Using baseballs instead of softballs?

[bjenkins24]

You check Ebay?

I did now doesn't look much better. Some decent deals, but then shipping makes them almost $4. I would love to buy around 60 more balls. Maybe I just need to spend the $300 and do it.

 

[Gambler Bob]

I think fielding a lot of baseballs in a glove that has broken in for softballs is a poor idea. There is a big difference in the pocket of a glove that has been broken in by baseball vs a softball. The pocket is much bigger and deeper in a glove that is used mainly with softballs. A baseball will rattle around the pocket of broken in softball glove.

I am not trying to say you can't use a baseball glove for softballs. It is all about how the glove gets broken in. If I was still a baseball player there is no way I would want to catch softballs with my game glove. You will ruin the pocket over the course of time. I understand you coaching 10u, so most of the girls probably have crap gloves anyway.

Maybe I am over thinking this but my daughter has been using Wilson A2K gloves since 8u. I don't let grown adults put their monster hands in her softball glove either. Just picky about that stuff.

 

[Shiloh]

Ok so softballs it is. So second question is where do you get them for so cheap? I bought out a play it again sports I'm coaching 10u, so I need 11 inch balls. They only had about 12. $2.50 each I think and had to rip off the sticker and made them all sticky. And it was 45 minutes away. I can get them online for $4.50 is about the cheapest I've found. Am I looking at the wrong places? Baseballs are like 1.50, which is why I'm asking

OK well, the price of both have gone up, significantly, since last fall.
I guess supply chain issues and inflation are having an effect.

Here are some 11" softballs for $3.75/ball.
Amazon product ASIN B0983512BX
The baseballs I buy are now $4.20 each, up from $3.50 last year.
Amazon product ASIN B07WVVPNTS

 

[flash277]

Try Play It Again Sports or any parent whose DD is playing in college, or whose playing time is over (post college).

Also, softballs are not necessarily more expensive than baseballs. Depends on what quality you're buying.
Synthetic is cheaper than leather.

When DD starting using a 12 inch ball, I bought a dozen for her to hit, now, 5 years later, I probably got about 50, gathered over the years here and there, mostly from fields where there are woods where foul balls go and no one (but me) goes to retrieve them.

 

[Towny9]

I’m all for hitting and throwing just about anything with anything. Heck, where I live we all grew up hitting my dad’s cool whip tops. Curious though - what is it structurally about a baseball that makes it bad for softball composite bats? It’s lighter right? Is it the compression? Honestly curious from a scientific perspective.

 

[dmcwhinnie]

I don't think it's a good idea to hit baseballs with a softball bat. Remember these babies can cost $300-450. I do like the idea of hitting a ball that is smaller than a softball. My granddaughter and I use tennis balls. I like the tennis balls because if you don't hit them square they don't go like you want them to. If the hitters pay attention they should get some good immediate feedback. Become friends with the high school tennis coach and might even give you some old ones