Warming of the bat....

Got this from Randy Hearn..

This was directly from Randy Hearn, NCAA Ump and rules compliance aide for the USA South, Southern Conference, and more... see below

The following has come to my attention and has raised some questions.
A dugout heater or electric blankets are used to keep players warm. Before going on deck, each batter uses the heater to warm herself and her bat. (A.R. 3.2.5)
Ruling: Artificially warming the bats by the use of the heater is illegal. Players can warm themselves without placing the bat where it could be warmed. Coaches and players are expected to abide by the rules and umpires to enforce them when they detect the violation or it is brought to their attention by the opposing team.
Effect: The batter (or now batter-runner, if the turn at bat is completed) shall be declared out and ejected, and advance by base runners shall be nullified. In addition, the umpire crew shall remove the bat for the remainder of the game or doubleheader, return the bat to the coach at the conclusion of play, and file an incident report with the NCAA softball secretary-rules editor.

 

Like in any rule, there is always a shade of grey, which is often left for interputation. Since it is obvious the "electric/gas heaters" are illegal, what about the bat warmer sleeves, and the devices that you can microwave that warm your bat as well?

 

You are correct.... many shades of gray

Based on my discussion with Randy last night, all that you mentioned are illegal.

PS... so are the little " sting stoppers " so popular with the younger girls...

Consider the can of worms open...

 

So what started this whole thing is that one team couldn't accept the fact that they lost so they want to cry cheaters. I doubt the warming of the bats had anything to do with the fact they did not win.

 

Agree & Disagree !!

3 years ago during late fall in AAU Tournament I made our team a warmer out of a 5 gallon bucket and made a special lid for the bats to go through. I heated the bats with little cans of sterno that I placed in the bottom of the bucket which heated the bats to a very toasty temperature.Trust me physics took over ,and it does make the ball respond off the bat at a high rate of speed. I mean the ball will jump off the bat immediately at contact. I will say this if your girls were contacting the ball the heating of the bat could make a difference of a win or loss, and if you are like me I didn't know it was illegal at the time.I did it because the girls complained about the bat stinging their hands. I will say this though the night we played this certain team we about killed the SS because of the 100 plus mph balls that are power hitters were sending her way, and the balls were much too hot to handle for a 12 year old !!

Guru

 

No, I didnt start this thread because of a win/loss scenario ( I believe that was another game, same situation per say at the same tournament that someone ref...). I just had not heard of the rule. We did it in fall ball, and all day Saturday...nothing was mentioned until Sunday morning.. (we split with the same team 1-1). My question was as to wether it was a rule and to the consistency it was applied. I sure wouldnt want my DD ejected from the game because of a rule we nor her coach werent aware of. Again, it wasnt done to have any advantage, just to help with any potential bat damage. (Actually the team we played against, one of their players cracked hers!) In the end, a win isnt a win if you dont get it honestly thru hard work and talent. Thanks to all who answered my question....

 

interesting thread for me,

Well I have never had my kids warm her bat, but I gotta say, you didnt buy them as rock hard icycles in a freezer either.

 

no ididnt have anything to do with a loss, like i said its cheating plan and simple, as i also stated we couldnt catch a cold that day, actually believe it or not they only had one hit out of the infield, they bunted us to death, just a bad day all around. there was no crying because we were loosing, i think we would have lost to a 10u team on that day. i dont think anything was done on purpose the team we were playing is on the up and up and a good competitor..

 

SEE-YA

MAN, you cleaned up that post real quick.....

 

He's a good man