In the past two years, there have been a number of catastrophic injuries and fatalities to softball pitchers as the result of batted balls hit directly back at them.1 All of the reported fatalities were due to the pitcher being struck in the head region and suffering massive head or neck trauma. The combined use of high tech bats and polyurethane softballs appears to have created a highly dangerous aspect of what has been traditionally a relatively safe, recreational game. We theorise that unsafe batted ball speeds (BBSs), which lead to decreased available pitcher reaction times (APRTs), is the main reason for the increase in injuries and fatalities in slowpitch softball.

There are two major national softball associations in the United States, the United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA) and the Amateur Softball Association (ASA). Both have adopted national testing standards based on the ASTM standard test method for measuring softball bat performance factor,2 the ASTM st......