HOW TO FIND AN APPROVED SOFTBALL BAT
We had an Easton Ghost bat show up in one of our recent games. We could not find it on the banned bat list, but it did not have an ASA Certification Mark on it. So, we did not allow it in the game. How do we determine if the bat is legal?
First, you took the right action. Rule 1‑5 requires that a bat “…bear either the 2000 or 2004 certification mark and not be listed on the USA Softball non‑approved bat list…” Bats must be approved. NFHS utilizes the USA Softball approved bat list. A “banned bat” is a non‑approved bat that has certification marks. These are bat models that were initially tested and approved, but subsequently not approved because sample bats taken from random markets (retail outlets) did not conform to the characteristics of the bat model originally presented for testing. However, there are bats available in the market that have not been tested by USA Softball and are not on their approved bat list. The Easton Ghost bat models that you encountered are
examples of such bats.
To determine if a bat is approved, go to the USA softball site. www.usasoftball.com Once at the site, “click” on the heading “Certified Equipment”. After you are on the “Certified Equipment” page, scroll down until you see the large box on the lower right side entitled “USA Softball TESTING & CERTIFICATION PROGRAM”. Insure that “Bats” is listed in the choice box and “click” on the “GO” button. Once the next box appears, providing examples of certification marks, scroll down until you see the heading “APPROVED BATS: 2000, 2004 and 2013”. There are 2 choice boxes provided with “Go” buttons below them. Insure that “Bats” is listed in the first box. In the second box, you can select “Display All” which will list bats from all manufacturers, or you can “click” on the “down arrow” which will bring up a list of individual bat manufacturers. Do this and select “Easton” and “click” on the “Go” button. All the approved bats from Easton are listed by model number and description. Scroll down until you see the model number of the bat you are researching. If the model number is not there, the bat has not been approved by USA Softball. It appears that Easton fast pitch bat model numbers start with “FP” and I only see 5 model numbers approved: FP18GH10, FP18GH11, FP18GH8, FP18GH9 and FP18GHY11.
Joe Brown, TASO Softball Rules Interpreter
