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Men's 70
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| Sept. 5, 2007 Hit the gap | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: unlimited arc If memory serves me correctly, ASA tried this for a year or 2 back in the late 70's. It was universally hated by everyone except pitchers and promptly done away with. I'm not sure how this would have any impact on the bat "controversy" other than having fewer well struck balls. |
| Aug. 26, 2007 Hit the gap | Topic: Bats Discussion: Aluminum U2 ??? The first DeMarini Doublewall was a monster of a bat. This was the bat that started the whole bat revolution with the manufacturers trying to one up each other. It was an aluminium bat. |
| July 2, 2007 Hit the gap | Topic: Bats Discussion: U2 Handles We already have a guy in that Whitehouse that butchers the english language. Do we really want another? LOL. Keep the posts coming Stoneman. I love them. |
| June 27, 2007 Hit the gap | Topic: Bats Discussion: TECH' INFOR on COMPOSITE BATS & REACTION TIME. Gary19: You are right that the composites have a larger sweet spot but again, for the vast majority of senior players, it makes very little difference. Most of the chatter on this board comes from those very serious players for whom the senior composites can and do make a difference but I don't think we can tar all of senior softball with the same brush. The many and varied suggested rule and equipment changes we see on this board are put out there by a very small number of serious players. The average softball player doesn't give a hoot. Hell, most of them don't know what bats are legal and what are not. Many of them don't really know the rules. I normally fall on your side of the issues as I hate to see all of the silly changes to the game and the middle is always open in my book. However, the composites are here to stay. It's all about the MONEY. I'm all for going back to wood bats when golf goes back to persimmon woods and when tennis goes back to the small racquet. I too noticed that the study that Stoneman mentions, compares wood bats with composites. Not a good comparison. |
| June 27, 2007 Hit the gap | Topic: Bats Discussion: TECH' INFOR on COMPOSITE BATS & REACTION TIME. Gary 19. As I stated in my earlier post, I have played for over 35 years and I honestly don't think there are any more HR's hit today than when I first started playing. Even using a U2, you still have to hit the ball perfectly to get it out. If you look at the big picture, 98% of senior softball players cannot hit a ball over a 300' fence. I play in a league with over 200 senior players and I can only think of 4 or 5 that can hit it out on an occasional basis. Consequently, pitcher reaction time and excessive HR's are not a big issue. What skews everyones perception is that when you get to the bigger tournaments, you are looking at the cream of the crop of senior players. Guys that were always the better players on their teams in their younger days. The other thing that everyone overlooks, is that hopefully as you get older, you become a better hitter. I took me about 25 years, but I finally learned how to generate power in my swing. So, in closing, I don't think it's the bat, it's the batter. You still have to hit the ball. |
| June 25, 2007 Hit the gap | Topic: Bats Discussion: TECH' INFOR on COMPOSITE BATS & REACTION TIME. Stoneman, this is great information. My question is why is there no body of evidence to show that more batted ball injuries are in fact occuring as a result of the composite bats. I haved played a ton of softball in the last 35 years and have not personally seen an increase it nor have I heard about it. I recently had the opportunity to talk to one of the heads of one of the Senior Softball organizations and posed the same question. The answer was that they are not seeing any increase in batted ball injuries. If you have information to show that the number of batted ball injuries has increased significantly as a result of the composite bats, I would love to see it. I'm sure it would put to rest a lot of the bickering and debate on this board. I'm not advocating for or against composite bats but until someone can can bring some hard batted ball injury statistics to the table, they're here to stay. |
| June 15, 2007 Hit the gap | Topic: Bats Discussion: ASA BATS Hey Lefty. We play ASA league and I have a couple of bats that I think are very good. 2007 Easton CNT Flex. I swing a 27 oz. It is a very durable, balanced bat with lots of pop. Big sweet spot. 2007 Mayhem M7 98. I have a 28 oz that feels slightly endloaded. Great pop!! Again a pretty big sweet spot. Tried the black Senior Rip It. Did not like it at all. I have not read any reviews yet but am trying a 2008 Miken Recoil this weekend. |
| June 13, 2007 Hit the gap | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Speeding up the game Jawood, a good USSSA pitcher can throw some very unhittable stuff. I'll give you an example. On 5/25 there was a Men's Major (youngsters) tourney in NC. I think you would agree that these are the best hitters in softball at this leval. Here are some of the number of runs scored on the losing end. 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8. These games were dominated by the pitchers with some very good D behind them. I know you will not see this kind of pitching in Senior ball but your premis that's it's just underhand is way off when it comes to a real good USSSA pitcher. |
