Base Ball Bat Question. (Softball actually)

[Kevin Palmer]

OK, my daughter is on three leagues, (fast pitch soft ball). She plays with both 11 inch and 12 inch balls.



She is an above average player. Some recruiters assumed she was using a double walled bat. To be honest, I did not know they made them. So my question is....



Is there a substantial difference in a double wall bat vs. a single wall bat? Also, I see they make a variable wall bat as well. Is that nothing more than a fancy name for a double wall bat?



If it is worth buying based on your thoughts, she will be looking for a 29 inch by 22 oz with a negative 10 to 12 ratio. That would be the desire.



So what are your thoughts.



Thanks in advance...

 

[George C]

I found this information doing a search...

RULES



Research your leagues banned bat list

Since the start of the new "speed limits" (ASA 98mph - USSSA 120mph) every league has a banned bat list. Some of these lists are exact copies of the national list, some are not (usually more bats may be listed at the league level).

Nothing hurts worse then buying a 250.00 "dream bat" only to find out that your league has banned it while at the national level it is still accepted.



DOUBLE WALL vs. SINGLE WALL



The double wall softball bat has, I believe, become the standard for most softball players and for good reasons. The most important being the trampoline effect is greatly increased over the single wall bats.

Double wall bats have come a long way in durability since the days of the original Demarini and most bats available today rival that of thick single walled bats of old.

Personally, I don't believe that you can be a competitive distance hitter with out double wall technology, unless of course you are in a single wall league.

AGAIN, I have hit 320ft home runs with single walled bats, however it was with the PERFECT pitch, perfect swing, etc. the double wall will hit farther with more consistancy.



It looks like a double wall bat is much better if it is allowed in the league. I know nothing about girls softball but are they really using balls that are 11" and 12" big? That sounds huge!



George



Here is the full link...

 

[George C]

Here's another...



Generally speaking, most multiwall bats have larger sweet spots than single wall bats. What this translates into is you are more likely to hit the ball hard more often than you would with a traditional single wall aluminum bat. Ray Demarini did a study back in the 90s comparing his double wall bat with a single wall bat. The top exit speed of the ball was no better with the double wall bat, but the increased sweet spot allowed more offcenter hits to approach the speed of balls hit on the center of the sweet spot. This performance was not duplicated with the single wall design. Offcenter hits with the single wall design came off the bat much slower than balls hit directly on the sweet spot. With 375 compression balls, though, the performance isn't quite as dramatically different, as the balls won't compress the barrel of either design as much. You may not feel as though the sweet spot is nearly as big when hitting 375 balls as you would with a higher compression ball. The multiwall bat will still outperform the single wall bat, though. If you still have to swing single wall bats, and your league will allow bats with a composite handle, get a Demarini Steel. They swing a little heavy, but they are head and shoulders above any other single wall bat on the market today.

If you are allowed to use multiwall bats, I would look into the Anderson line, the Demarini F3, or a PST.



BTW, I think the only advantage of a variable wall bat is it doesn't dent as easy.



George

 

[Mike Dziubina]

coastie...not a softball player but i do play baseball. there are different regulations for different leagues concerning what is legal and not so you have to check into it. a double wall bat compared to a single wall bat would be the fact that the ball will travel much harder and further. variable wall i believe is almost like a composite wall. this meaning that it is not metal and the makers of the bats will give a type of material it is on the shaft next to the handel.

my opinion on bats it demarini. i bought a Demarini voodo for last summer league and my high school team and i was very impressed. i hit my first homerun with the bat and couldnt be happier. check into them they just came out with a new voodo which is red and black. not sure if they have it for softball but im sure they do. thats my favorite bat. Demarini bats are in their prime right now as lots of colleges are using them.

other companies to look into would be the big names like Easton or TPS. they are all very good bats and with the technology these days you wont see a big difference in the ball travel it realy just comes down to the feel of the bat. how comfortable you are with the bat as you swing.

if your daughter is a power hitter she would be better off with a "top heavy bat", if she is just a good contact hitter look for a more even distributed bat.

i chose the Demarini because it was the newest technology out at the time and i never delt so comfortabe swinging anything else. the bat will actually flex durring your swing and in essence whip the ball off the bat. i say check into Demarini. i bought mine from justbats.com. check it out...fast shipping and the lowest pricing i found.

 

[Casey B]

We do not allow bats to be used if they say double wall on them. Also, there is a banned bat list. It's going to depend on which rules the league uses. We use ASA here for slow pitch and fast pitch. Check this link and you will find the banned bat list for ASA with pictures. Lot's of other info on the site for softball.

 

[Kevin Palmer]

She is able to use a double wall bat.

Sooo,it is just a matter of spending money now.



They are not a cheap item considering it is just a bat LOL

 

[Bill V]

Coastie, as others have said, definitely check with your league first, to make sure you don't invest in a bat that isn't legal for her to use. If the league is ASA sanctioned, their banned bat list is likely to be what you need to work off of--although some individual leagues (even those that are ASA sanctioned) have their own lists, that can be more- or less-extensive than ASA's list.



The reason for the list has to do with fielder (especially pitcher) safety. Some of the bat manufacturing technology these days are capable of such high ball speeds coming off the bat that the ball can reach the pitcher faster than the human body can react to get out of the way.



One other note--generally, double walled bats will not last nearly as long as single wall. So if she's going to make that switch (and yes, I recommend doing it), and she's going to play a signficant amount, be prepared to be reinvesting in bats on a regular basis. (Likely annually.) And have her take two bats with her--the one she uses in games, and a backup (might be a single wall), which she can also use for most of her practice. (She'll want to use the game one in some of her practice, enough so she knows its feel and sweet spot, but it'll last longer if it's not her one-and-only.)



And I suspect you're aware of this--but there's a BIG difference between a baseball bat and a softball bat. (Your message subject line said baseball, even though the question is about softball.)

 

[Kevin Palmer]

My bad, I was using baseball in a generic term. It is Softball that I care about.



However, there is nothing soft about it when it hits you a forty miles an hour......LOL

 

[Bill V]

Coastie--It depends where it hits you.



George, just to make sure you're not misunderstanding--Softballs are measured by CIRCUMFERENCE, not DIAMETER. 11" is the most commonly used size for girls' and women's softball. 12" is the most common size for men's softball, although I believe a lot of fast pitch leagues use this across the board. (I'm more familiar with slow pitch.)



The most common other softball size is used when playing kittenball--I think that's a 16" ball, if I'm not mistaken. Used in a lot of leagues in the Chicago area, and areas with a lot of Chicago transplants, but not much anywhere else. It's slow pitch, the ball is very soft, and the game is usually played without use of gloves.

 

[Bill V]

One other note on double walls, Coastie--have her learn how to use it in a way that extends its life. This is done by rotating the bat regularly. Unlike wood bats, where you always want to have the wood grain oriented the same way to use the strongest part of the wood, double wall aluminum bats should be constantly turned when using. One way to do this is simply to always pick it up randomly--which can be tough for some kids to do, they always want to look at the logo, or hit the ball on the logo, etc. But if they can just grab it and use it in whatever orientation they get it, they'll usually do OK. Another way is to consciously turn it a bit after each use. Some bats even have about a dozen dots with numbers around their barrels, for this purpose--you hit it once with the "1" facing up, then once with the "2" facing up, etc.



The basic effect is that each hit of the bat against the ball bends the bat slightly. If you use it in the same orientation all the time, eventually those bends cumulate to become noticable. But if you rotate the bat, the bends cancel each other out.

 

[Mike Valvardi]