USSSA baseball wood bat tournament

[BLarson]

Did my first USSSA baseball wood bat tournament games this weekend.

I saw lots of bunt/bunt attempts...way more than I have ever seen in years doing metal bats.

In one game the batter showed bunt and then pulled back and full swung at it.   He missed.
The defensive coach said that's not allowed in USSSA for safety reasons.

I had no idea and neither did the offensive coach.   We didn't spend much time discussing it and It didn't happend the rest of the game.   The strike stood.

I looked at USSSA baseball rules today and the only thing I could find was Rule 9.13.A, but this was under Rule 9.00 Machine pitch specific rules.
This was 10u kid pitch.

Am I missing anything?

 

[beerguy55]

7 minutes ago, BLarson said:

Did my first USSSA baseball wood bat tournament games this weekend.

I saw lots of bunt/bunt attempts...way more than I have ever seen in years doing metal bats.

In one game the batter showed bunt and then pulled back and full swung at it.   He missed.
The defensive coach said that's not allowed in USSSA for safety reasons.

I had no idea and neither did the offensive coach.   We didn't spend much time discussing it and It didn't happend the rest of the game.   The strike stood.

I looked at USSSA baseball rules today and the only thing I could find was Rule 9.13.A, but this was under Rule 9.00 Machine pitch specific rules.
This was 10u kid pitch.

Am I missing anything?

 

As far as I know, you are correct - it's only specifically forbidden in Machine Pitch.

Coach Pitch and T-Ball bunting isn't allowed, so it doesn't matter.

Now...there are leagues and tournaments that will put into their own bi-laws....

[umpstu]

19 minutes ago, beerguy55 said:

As far as I know, you are correct - it's only specifically forbidden in Machine Pitch.

Coach Pitch and T-Ball bunting isn't allowed, so it doesn't matter.

Now...there are leagues and tournaments that will put into their own bi-laws....

The wood bat ball I work is pretty much show case so nobody bunts.  I've worked California Winter League and nobody bunts there either.  I've seen one guy bunt in the five years I've worked it and he got a lot of guff for it from everybody, down to the crowd.  And wood bat is so much nicer on the ears.

[beerguy55]

16 minutes ago, umpstu said:

The wood bat ball I work is pretty much show case so nobody bunts.  I've worked California Winter League and nobody bunts there either.  I've seen one guy bunt in the five years I've worked it and he got a lot of guff for it from everybody, down to the crowd.  And wood bat is so much nicer on the ears.

Excuse the rant - but this is one of the reasons I have no problem with the "fake bunt to swing" being banned at the younger/rec levels.  There are "dangerous" things you leave in the game because removing them would alter the game.  The fake bunt/swing is not one of them.  Removing it from the game doesn't impact the integrity of the game...at all.

Once you get to the higher levels you never see the tactic - so it's not like they're developing the skill at a lower level to get better at it at a higher level.  It's only used at the lower levels as a tactic to take advantage of less skilled/experienced/aware players.

[Aging_Arbiter]

10U kid pitch..........Wood Bat.............

 

Maybe they were bunting because the bats were too heavy to swing?

[Rich Ives]

2 hours ago, Aging_Arbiter said:

10U kid pitch..........Wood Bat.............

 

Maybe they were bunting because the bats were too heavy to swing?

When I started coaching LL in '74 there were only wood bats and really heavy first generation aluminum bats.  Kids swung them just fine.  Our all time HR leader used a wood bat way back when.

[umpstu]

1 hour ago, Rich Ives said:

When I started coaching LL in '74 there were only wood bats and really heavy first generation aluminum bats.  Kids swung them just fine.  Our all time HR leader used a wood bat way back when.

When I was playing in the early 70's Abe Lincoln would just use a tree.  And, as a small asthmatic kid with severe allergies, those wood bats were heavy.  Seemed like I was the only kid who didn't get a growth spurt until my junior year.   Sorry, Rich.  Had to post something sarcastic about my age.  Where were you coaching as I can't remember seeing an aluminum bat until the late 70's.  Those bats were a great idea as we were lucky to have one wooden bat for our team by the end of the season.  And God forbid asking your parents to buy one.

 

[umpstu]

6 hours ago, beerguy55 said:

Excuse the rant - but this is one of the reasons I have no problem with the "fake bunt to swing" being banned at the younger/rec levels.  There are "dangerous" things you leave in the game because removing them would alter the game.  The fake bunt/swing is not one of them.  Removing it from the game doesn't impact the integrity of the game...at all.

Once you get to the higher levels you never see the tactic - so it's not like they're developing the skill at a lower level to get better at it at a higher level.  It's only used at the lower levels as a tactic to take advantage of less skilled/experienced/aware players.

Now that I remember it, I had an older player do a fake bunt/ swing away on me when I was in 7th grade and I was playing 3rd base and came running in to field the bunt.  The bunt turned into a line drive which was stopped by my face right below my left eye.  Think the guy might have been a jr in hs at the time.  No cell phones then so I had to walk a mile to get home and not get taken to a doctor or emergency room.  Was a lovely shade of purple, yellow and green across my face for a couple of weeks.   And it kind of messed my game up as I never wanted to have anything hit at me again and if you wanted to get me out just throw a high and inside fastball and the plate was yours.  

[Gfoley4]

It is a rule in Cal Ripken Major and Minor divisions (9-12 year olds), but not USSSA as shown above.

[Rich Ives]

3 hours ago, umpstu said:

When I was playing in the early 70's Abe Lincoln would just use a tree.  And, as a small asthmatic kid with severe allergies, those wood bats were heavy.  Seemed like I was the only kid who didn't get a growth spurt until my junior year.   Sorry, Rich.  Had to post something sarcastic about my age.  Where were you coaching as I can't remember seeing an aluminum bat until the late 70's.  Those bats were a great idea as we were lucky to have one wooden bat for our team by the end of the season.  And God forbid asking your parents to buy one.

 

Upstate NY. Aluminum just coming in. Weight a ton. Dented if you breathed too hard on them.

[Biscuit]

My summer ball league (18u) is wood bats, and I already love it so much. The sound of a wood bat is just so much better than metal... Feels like real baseball!

[kylehutson]

21 hours ago, umpstu said:

And wood bat is so much nicer on the ears.

Preach it, brother!

[yawetag]

Just now, kylehutson said:

Preach it, brother!

YOU'LL HAVE TO SPEAK UP! I'VE GONE DEAF FROM HEARING ALUMINUM BATS MY WHOLE LIFE!

[umpstu]

2 hours ago, yawetag said:

YOU'LL HAVE TO SPEAK UP! I'VE GONE DEAF FROM HEARING ALUMINUM BATS MY WHOLE LIFE!

Those Rawlings bats are like dynamite exploding in your ear.  My catchers all hate them, too.

[BLarson]

I don't know the size of the bats, but they seemed appropriate length/weight for this age.   
They certainly didn't seem to heavy.

In the 3 games I did that night I probably saw about a dozen actual bunts and several more attempts.
The wood just kills the ball...where the metal makes it take off and roll.

I was a nice change of pace.

[Kevin_K]

8 hours ago, Biscuit said:

My summer ball league (18u) is wood bats, and I already love it so much. The sound of a wood bat is just so much better than metal... Feels like real baseball!

Smells like it too. I love the smell a ball fouled straight back leaves around HP. 

[yawetag]

2 hours ago, Kevin_K said:

Smells like it too. I love the smell a ball fouled straight back leaves around HP. 

You get that sometimes with an aluminum bat, too, but not nearly as often. I believe it's "burned cowhide" and if Yankee Candle could bottle it and put a wick in it, their sales would skyrocket.