Those balls are made of the same material as the dimpled pitching machine balls. The seams and lack of dimples cause them to be thrown less consistently by the machine than dimpled balls, so they are slightly harder to hit. However, they have the same downsides for the fielders - i.e. they are unsafe to field. They bounce strangely compared to a real softball - you better be decking all infielders out with masks if they're trying to field them. In addition, if you're using a single wheel jugs-type machine, the wheels of the pitching machines impart so much backspin to the balls it also makes fielding difficult - anyone who has watched girls hit those balls on a field has seen balls that are hit back to the circle and then crazily spin all the way to the dugout. Also they feel weird when you grab them and throw them. They're pitching machine balls, not game balls.
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