| June 12, 2007 Hit the gap | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Speeding up the game Einstein and Lefty, I have to disagree with you on this one. I pitched USSSA for years and pitched for a youngsters team until I was 55. From a pitchers perspective, I love the 1 and 1 count. From a hitters perspective, It puts you at an immediate disadventage. With the 3 ft arc, a good pitcher can throw a strike that literally barely gets above your knees at the high point of the pitch. Keep in mind that the 3 ft arc is from the point of release so if you are releasing from close to the ground, it can be a very difficult pitch to hit. I also don't think it sped up the game that much. I think we sometimes lose perspective of the fact that the vast majority of senior players reside at "recreational" level of play and for most of them, it is all about hitting and waiting for the best pitch to hit. By the way, I used to love it when guys tried to shoot the middle, even on purpose, because 90% of the time, they were out. |
| June 7, 2007 Hit the gap | Topic: Bats Discussion: SAFETY in SOFTBALL Maybe we should all take up golf. Here is a list of the most dangerous sports in 2005 according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. These are the injuries reported in that year. I wouls add that there were 740 deaths in 2005 from ATV accidents (1/3 of which were children under 16) The Top 15: Basketball: 512,213 Bicycling: 485,669 Football: 418,260 Soccer: 174,686 Baseball: 155,898 Skateboards: 112,544 Trampolines: 108,029 Softball: 106,884 Swimming/Diving: 82,354 Horseback riding: 73,576 Weightlifting: 65,716 Volleyball: 52,091 Golf: 47,360 Roller skating: 35,003 Wrestling: 33,734 |
| May 18, 2007 Hit the gap | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Does your team pick tournaments they think they can win, or do you try to go to the tournaments with the most teams? Hi Audie. Just curious. Do the players pay their own travel and lodging expenses or does the sponsor cover some of those? I think the expense of traveling that much is what deters most teams from attending that many tournaments. |
| April 25, 2007 Hit the gap | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Geographic rules Wood is right on this one. It was the pay for players era where the team with the most sponsor money was able to get the best players available. Dan Smith Plastering was the prime example of that. Great teams and great guys but Dan was able to cherry pick players because he paid all their travel expenses. The current geographic rules help keep that in check and as a result, there are more not fewer Major Plus teams today. By the way, the Major Plus tag did not exist back then, there were only 3 divisions with Major being the top. |
| April 3, 2007 Hit the gap | Topic: Bats Discussion: Bats?? Have We Sold Out or Been Taken? Or Both Ness is right on. Even in the Senior Spring Worlds this year (Palm Springs) the SSUSA balls were crap. I think it was a poly covered ball. I could not scratch the cover with my fingernail which leads me to believe this. With the hot weather, it was like hitting a nerf ball. Only saw 2 hit out the whole time I was there. |
| April 3, 2007 Hit the gap | Topic: Bats Discussion: Bats?? Have We Sold Out or Been Taken? Or Both Back in the day when all we had were the metal bats, we also had nice hard balls. 50COR. Now with the sorry balls they make us use today, everyone is trying to find the ultimate bat that will make it travel a little farther. I'm all for going back to good hard balls and metal bats but that will never happen. |
| March 28, 2007 Hit the gap | Topic: Players looking to join a team Discussion: Maybe in Phoenix then.... Grimes Trucking is a 55 Major Plus team out of Phoenix. Check with SSUSA for their managers name and #. |
| March 22, 2007 Hit the gap | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Washington State Tournaments 2007 Hi Shane. I will be over with the Yeagers team. There is also a new 50's team from Spokane that is planning on attending. I also talked with the Fire One guys and they are trying to get enough of their players to commit. |
| March 7, 2007 Hit the gap | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: If you believe in God; finish this sentence.............. THANK YOU Skywarrior for having the guts to speak out about what many of us believe but sometimes fear to say. I am with you on this one brother. This is a softball chatboard not Sunday school. |
| March 4, 2007 Hit the gap | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: C J and S Express TOC Champions Nice video Dbax. Very well done. Choice of music is great. |
| March 1, 2007 Hit the gap | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: SSWC Spring World I think everyone is getting confused. I know I am. Ron, are you refering to the tournament in Palm Springs in March? If so, that is a SSUSA tournament and they do allow the U2's and Senior Combats. The only question is because some of the game are scheduled at the Field of Dreams, that facility may not allow them because they normally do not allow them. I think SSUSA is trying to get a waiver to use them there. |
| Feb. 28, 2007 Hit the gap | Topic: Bats Discussion: Remedy for Altered Bats To azsenior: Did you do that to use it in a league that bans the U2? Your self esteem must really be poor if you have to prop up your ego by cheating. To Tater 50: As you said, "no one has a clue how many cheaters there are". So again I say, I think it's a very, very small number of people and does not warrant making sweeping changes. Let's let the associations police the matter. |
