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I'm Erin Goettlicher, and I'm a professional softball coach. After I played through high
school, I went out and played for college level, and then spent a cup of tea at the
professional level. I'm self-employed, and own Pro Softball Training. Pro Softball Training
offers instruction in all kinds of softball. You name it, we can do it. Today, I will be
talking to you about softball. Fast-pitch softball bats are designed to perform specifically
to our sport or, to the ball coming in at a high speed. Fast-pitch bats are typically
made of aluminum, and are also known as a composite. The difference in a softball bat
from a baseball bat is that many softball bats are designed to have a little bit larger
barrel area or, a little bit larger sweet spot. Partly due to the fact that the ball,
the ball is a little bit wider in softball than it is in baseball. And to show you a
difference here, a baseball bat is usually a little bit more evenly dispersed, where
with this bat, you can see the barrel is definitely wider. Composite bats are designed to create
a trampoline effect off the wall. So, when the ball hits the bat, there's a slight bend
or give in the wall of the bat that helps trampoline the ball off the bat. There's lots
of different types that you can choose from, but today, most bats are made with a lot of
technology behind them and a lot of research has gone in to how to make bats perform the
best. Slow-pitch bats are similar to a fast-pitch bat where they're typically metaled as well.
However they're usually a little bit longer and sometimes a little bit heavier, because
we don't have to swing this bat, with quite as much speed, as you do with a fast-pitch
bat. Many fast-pitch bats are weighted a little bit lighter so that we can have quicker hands,
react quicker, and get that bat through the zone a little bit quicker, since we don't
have much time to react to a fast pitch. This here is an example of a wooden Major League
baseball bat and it's 34 ounces. Baseball, uses much heavier bats than softball, mostly
due to the strength of men versus women. Our bats are a lot lighter also, due to the small
amount of reaction time we have. We need to be able to control that bat and get it through
the zone quickly, when that pitch is coming at us.