does anyone out there play or played coed softball??? reason why i ask is that i have been playing in a coed league for the last 2 years in novi and they have 1 rule that i have never played with before even when i was playing over in canada... the league uses both mens and womens sized balls so we alternate for each batter... is this common place here in michigan for coed softball, or is this just a stupid league rule??? i was to email the league commish and complain about it, but if its common place i won't...
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OT: any coed softball players out there???
I've played in leagues where this has been done. I dont like it, but that's the way it is. In the Grand Rapids area I've played in leagues that used both size balls, and also in leagues that just used the larger sized ones.
is that the league uses the 1 and 1 count to speed up the games, but changing balls every batter slows it right back down...
Yeah that is very true. Makes no sense to have the different sized balls as well over have of the females in our league can't really make solid contact with smaller, tighter wound ball. Occasionally though your eyes will light up when the pitcher accidentally throws you the girl ball though.
It is funny that leagues all over are taking measures to protect against batters "hitting middle" on pitchers (halo rules, pitching screens, automatic outs for hitting within X feet of the pitcher), but they cling to the 1-1 count. I hit the lines for doubles a lot, but if I am trying to pick the 3b line and hit one foul, the next pitch is going up the middle. Start with an 0-0 count and I bet you would see fewer guys shooting middle.
my first real swings(BP doesn't count) on thursday night when our league started... every ball i hit went up the middle, and as the pitcher for my team i don't want to but i don't have my timing down yet... personally i hate the 1 and 1 count, it takes away from what softball is... a hitters game... on top of the 1-1 count they also use strike zone, which is by far the stupidest thing i have ever seen for rec coed softball... when i got asked to play on this team last year i was excited because it was ASA and there would be a mat again (every association in canada uses a mat) and i would know what a ball and strike was instead of the ump using his "disgression"...
I cannot stand mat ball. Get an ump that knows the strike zone and play for real. In mat ball, a good pitcher can hit the mat for "strikes" without the ball ever crossing the plate.
If you don't know the strike zone, any part of the ball must cross over any part of the plate (the 'black' is not part of the plate), and it must at the same time have part of the ball be above the bottom of the batter's front knee, and have some part of the ball be below his back shoulder. The pitch must also meet all qualifications of a legal pitch (which also applies with the mat strike zone).
in a league like the one that i'm playing in the mat would be perfect... there are a lot of girls and some guys who have never played before and don't understand the strike zone... when i was trrying to explain it to people on my team i was getting a lot of WTF looks... i like mat ball because you know when its a strike and you know when its a ball...
I play in Grand Rapids and I've never heard of this rule. The only rule we have in place is alternating male/female, which is common everywhere I'm pretty sure.
The leagues in Wyoming were using this rule a few years back, havent played since then so not sure if they're still doing it. GR City leagues I believe use just one ball (Silver Dot?) last I knew. Not sure what Kentwood or Knights of Columbus use for their rules though.
Yeah, we play over at Westwood on West River Dr. This rule isn't in effect here.
...the league uses both mens and womens sized balls...
I get the former but am having trouble with the latter...
This might help...
ASA uses the 11 inch ball too. Rule 3.3.F.2
http://www.softballfans.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=67
Great forum for softball rules questions. I post there under RDD15.
I play and ump ASA only. Not sure about NSA, USSSA, ISA, WSL (or any other association) rules, but.......
ASA rule 3.3.F.2 states that women should hit the 11 inch ball in coed and women's-only slowpitch play. Local leagues may change this up, but the 11 inch ball is the standard for ASA which is the largest sanctioning body for softball in the U.S..
In Ann Arbor rec leagues, everyone uses the same ball, for what it's worth. I have no clue what size it is. Seems like a normal softball.
(It's the ball on the left, for those of you drinking as heavily as I am)
I was in a league that had separate balls about 6 years ago. It was mostly because the field we played on was pretty short to left field. So they used a limited flight full size ball for the men, and a smaller max-flight ball for the women.
That limited flight ball was crazy, you really had to get a hold of it to hit it out, even with a good Demarini bat.
I use to play coed where they would switch balls for the guys and girls. Girls would hit an 11" ball while the guys hit a 12" flight restricted ball. They also made the guys swing a smaller bat. Girls could swing any bat they wanted and the guys had to use a 26" bat that they provided. They really tried to protect the girls from getting hurt.
I am playing in the sf rec league right now and we use both sizes