xeno in her future since she is digging the drop 10 now

Now I just need to find a good deal on one .

 

[#10]

Check eBay for 2011 Xenos, if you're cool with getting last year's model. I bought one brand new with a valid receipt for warranty issues for less than $120 shipped. llcoach23 is the seller, he lists a new bat for auction just about every day.

 

[lefty16]

Have heard good things about the Easton Synge for a good price, good quality composite with decent pop out of the wrapper....

 

[Michael N]

We had looked at the Synge several times and she liked the way it felt when swinging it . Unfortunately one of the girls who plays for the High School told us that their team purchased several of them and all the girls hated them so they gave them to the JV team . She is now convinced she doesn't want one just based on that . I kind of wish I could find one for her to hit with for a while as I can get one on closeout locally for a pretty decent price .

 

[NJSOFTBALL]

Check out this website CLOSEOUTBATS CF4 $199.00 2011 model. I have bought a few bats from them.

 

[softballphreak]

We had looked at the Synge several times and she liked the way it felt when swinging it . Unfortunately one of the girls who plays for the High School told us that their team purchased several of them and all the girls hated them so they gave them to the JV team . She is now convinced she doesn't want one just based on that . I kind of wish I could find one for her to hit with for a while as I can get one on closeout locally for a pretty decent price .

Xeno is your best choice; especially for smaller batters. Although the pop is still good even with stronger batters. That sounds like a "duh" but some high-pop bats don't pop as well at both ends of the strength spectrum.

She will love the Xeno! 30/20 sounds to be about right but if you can find one to test swing I would try the 31/21 also. The 9 oz drop is for stronger batters who like the end-loaded feeling.

The CF4, Synergy, Halo, Combat, even the Stealth to a degree perform better with stronger batters.

 

[Michael N]

@NJSOFTBALL

I believe they have a bunch on ebay right now as I have been watching a few auctions to see what they are selling for . Thanks for the heads up though


@Softballphreak

I should have put in my post that she was swinging the 31/21 CF4 with her batting coach yesterday . She has 2 weeks off from practice and then another 2 weeks until their last tournament so we are gonna hit up as many people as we can about demoing their bats . A local store has TPS Demos but unfortunately they are all 32 or 33 inch bats .