ASA Rule Changes for 2012

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Just got an email from Michelle at Cincy ASA:

2012 ASA Playing Rule Changes with Comments
NOTE: All changes below are effective January 1, 2012 unless otherwise noted.

Rule 2 Section 1 Table:
Women's Slow Pitch will have a maximum fence distance of 300 feet.
Comment: Allows for complexes that hold Men and Women National Championships on the same fields more flexibility when assigning games to each field.
Rule 2 Section 1 Table: Men's Adult Slow Pitch Only (Except Seniors) shall have a base distance of 70 feet.
Comment: This was tried successfully last year in the A and B Classification of Men's Slow Pitch and brought defense back into the game. It should be used in all classifications of Men?s Slow Pitch in 2012. (Except Seniors)

Rule 2 Section 1 Table: EFFECTIVE 2013. All Adult Slow Pitch (ExceptSeniors) shall have a base distance of 70 feet.
Comment: Allows for more defense in all Adult Slow Pitch starting in 2013.

Rule 3 Section 1A [3]: Adds the sentence; this includes wooden bats that were made prior to 2000.
Comment: Clarifies that wooden bats made prior to 2000 do not have to have the ASA Certification Mark and wooden bats made after 2000 must have the ASA Certification Mark on them to be legal.

Rule 3 Section 1A [4]: Exception: Senior Softball bats may be used in Senior Championship Play.
Comment: Add an exception to Rule 3 Section 1 that Senior Softball bats may be used in Senior Championship Play only.

Rule 3 Section 1B: The knob will have a diameter of at least 1.6 inches with no
sharp edges. The knob will be permanently attached to the bat and may be covered with grip tape.
Comment: Changes the wording from "taped" to "covered" and "safety" tape to "grip" tape.

Rule 3 Section 1D: The Handle region of the bat must have a grip made of cork, grip tape, or other synthetic material that is permanently attached to the bat. No bare metal, wood or composite material may be exposed in this area. The grip shall not be less than 6” and not more than 15”. Any attachment such as a molded finger grip, flare cone or choke up device must be attached with grip tape. Resin, pine tar or spray substances are permissible on the Grip region only.

Comment: Changes the wording from “safety” tape to “grip” tape, clarifies that no bare wood or composite material along with metal can be exposed and allows for the tape to be a minimum of 6 inches in length versus a minimum of 10 inches in length.

Rule 3 Section 7: The Characteristics of any approved equipment cannot be unnaturally changed. Examples include icing, cooling or heating of any equipment. Warming devices for bats are NOT approved.
Comment: Science has proven heating of bats with warming devices adds to batted ball speed and are now illegal.

Rule 5 Section 8A[1]: Home run limit for Men’s Class A Slow Pitch is 10
Comment: Men's Class A Slow Pitch home run limit increases from 8 to 10.
Rule 8 Section 1C[2] Exception: Add :The ball is live and on ball four the Batter-Runner may only advance to 1B unless a play is made on another runner or there is an errant throw.
Comment: Clarifies that in the game of Slow Pitch with stealing, the Batter-Runner is allowed to advance to 1B only on a base on balls unless another runner on base is played on or there is an errant throw.

Rule 8 Section 7L: When a runner intentionally contacts a fair batted ball that an infielder has missed.
Comment: Clarifies the rule already in effect by replacing the word "kicked" with "contacts".

 

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Same thing, just in a nice PDF format from the ASA website...

http://downloads.asasoftball.com/about/pdf/2012%20ASA%20Playing%20Rule%20Changes%20with%20Comments.pdf

A note on the use of bat warmers: ASA had allowed these the past few years. Initial testing of commercially available bat warmers showed no performance gains when used as intended. However, more recent testing showed that these devices could be used to heat bats beyond the intended temperature range (as high as 150 degrees vs. 75 degrees). The higher temperatures produced increased bat compression, resulting in an increased batted ball speed of approximately 2.2 m.p.h. This increase put many ASA approved bats over the 98 m.p.h. maximum ball exit speed. As a result, ASA decided to again ban the use of bat warmers.

Other than that...the rule changes for 2012 will have just about zero effect on the fastpitch game.

 

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Looking through the changes, I didn’t see anything on moving 14U to 43 feet. Is it safe to assume that they are not changing it or will that be discussed at a later date?

 

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Rule 2 Section 1 Table: Men's Adult Slow Pitch Only (Except Seniors) shall have a base distance of 70 feet.
Comment: This was tried successfully last year in the A and B Classification of Men's Slow Pitch and brought defense back into the game. It should be used in all classifications of Men?s Slow Pitch in 2012


Bring this to fastpitch but with 65 ft

 

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Looking through the changes, I didn?t see anything on moving 14U to 43 feet. Is it safe to assume that they are not changing it or will that be discussed at a later date?

There was no change to pitching distances for the 2012 season.

If it's discussed at a later date, that later date would be next November at the next ASA National Convention.

 

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A minor Hijack here: As for Ohio ASA is there going to be a change to allow teams who have already qualified for ASA/USA to play in qualifiers? If not wholly changed, what about ASA states allowing teams already qualified in? Havent heard anything about this in a while and thought some people were at least looking into the possibility??

 

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A minor Hijack here: As for Ohio ASA is there going to be a change to allow teams who have already qualified for ASA/USA to play in qualifiers? If not wholly changed, what about ASA states allowing teams already qualified in? Havent heard anything about this in a while and thought some people were at least looking into the possibility??

No it is the same as last year from what I was told.

 

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There was no change to pitching distances for the 2012 season.

If it's discussed at a later date, that later date would be next November at the next ASA National Convention.

Can't a TD set pitching distance at 43 feet if they chose to. Was told that was a option.

 

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Can't a TD set pitching distance at 43 feet if they chose to. Was told that was a option.

If the tournament is "championship play" (ie: a qualifier or national tournament), then you're supposed to follow the rule book to the letter.

If it's not championship play (for instance, a showcase event), then any rule can be modified as seen fit.

 

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If the tournament is "championship play" (ie: a qualifier or national tournament), then you're supposed to follow the rule book to the letter.

If it's not championship play (for instance, a showcase event), then any rule can be modified as seen fit.

We were at tournament last year and they set distance at 43 feet and said that ASA rules said you could do that if you chose to ???