Please Listen Players

Please, Please all pitchers, 3rd and 1st should wear mask!!! I have seen to many face injuries and I din't want to see anybody get hurt. The bats are to hot!!!! protect your head and face. PLEASE.

 

rec

I saw a rec league with local county rules where all infielders required to wear masks.

 

Yea I agree!!!! I just bought my 9 year old one and she plays 3rd base for me and the first day she had it a lefty from an older team came up and drilled a shot to her.She caught it but you could hear the crowd go wow and everyone just froze for a second.It was well worth the 40 dollars we spent.There is a new mask out by RIP-IT and it is a metal mask that is light weight and a lot easier to see through than the game face mask (plastic one) It should be a rule in the lower age groups 8u-12u of travel ball.When the young ladies get older they can choose what they want to do as far as wearing one.

 

I have to agree with the face mask for the pitcher and 3rd and possibly 1st.

The batters have improved greatly over the years and continue to get better and better. The bat technology has definitely made a difference in the speed of the ball off the bat.

The risk of very serious injury or death has increased!!

I read recently where they were considering a ball change. That would be the better route rather than trying to change the bats.

I don't want to see the game made less exciting but it is getting far too dangerous the way it is now.

A 43' pitching distance would help the pitcher some but that doesn't help the corners. If anything it would make it more dangerous for the corners because the batter will have more time to see the ball and get an even better swing at it.

Something MUST be done! A ball that comes off the bat with less speed may be the answer.

Any adult who doubts the danger needs to pitch batting practice for your varsity without a net. Better yet, pitch to your 16U-18U TB players without a net. I had my nose broken by a tennis ball; it would have been much worse obviously if it had been a real ball.

 

Here is a link to a site that carries the mask mentioned:
http://www.hitrunscore.com/ripdga-defense-faceguard.html

 

I thought this year they were going to make a change, and require them to wear the mask or back the mound up to 43 feet, but they did not, I coach a 14U team, and my pitcher and corners wear them, and my SS and 2nd by choice. They have tried several mask, but the Game Face seems to be the most popular one, it is lite weight, unlike the metal. We seen a girl on the mound this past weekend in Locust get hit in the temple area, but she had the Game Face on, she went down, but after some time she got back up and pitched some more, I would hate to see what would have happened if she did not have it on. Here is a link to the GameFace, but you can get them just about anywhere and the Defender seems to be a pretty good one http://www.softballfans.com/shop/product.php?productid=338&cat=0&page=1

 

I go back and forth on the 43 foot distance and who it helps.

Sometimes I think it will help the pitcher sometimes I think it would help the batter. Right now, I am in the camp that it helps the batter and would actually be more dangerous for the pitcher.

3 feet will not make much difference in reaction time, speed or impact coming off the bat,
BUT 3 feet will make a huge difference in the effectiveness of the pitcher to deny the batter a good hit.

Facemasks will become standard equipment on the pitcher and corners, it is just a matter of time as more parents adopt the practice in the younger age groups. It is just like the facemasks on batting helmets. When my daughter wore a helmet with a facemask in 10U, 8 years ago, not many were wearing them...

 

Protection is important at all levels...

I just heard about an Associate Professor at Liberty University that was pitching BP for his son and some of his son's friends who play baseball at Lynchburg College. As he was pitching one of the kids hit a line drive back at him and hit him in the neck and he was killed. I have heard that it was his son that hit the ball, but I am not sure that is true.

What a terrible, avoidable, accident that could scar that kid for life; not to mention the hard ship of losing a father, husband and great christian leader.

Moral of the story...use the available technology to your advantage...make sure that your players and coaches are protected with face masks and nets.

 

I don't know of those that heard that Jamey Lee of Central Cabarrus was lined drived to the face last week, so we are seeing the same thing in baseball, he had 4 broken bones around his eye, and broke his nose, just went through surgery and the surgery went well, but here is an article on him. http://prepinsiders.blogspot.com/2009/04/central-cabarrus-pitcher-recovering.html

 

There is going to be a certain amount of danger no matter what you do in both baseball and softball. Baseball safety has been discussed over and over. While I don't want to minimize any safety issues in baseball I would much rather see the emphasis on softball. We have some very real issues that need attention.

40 feet is simply too dangerous with the batters at their current skill level and the technology of the bats. Add to that the fact that many are constantly trying to get even more off the bats.

We can't remove all the danger but we certainly can and should make it safer!

How many games have you watched where there was a pitcher with very little experience facing a batter you know can line drive a ball head-high to centerfield? I don't know about others but that is scary to me! Sort of like standing 40 feet in front of a cannon and hoping they miss. Fortunately, most of the time they do.