Softball vs lacrosse mask debate

[Cowdogz]

I don't think anyone said baseball was safer, I said baseball was played at a greater distance thus allowing more reaction time.

Don't forget that 12-year-old boys, who can be 6' tall, who hit with supercharged bats and can throw 60mph, also play on the 60' diamond, and often the infields are dirt, at least where I live.

I think the idea of grass infields for softball is interesting. One thing we could be doing better is field maintenance. Go to a major- or minor- league baseball game, and they rake out the infield several times a game. That's not just for looks. More weird hops get created by footprints than anything. We're lucky if we get our field raked out once between games.

I don't have an opinion one way or the other on masks. No safety measure is foolproof. Yesterday I saw a baserunner with a full facemask on her helmet come from third on a wild pitch. Catcher tossed the ball to the pitcher covering, the runner failed to slide, and the ball came up under her mask and hit her in the jaw. As I said before, in field hockey they've found that sometimes the mask turns what would have been a bruise into a facial laceration.

 

[Cowdogz]

OILF, I've never heard of BBCOR standards being adopted for Little League, Cal Ripken, etc. I've never even seen a youth bat that conforms to BBCOR standards.

 

[collinspc]

Don't forget that 12-year-old boys, who can be 6' tall, who hit with supercharged bats and can throw 60mph, also play on the 60' diamond, and often the infields are dirt, at least where I live.

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I don't know where you live, but "supercharged bats" are not allowed at the 12 year old level, I will agree to disagree with you and OILF that the greater distance in baseball affords a better reaction time to the ball.

Now back to the original post, I still maintain that face masks are a good safety measure and should be worn by the pitcher and infielders.

 

[NVfishing]

My DD asked for a mask. She wears it now but today she put it in the bag during game 2. I think too much chlorine at the pool yesterday made it hurt her face today.