Wood bats for softball?

If you didn’t know that wood bats are making a comeback in slow-pitch softball, you soon will.  MaxBat has seen a significant rise in our wood bats for softball this year, and the demand keeps growing.

Why wood bats for softball?  Well, if you’ve seen a competitive men’s softball game recently, you’ll notice some unusual rules.

1. Batters don’t even have to run the bases after hitting homeruns.
2. Homeruns are counted as OUTS after a certain number of them are hit.
3. Some leagues require pitchers to wear facemasks.

So…..why is this?  This isn’t the softball that I grew up watching my dad play two nights a week in the summertime.

ASA has banned the use of dozens of “hot” bats, and that list keeps growing.  Of course, the only “hot” bats are the ones made of metal and/or composite materials.

Many leagues have said “Enough is Enough”, and have switched to playing softball with wood bats.  The game is safer and more enjoyable.  Players who have made the switch exclaim to one another, “Why didn’t we switch to wood bats sooner”?  Unfortunately, many leagues have switched to wood bats only after a handful of players in their leagues were permanently injured by a ball coming off a “hot” bat at close range.

Wood bats for softball can be made to exact ASA specifications, and because they are wood bats and not metal, they do not need the ASA stamp on them.  Balls coming off the barrel of a wood bat do not reach ridiculous speeds, and make it fair/safe for the fielders.  Now if someone hits a homerun in a softball game with a wood bat, it’s because of the player’s talent level, and not the bat’s engineering.

Many leagues play on fields without fences too.  So using wood bats in softball games can reduce the number of gap shots that roll for a mile and a half before an outfielder tracks it down.

Perhaps now is the time for your community or parks and recreation department to host a wood bat softball tournament to expose the game to more people.