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Online now: 0 members ; 69 anonymousDiscussion: new softballs
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| Jan. 23, 2013 boogpow44 53 posts | new softballs our league here in central delaware is going to change from 44-375 to 52-300. what is the difference in balls and how does that translate into distance, everything else being equal. do certain bats hit this ball further? |
| Jan. 23, 2013 AndyA25 16 posts | The the better bats still hit the 52/300 the best. However, the difference isn't as great as with the 44/375. The longest ball I ever hit was with the 52/300 ball. However, overall the 44/375 will go farther. I don't think you'll notice speed of the ball thru the infield being that much different. Balls hit on the nose don't seem to carry as well. The 52 ball is bouncier. I played in a league that went from using ASA bats with the 44/375 ball to allowing USSSA bats with the 52/300 ball. I thought the results were comparable. I preferred playing with U trip bats and the new ball to playing with ASA bats and the 44 ball. In two years playing with the 52 cor ball I didn't see or hear of any bats breaking. |
| Jan. 24, 2013 mad dog Men's 65 4191 posts | we have been using the ASA 52-300 ball with no prols for a couple of years....we do get to us any non-senior bat(ASA,USSSA,NSA,ISA,ETC) in our regular mens open leagues,balls are being hit out.....for our senior league they allow us to use our senior bats,and we have plenty of hrs hit by the the guys who can anyways....... |
| Jan. 25, 2013 bernie Men's 55 77 posts | In Pennsylvania, the ASA used the 52/300 ball for all the senior state tournaments last year. The ball was implemented to negate the effects bat doctors work. It is the reason ASA bats now are a little hotter than before because the ball more than makes up for the increase in performance. With senior bats though, a lot of fly balls that were easily out of the park with the 44/375 ball, only flew to the 290-330 foot mark. It turned into a warning track ball. Another problem is that because the 52/300 is actually HARDER than the 44/375 ball, I saw four instances where a pop-up to shallow outfield actually bounced so high upon hitting the ground, that the ss-2b fielders over ran the ball as it bounced over their heads back toward the infield. Infielders, wear a mouth piece because this ball does screwy things on a less than perfect infield. Any ball not hit square becomes a pop-up or a ground ball. |
| Jan. 25, 2013 mad dog Men's 65 4191 posts | OK BERNIE,one the 52 ball is NOT harder than the 44......ok here is how it goes,the higher the C.O.R. number(40,44,52),the bouncier it is,hence not as hard;two the lower the comp number the softer it is....so a 44 less bounce=harder ball,combined with a higher compression (375 psi) makes the 44 ball harder.........also any ball not hit square usually ends up a pop-up or ground ball...as ball hit square is a line drive,a ball hit just south of the middle of the ball goes in the air,any ball hit just north of middle heads for the ground..... |
| Jan. 25, 2013 taits Men's 65 4548 posts | Something I copied off Bat FOO.com not sure when it was put out but comes close to what there is out there to use. decifering the two (cor\comp) can confuse you because both have an important aspect to performance but as mentioned in article. As does weather and bats used. ------- COR and COMPSoftballs are rated based on two metrics - Coefficient Of Restitution (COR - pronounced like core) and compression. COR represents how "bouncy" the ball is. The higher the COR, the more bouncy the ball is and, generally, the farther it will fly. COR is the percentage of reduction in speed for a ball bouncing off a wall. If a ball is thrown at a wall at 80 miles per hour and bounces off at 40 miles per hour, the speed has been reduced by 50%. The ball would be rated with a COR of .50 (referred to as a fifty COR ball). If your league plays with a .44 COR ball, the speed bouncing off the wall would be 35 miles per hour. Softball compression is a measure of how hard a softball is. The higher the compression, the harder the ball, and generally, the farther it will fly. Compression is measured by how many pounds of force are needed to squeeze two sides of the ball in by a total of one-quarter of an inch. If a test shows that it takes 375 pounds of force to squeeze the ball by one-quarter inch, the ball is certified as a 375 pound compression ball. The ASA has only approved two levels of compression - 375 pounds and 525 pounds. 375 pound balls are softer than 525's. The ASA "rounds up" to assign the compression rating. For example, if the test shows it only takes 325 pounds of force to achieve the one-quarter inch squeeze, the ball will be rated as a 375 compression ball. This means your league may be playing with a ball rated as 375 compression, but it is really softer than a true 375 compression ball because of the "rounding up." Testing has shown two main things as it relates to softball COR and compression and on-field performance. First, a change from a .47 COR, 525 pound ball to a .44 COR, 375 pound ball decreases performance by up to 6%. All other things being equal, this means that a 305 foot home run using a .47 COR, 525 pound ball would be a 290 foot fly out using a .44 COR, 375 pound ball. Second, reductions in compression have a much greater impact in on-field performance than reductions in COR. As a player, you should also be aware that weather has an enormous impact on the compression of a softball. Studies have shown that when the temperature is 100 degrees, an average softball looses 200 pounds of compression as compared with the same softball at 60 degrees. This means that a softball that is a 525 pound compression ball at 60 degrees may play like a 375 pound ball at 100 degrees. In addition, clouds, rain, and humidity also affect the compression of a ball. 70 degrees and sunny creates lower compression balls than if it was 70 degrees and cloudy. Leather balls generally take on more moisture in rainy or humid conditions than synthetic balls. This will generally raise the compression and level of play up to a point, then performance will decline once the ball takes on too much water and becomes too heavy. Keep these factors in mind when deciding which bat to use and when determining your approach for each at-bat. If it is hot and humid, it may be best not to try for a home run, but instead try for a base hit. |
| Jan. 25, 2013 Omar Khayyam 1357 posts | taits, great information. Thanks for finding it and posting it. |
