Softball bat help needed quickly

[bodeen]

A bunch of 40 somethings and I have gotten into a mens softball league.

Apparently we have been out of the game so long that the WalMart bat we bought just aint gonna cut it.

We are getting shelled because we dont have a "hot" bat whatever the hell that is.

Can anyone explain this to me and make suggestions on what bat we need to by.

[MudHog]

"hot" bat means the ball bounces off the bat faster and travels farther. Certain bats are illegal in certain leagues. Just as modifying a wood bat, you can modify an aluminum bat to make it "hot" or "hotter". Yall playing ASA or USSSA?


Crush was a good bat that alot of people used a couple seasons ago. I got an older Worth Wicked that was nice, but is showing it's sign of age.

When you start to worry about how "hot" a bat is, you start playing a psycological game.

[curcio13085]

Anything you wanna know about softball bats ask me. Nobody uses aluminum anymore. We all use composites. I would stick to major worth brands. They are hot out of the wrapper and get better with time. If you want one I will get you a price. A nice one can be had for around 180.

[smith]

Find a good composite bat and shave that sum biatch. Then you'll beat the hell out of those guys. Hahaha I'm jk. A comp bat made by worth, easton, miken, or combat can be had for around 180 to 200 bucks. I am a firm believer is using good softballs also. You can have a hot bat but with a crappy ball the bat does nothing. What kind of league asa or utrip?

[bodeen]

The league is basically a patchwork of players from other teams in other leagues.

I dont know if its Asa or Usssa or what.

I asked some of the guys what type of bat they used and the work Miken and Freak came up a bunch.

[deltadukman]

Most likely they are shaved and then heated so the glues will melt to the end giving you faster bat speed. If you are trying to play by the rules, you'll never win. I played last year and there are some dudes that take this crap WAY too serious. Ands its usually the guys who were'nt worth a crap in highschool that win at all costs. Most city leagues will never check a bat so alot of the tournament teams break the illeagal bats out and have batting practice during league nights. Most of these guys play in like 3 or more leagues. It really makes it not fun for the mediocre teams who just want to have fun. Teams with these illeagal bats make the game pretty much over before it starts...much less they are really dangerous, but who cares about that either. Im not sure I'll be back to play. Buncha douchebags if you ask me...pay upwards of $400 for a bat to win a freakin softball game???

[MudHog]

Freak is a Miken model bat.

I have a Miken Freak 98 along with my Worth Wicked in my bag.


Worth, Miken, Mizuno, DeMarini, Combat are your most popular. Then you have Easton and Louisville too.





If your playing league ball and the umpires aren't enforcing, then you need to make a phone call to your local director. I know here, umps check bats when they think something is fishy. I played one game where the ump actually called out the name of each bat when a player came to bat, granted he was more making jokes, but he was literally looking at the bats. If this is just a church type or thrown together league/game, then your on your own and nothing you can do about it.

For our local USSSA league, the director makes notes of how strong a team is and will bump them up in a bracket to keep the team strengths close to one another. Even if a strong team, puts in for the "fun league", they will still get put into the higher brackets.

[ScottyLee]

if they are using a freak legally in your sanction then they are not playing ASA as it was outlawed this past year. it has been legal in the past, but not anymore. Easton synergy flex is a good one also, that is legal. hell if you can use any bat you want for a throw together league then why not
get a miken ultra or a ultra 2

how hot you wantin?

[bodeen]

We were all good ball players in high school and college. Kids, careers, life hit us and left little time for anything else much less softball.

We thought it would be fun to get a team together and play in a mens league here in Charleston. We are all either 40 something or about to be. Our wives thought it was stupid but kinda cute. All of our sons have played travel ball/high shcool ball. So we went through our sons gear bag, pulled out a pair of worn out cleats and worn out glove and hit the field. All in the name of having fun. Yeah right....

To say some take it way to serious is an understatment. I know some of you guys on here play competitive softball so dont take this the wrong way. I'm gonna shut up before I put my foot in my mouth.

We are gonna buy some good bats so any advice is appreciated. I apologize for not knowing much about "SOFT" ball.

[curcio13085]

I dont like miken's. Take to long to break in but do last forever.

Easton is same as miken in that sense.

Worth is hott out of wrapper and last fairly well.

Combat are hott but durability is sketchy.

I swing a worth (booger) mayhem 120 and I love it. I play tournaments up untill hunting starts.

A good ball is the key in all this as well. If you have to use Classic M balls then get Trump X Rocks. Hands down the best ball.

Only reason I play softball is because after college baseball its all anyone does unless you wanna make 25k playing in dirty towns.

[MudHog]

I've played tournaments, but I play mostly in our Thursday night fun league for Spring and Fall sessions. Our fun league consists of us getting there early enough to cook and some to drink and have fun. This is what is nice about our local director making sure the "fun league" isn't full of these strong teams. We also have home run rules where they are not allowed, if you hit a home run, it's a sliding out (out for the rest of the game) and also kills the inning instantly. So example, bases loaded and a guy cracks one out, 3 men left on base.


That's the down side of not being in a sanctioned league, you don't have the level rules that keep it fun. Sounds like yall might just want to take note of some of the non-strong teams and then talk to the people and see if they'd want to play some games here and there. Sort of create yall own league per say, but keep it enjoyable.



I've been around softball all my life. My dad played on a tournament team for Tabasco, yes the pepper sauce company, and his mom was a long time score keeper. Bank Street Park, Field 4 was home for many days watching my dad play softball. I used to play two nights a week, Fun League and Industrial League, but the team here at my shop broke up, so I stuck with just one night a week. I'm far from a pro, never hit a home run in all my life, but I enjoy the game, being at the park and having fun.

[coachrtaylor]

The hot bats have gotten so bad in the church league in Booneville that the park director made a new rule for the tournament. He went and purchased two bats for each field and both teams used the same bats. It helped some but still had those weekend teams posing as church teams that took it way to serious.

[bodeen]

Theres a guy in our golf group that plays alot of softball, allegedly, that said he had some equipment if we wanted to use it.

After our second game, which was our second win, the rules committee/park board came over and told us our bat was illegal. Again, we dont chit from shiola about softball bats. Now that I started this thread and done some research it was a "hot bat". It was a Miken Ultra.

Not all of us used it but some did. Not a single home run have we hit so far just lots of base hits. But after we got the damn beat out of use last Sat. night we decided that maybe the ole $20.00 walmart easton just wasnt going to cut it. If everybody is using one of these bats then by george we are too.

[smith]

If you find out what kind of league it is someone can point you in the right direction. I swing worth bats so I'm partial to them. You'd be shocked at what people do to get an advantage. I've seen painted bats, shaved bats, and most recently restitched softballs.

[munyoz70]

hey man where are you from, i have a friend that sells bats alot, he lives for that crap, as for making them hot there are several ways to do it. Find someone who has a bat roller, lightly hit the bat against a phone pole or boil the bat in hot water the stand up so the glue runs to the fat end, this does two things end loads the bat for faster swing and puts more flex aka makes the chamber hot