NCAA Giving Hitters a Break With Brighter, Juiced-Up Ball

Collegiate softball fans have complained for years about the lack of offense in a game that is frequently controlled by dominant pitching.

To generate more offense, the NCAA in 1987 moved the pitching rubber back three feet to 43 feet, giving batters a fraction more time to react.

Offense improved, but not enough to satisfy fans who wanted to see extra-base hits--and plenty of them. Again, the NCAA heard the cries and responded.

This season, the softball has been juiced up and colorized. The ball is covered with fluorescent yellow leather and stitched together with red laces. The NCAA chose those colors because they make it easier for batters to pick up the ball.

The appearance is dramatically different, but it’s the core of the ball that the NCAA expects will enhance offenses.

Previously, the core consisted of tiny particles of rubber, but the NCAA has replaced that with a solid polycarbonate resin that is more durable and responsive, according to Rayla Allison, executive director of the National Softball Coaches Assn.

“It’s different because it’s a livelier ball,” Allison said. “It rebounds off the bat faster and it maintains that liveliness throughout the game.”

Line drives will travel as much as 25 feet farther, she said. And earned-run averages are bound to climb.

Power-hitting Cal State Northridge has embraced the change with swinging bats.

“The old softball drops off,” Northridge Coach Gary Torgeson said. “This one climbs. It explodes off the bat. When you see a line drive hit, it’s going up now and those balls (will carry) to the fence.”

While scoring is expected to increase, so are the number of injuries. For that reason, Torgeson has made mouthpieces mandatory for his pitcher, and first and third basemen, who routinely stand 35 feet from the plate.

The new ball will be used at all NCAA levels but not at areas of high elevation. Northridge, a new member of the Western Athletic Conference, will use the old ball when it travels to New Mexico, Utah and Southern Utah for conference games.