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Online now: 0 members ; 6 anonymousDiscussion: Solid bats versus hollow bat tubes:
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| Dec. 9 bashbro1 Men's 70 267 posts | Solid bats versus hollow bat tubes: During the collision between the softball and a hollow barreled bat, the bat barrel actually compresses and then expands back to its original state in a millisecond, which is referred to affectionately as “material memory”. In essence, the ball is cast away from the bat similar to a Hi-Li scoop throw. The bat sucks up the ball (or eats it) and then flings it out into space. A solid bat does not provide any trampoline and depends solely on the ball COR and compression characteristics. A MLB baseball averages a COR= .53 and compression around 700lbs as compared to our current tournament softball of .44 COR & 375 compression. The compression of the ball is the most important factor as it compresses the barrel; the higher the COR the more the ball will tend to bound away from the bat head before maximum compression can be reached. The trampoline affect is strictly unique to hollow bats both the aluminum and composite fiber. Another characteristic of a hollow bat that needs discussing is that the shaft portion of the bat must be very stiff; otherwise, the bat will flex during contact and consequently will not maximize the barrel deformation for optimal trampoline. In the case of the solid baseball bat, the kinetic energy generated during the collision with the ball follows the standard physics-101 equation: Ke = .5 x Bat Mass x Club head Speed. In this case it’s the bat speed generated by the player combined with the COR and compression of the ball that dictates the distance a well-struck baseball will travel. Of course, to maximize the equation the ball strike should be at the center of percussion (i.e. sweet spot) and with the right amount of underspin to maximize ball flight characteristics on home run hits. Some other ancillary bat characteristics like the first and second nodes of harmonic oscillation we’ll leave for the bat engineers to worry about. For the senior softball player using a hollow shell bat like a U2 or Combat DaBomb, these bats provide a significant trampoline phenomena that gives us an additional boost to our batted ball speed; which is what we’re really interested in to get our ground balls through the infield quickly and how far your BIG fly goes. Bashbro1 (Web site in the making and will be ready in early Jan. ’07) |
| Dec. 10 taits Men's 65 4548 posts | Solid bats versus hollow bat tubes: Well put. I prefer using the Legend Centerfire 2 47\525 balls, over the other 44 or 40 cor 375's for that reason and durability. Even though the balls that have been used in tournaments to date, tend to hold up well. ie: Baden, Worth. When I run out of them, I'll go to the 44's. |
