Oklahoma City, OK—In response to many questions from the softball community about heating, cooling and other devices used to alter equipment, the Amateur Softball Association would like to remind all players, coaches, parents, tournament directors and umpires of the notation contained in Rule 3, Section 7 of the ASA’s 2005 Official Rules of Softball:
Rule 3, Section 7
Note: The characteristics of any approved equipment can not be changed. One example would be icing, cooling or heating equipment.
The ASA considers these devices illegal. Furthermore, anyone caught doing this may be subject to Article 510, M, 06 of the ASA Code that states the following:
Article 510, M, 06
Any player discovered using an altered bat, including a doctored bat or a bat with additional weight shall be called out and disqualified from further tournament competition for a minimum of one year. ASA shall have the right to take possession of a bat that is, in the sole discretion of the Tournament Committee, reasonably suspected to be an altered bat. In the event the suspected altered bat is tested and determined to be an altered bat, then the player shall surrender ownership of the altered bat to ASA; otherwise the bat shall be returned to the player. A team that is discovered to have within its possession or control an altered bat may be disqualified from further tournament competition.
About ASA
The Amateur Softball Association, founded in 1933, is the National Governing Body of softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The ASA has become one of the nation’s largest sports organizations and now sanctions competition in every state through a network of 88 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 240,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than three million. For more information on the ASA, visit www.asasoftball.com.
About USA Softball
USA Softball is the brand created, operated and owned by the ASA that links the USA Men’s, Women’s, Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’ National Team programs together. USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting these four National Teams to compete in international and domestic competitions. The USA Softball Women’s National Team is one of the only two women’s sports involved in the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won seven World Championship titles including the last five consecutive. For more information about USA Softball, please visit www.usasoftball.com.
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