Outfield Fence distance

[tmolina]

Why do 10u club players and up play with same fence distance as high school and college? I think high school and college should push the fences back 25 feet. With better balls and better bats they should consider moving the fences back...

 

[Cannonball]

So, what distance do you want? When you say push the fence back 25 feet, that isn't enough information. Our high school plays on 200' fences that, with the latest work go to 205 in center. However, the fence is 8' high. Our conference has fields that have 190' down the line to 200' in center to the dimensions of our field. In college, most of the fields my dd played on were 200' down the line and 220' in center. On my dd's college field it is 200' down line and 220' to center BUT they have a 12 foot high fence from power gap to power gap. DD hit that several times this year.

When you are wanting the fences moved back, they are you suggesting that you are seeing a lot of 10U teams hitting balls out of those fields?

 

[tguwarrior]

We have 2 fields here. The field the high school plays on is 190 down the lines and 210 in center, 3 foot fence. The other field is 170 down the lines 190 in center, 8 foot fence. They had a limited aount of space, that's why the distance to the fence is shorter. They made fence higher to compensate for the shorter distance but it doesn't always work out the way it was intended to.

 

[ms244]

Our last three tournaments were held at mens softball fields with fences out to at least 275. Most ASA/USSSA tournaments aren't held on High School fields. When the ASA Nationals are held here they put up temporary fences, but not during our regular tournaments. Moving the fence back at High Schools won't help 95% of the tournaments played.

 

[MTR]

Why do 10u club players and up play with same fence distance as high school and college? I think high school and college should push the fences back 25 feet. With better balls and better bats they should consider moving the fences back...

Or maybe, at that level, there should be a concentration on hitting the ball and putting it in play and not how far it has to go.

 

[tmolina]

I just see alot of check swing homers and balls flying over the fences that don't appear to be hit that hard in 16u and up club and in high school and college. I have no focus on how far the ball goes but tell my team the better mechanics they have the harder the ball will get past the infielders. But when girls 11 and 12 are starting to hit it out of fields with 200ft fences, and thats what most of the college and high schools fences are I question whether the fences are deep enough for upper level of play.

 

[chinamigarden]

Check swing homers? Man I got to get my dd a new bat.

 

[Coach-n-Dad]

Personally, one reason I like softball so much is the small size of the field and the short base paths. I don't think the size of the field needs to be increased, I DO think comp bats should be banned alltogether. I would be OK if bats went back to wood only.

 

[ms244]

On our current team only 4 out of our 11 players are using composite bats. Wood bats? You are definitely an "old school" guy if you want girls to use wood bats. LOL!

 

[softballphreak]

Personally, one reason I like softball so much is the small size of the field and the short base paths. I don't think the size of the field needs to be increased, I DO think comp bats should be banned alltogether. I would be OK if bats went back to wood only.

Then, you might need to move the fences in. And you would definitely see many broken bats.