Watching Alabama/LSU and just saw Shelbi Sunseri foul off a pitch from Fouts right into her face. Really hope she's ok and nothing too serious but dang, I'm sure that hurt like hell. She was wearing the side/chin guard on her helmet...ball never touched it. Not sure what the stats are as far as overall fouls or pitches taken to the facial area or how many get stopped by the guard? The cage sure seems like a no brainer to me though.
Batting helmets - cage, chin guard or nothing?
- Thread starter Tatonka
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Ya think!
Just hate to think it is some Neanderthal Coach suggesting that "now you're in college the best don't wear a caged helmet."
Batted .557 in HS and good enough to get recruited to LSU but now you really need to lose that cage.
Batted .557 in HS and good enough to get recruited to LSU but now you really need to lose that cage.
This is similar to pitchers who don't wear a field mask. My daughter is a pitcher, and she will never take the circle without one. She's never had a coach say she's not tough enough if she wears one, and if she ever did, I'd pull her immediately.
I'm guessing the influence comes from what is seen in MLB; unfortunately the logic does not apply to fastpitch. Adding the chin guard in MLB enhances safety compared to the baseline of no facial protection, while in fastpitch using a chin guard would be the choice over what would normally have been a cage.
I've mentioned before I watched one of my DDs college teammates foul a pitch off her cage twice in one game. Takes a special talent? Or maybe bad swing mechanics.
- Dec 11, 2010
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I’ve got comments!
I was present at a game at LSU in about 2018 when a player tried to bunt a ball and took it in the face. She bled all over the front of the plate but thankfully no serious injuries.
A lot of the players are wearing side/chin guard. They claim they can see the ball better. If one of the starters on the team does it, the rest do it like a herd of cattle. Not much protection there. And I’m not very convinced that they can really see better.
As Rad states occasionally, ”In baseball, the pitch starts out of the zone and moves into the zone. In softball, the ball starts in the zone and moves out of the zone.” In baseball you don’t have pitches with upward trajectory and I’m guessing the spin can be completely different. I think this is why this happens in softball.
The cage doesn’t just protect you when you are hitting. It keeps you taking hard tags to the face. Happens a lot on 2b steals. Would prevent a lot of flopping around on the ground from being slapped with a glove and ball in the face by a player engaged in serious strength training.
I hate the way cages are made. There needs to be a version that keeps a 12” softball from hitting you in the face. They could be so much lighter and less obtrusive. Instead, they just use whatever they sell for youth baseball.
I was present at a game at LSU in about 2018 when a player tried to bunt a ball and took it in the face. She bled all over the front of the plate but thankfully no serious injuries.
A lot of the players are wearing side/chin guard. They claim they can see the ball better. If one of the starters on the team does it, the rest do it like a herd of cattle. Not much protection there. And I’m not very convinced that they can really see better.
As Rad states occasionally, ”In baseball, the pitch starts out of the zone and moves into the zone. In softball, the ball starts in the zone and moves out of the zone.” In baseball you don’t have pitches with upward trajectory and I’m guessing the spin can be completely different. I think this is why this happens in softball.
The cage doesn’t just protect you when you are hitting. It keeps you taking hard tags to the face. Happens a lot on 2b steals. Would prevent a lot of flopping around on the ground from being slapped with a glove and ball in the face by a player engaged in serious strength training.
I hate the way cages are made. There needs to be a version that keeps a 12” softball from hitting you in the face. They could be so much lighter and less obtrusive. Instead, they just use whatever they sell for youth baseball.
Completely agree with that sentence. Never made any sense why the hole you see through is the same size in softball that it is in baseball.
