Shaved bats in HS play ??

[madaboutsoftball]

We played against a weak team the other day. All the girls used the same bat and hitting rockets. Then a parent from the stands (a big slowpitch player) started to ask if that bat was shaved. The ump looked at the bat and noticed something strange at the end cap and threw the bat out. All of a sudden the rockets tapered off as the players used other bats.

Have any of you seen shaved bats in club or high school play?

[NumeroUno]

they could be anywhere you never know.

A friend of mine was playing slow pitch the team they were playing everyone was using the same bat. Same thing bomb after bomb. The ump threw that bat out in the third and none of them complained

[TShark]

I see it and hear it. Shaved bats have a different sound. Very noticable when a girl check swings and that ball goes over a fence. I've seen it in HS and at showcases.

[dodgerblue]

We played in a showcase a year ago and played a team from Arizona and most were swinging the same bat and were hitting bombs. An I hate to say it but my DD has had teamates in the past swinging shaved bats. I would hate to be the one who's kid gets hit and possibly killed by a line drive so that their kid could have a better batting average. What are the chances of umpires putting these these bats on a scale to see if they're 3-4oz. lighter than they're supposed to be. Point being that these cheaters will be caught sooner or later.

[absdad]

Pretty pathetic if you ask me. I wish there were some clear specs for these bats (weight), and an easy way for officials to easily check a bat out. I think if a bat is found to be "altered", the team should forfeit and the player banned for a significant amount of time. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that already specified in the rules?? Maybe blue is hesitant/cautious to make that call? Should be the tourney director's ruling, though. It's cheating though, and no different than putting a bunch of national caliber 14's on a 12C team.

[monkeysmom]

Ummm what's a shaved bat? What does it accomplish and how are people doing it?

[Dropn N]

Come on Spaz you could of had some fun with this. Maybe mentioning a Norelco or Gillete razor and some cream

[Make_It_Happen]

Thanks for the information. I didn't really know that was happening in girls fastpitch.

We played a team last year from out of state in a tournament. After a few innings, I became suspicious there was something going on. The balls just seemed to come off their bats harder that anyone else we had played before. And there was a different sound to it. I started watching and noticed that the players seemed to be sharing a couple of bats. Even though there were other bats in the dugout, there all used the same couple of bats.

I didn't know what it could be at the time, but now it seems obvious to me that the bats had been altered. Still it is hard to believe adults would take part in that kind of cheating, but I guess I shouldn't be so naive...

[SoCalASABlue]

At the annual ASA rules clinic and at the National Umpire School, we were told to specifically watch out for teams that only use one or two bats despite there being 10-15 bats in the dugout.

[absdad]

At the annual ASA rules clinic and at the National Umpire School, we were told to specifically watch out for teams that only use one or two bats despite there being 10-15 bats in the dugout.

What's been your experience so far, or have you heard from other blues, about finding any shaved bats? I guess it's still a bit early (at least here in the midwest).