BSF Technical Officer Chris Moon has issued the statement below to clarify the policy that the Federation will be following in 2014 with regard to which bats and balls will be legal for BSF play.
Bats
In 2013 the ASA introduced a new certification mark for slowpitch bats. However, this does not mean that the previous marks from 2000 or 2004 are obsolete (all three marks are shown on the right). So all bats that have an ASA mark, or the current ISF certification mark (also shown to the right) are legal as long as they do not appear on the current ASA non-approved bat list.
These marks are also recognised as the ESF standard.
Please note that this list is liable to change at any time. The ASA has a rolling programme of bat testing and bats may be added to the list during the season.
Balls
What does COR and compression mean in simple terms? COR is the coefficient of restitution. Simply put, it means that if a softball is shot at a wall at a speed of 60mph and comes off the wall at 30mph, then speed has been reduced by 50% -- ie, 0.50 COR. If the ball comes off at 27 mph, the COR would be 0.47.
Compression is measured by how many pounds of force are required to squeeze the ball ¼". So a ball with 375 compression means that 375 pounds of force had to be applied to squeeze the two sides of a softball by a total of ¼”.
A new ASA ball has now been introduced which is .52 COR and 300 compression. This means a harder middle bit and a slightly softer outside. This ball has been designed to reduce injuries. However, all balls are still legal for play if they meet ISF or ASA standards -- i.e. .44/375, .47/375 or .52/300.
One point to be aware of is that the ASA 2013 bats could possibly be prone to damage by the 375 balls.
The BSF will use the new .52/300 balls at National Championships this year (2014) and we would recommend that if you are looking at replacing stock that you switch to the new balls. Please do not mix balls during a game -- either use the new or old spec.
The ESF will use the .52/300 balls in slowpitch play in 2014.