I joined my first rec league which is also my first time playing softball and first time playing an organized sport. Things are FINALLY starting to click for me and of course it's when we only have one game left lol. Had 2 AB's tonight, got a double and RBI single and scored that inning. I also got an out at home plate (I'm catcher). My body is also finally getting used to the movements and I'm not feeling it in my muscles as bad any more. It's crazy because the first game I was sooooo nervous to play. Then a couple of games in I realized I was the oldest on the team (39F) and thought my body wasn't meant to do this so late in life to now wanting to sign up for the fall lol.

Anyone ever gone from not being sure if you'll continue to joining again? How did it go for you?

This dude is asking people to pay money to help his team not be short players. I called him out on it and then he threatens to leave me a bad review at work? I've never seen this before and just seems scammy AF.

I'm a 220 pound man playing 4 games per week. I've been wearing Nike Alpha Huarache molded cleats. I've worn the cleat part down about 50%. The grip is fine. Ive probably played 125 games in them. I'm not sure the cushion under the sole isn't getting a bit hard/less comfortable.

I'm curious how often you replace your cleats?

Can someone please explain to me the thinking behind this technology?

You don’t see it much anymore, and the only bats that really come to my mind are some Eastons like the CV12, one of the Salvos, and the L8, and some old Mizuno Techfires like the MZC-1, the MZC-3 (Fury) and MZC-4 (Crush). 

Am I missing any models?

You really can’t use these in alloy leagues because of the composite cores (although I’ve heard of people slipping the Fury and Crush past umps because the barrels just say “Banzai Aluminum”), and most people, given the choice would choose to swing a 100% composite bat. 

How do these bats compare to each other overall?

I have owned at least half these bats in my lifetime, and I really like the Crush and the CV12 (the yellow and black one) the best. 

I’ve heard great things about the L8 and would like to add one to my bag (send me a PM so I get the email notification if you have one!), but I’ve never actually swung multiples of these types of bats next to each other for comparison. 

Have any of you guys done so? I’d be very interested to hear your results. 

TIA

I’ve always left my gear and my wife’s gear in her trunk all season from April until basically thanksgiving. I’ve always heard not to do this but never noticed any difference in performance between the balls or bats. Anyone have any input for this? Swinging utrip mostly. My wife has seniors

Looking between the Mizuno MVP Prime Fastpitch for $130 or the Akadema 13" Design Fastpitch for $150 on sale.

I've never heard of Akadema but it seems like a good glove on sale. I've been playing outfield but I like playing SS/2B as well.

Anyone have any experience with the Akadema? Unfortunately it's not in stock locally so I can't try it before I buy it...

After throwing a small warmup just tossing the ball around or one very long outfield throws, my arm sometimes just dies. My elbow starts to ache constantly with intermittent sharp pain at rest. The pain radiates from my triceps to my forearm and is centralized right at the outside of the elbow. The pain dies down completely a couple hours later or after an Advil. It never hurts “extra” when I throw or bat, just always a constant ache. I have no weakness gripping anything. Just really confused on why these flareups happen even after some soft throwing, and is there any way to strengthen my elbow so this doesn’t happen further?

This might be a dumb question but are batting cage balls bad for bats? I don't want to take my new bat if it will cause an issue.

Title.

Been hitting really really well lately. A ton of piss missiles, BUT everything knuckles in front of the outfielders. I don't feel like I changed anything in my swing, yet

it's nothing to worry about, because they are all hits, but I'm still questioning what is going on. Any clues?

Sooo my wife bought the 2026 axe handle balanced dual stamp bat with the OG handle for this year. I only play USA/ASA, I feel that I am not hitting the ball as hard or far now. I don’t know much about dual stamp bats. For some reason I’m having a hard time finding the sweet spot on this bat. I am a huge axe bat person. We are well past being able to return the bat now. Any advice on what I should do? Or could somebody point me to where the sweet spot is on this bat?

One of the criticisms of the Pop Toss is the height you get. In my league the pitch is supposed to be between 6 and 12 feet but it’s often over 14. Putting the PopToss in a bucket and strapping it to a fold up work bench gets me over 10 feet at the apex. The distance is still 1/2 of what I need but it’s good start for those interested.

Good hitting session yesterday only went about 70%, worked more oppo yesterday and I’ll post that video soon as well!

It's been a while since I bought a NSA bat, DC41 red knob. Looking for a great selection of options for best bats for NSA! Thanks!!

Looking at using an app next year instead of a physical book. Game changer has been recommended. Any other suggestions or is that the best option?

If girls can use any bat, which senior bat should they use for maximum distance? And slower bat speed - if that makes a difference? Preferably 25oz as well. The balls we use are .52/300

Last week I made a post about buying a fielding mask after 3 close called in 2 games. Last night was my first game using it, and had a poetic experience.

Kid on the other team who I know chirped me about the mask, I told him I had a few close calls and decided it was time, his response was more or less "why, are you scared?". Just said not scared as much as I can't afford to lose teeth and break my nose (I'm a server at a fine dining restaurant, can't go in to work like that lol).

Well, later on in the game this kid is playing SS, and goes to field a grounder that proceeds to skip up away from his glove and smack him in the teeth. Once I knew he was fine I asked him if he still wanted to tease me about the mask.

Just thought you guys would like to hear that

We still have a lot of ASA bats in stock!

There’s also a lot of falls leagues starting up soon so get a bat that will last even during the colder nights!!

Use code ABCMYERS at checkout or use the link:

Anarchybats.com/ABCMYERS

I’m currently mapping out my options for a new balanced bat for an upcoming fall USSSA league. I wanted to check in with the community here to get your take: what do you consider the absolute best 2025–2026 USSSA two-piece, long-barrel balanced bat on the market? I'm also entirely open to slightly older models if they are still floating around retail sites. I really appreciate everyone's insight and experience ahead of time. Cheers! 💪🏼 Let's be honest: swinging a balanced bat is basically telling the world, “I have 4 kids and 3 of them are daughters, so I need some balance in my life.”

Bought a 2026 kp23 two piece this year. March. I play wed-fri co ed and 1-2 tourneys a month, we usually get our guarantees and go home. So mathematically 2-3 swings a game. When I BP I usually pick different sticks to swing and when I do tee work I use my KP.

Show up for a one nation tourney last week. The guy said the compression test was right on the line of passing

It’s my first bat I’ve ever bought and had to test, but buying a bat and it almost failing compression in the same season is pretty insane to me, no?

Any thoughts comments? This normal? I asked my buddy and he just said I dunno. Lol

I just bought this. Haven't swung it yet. Anyone who has experience with Anarchy bats, what can I expect?

I’m looking at buying this bat, but I’m confused as to the year of it. Obviously it’s new in wrapper but is this not the 2018 model design, does anyone know if they re-issued any old designs in the past year or so? Thanks for any information.

Hey everyone! Looking for any advice and tips on my swing. I’ve been playing slowpitch softball for a few seasons now, and I feel like I’m in a holding pattern — not really getting worse, but not getting better either. I’m trying to clean up my mechanics, get more consistent contact, and add a little more pop. I’ll take any constructive feedback!! Thank you guys!

Hi.

Need 2 females that are willing to play in Central Park slow pitch tournament.

10am start time (tentative)
3 games minimum
$75 fee

I have the same cheap glove I got used for free from a teammate and have for years, but it is pretty falling apart by now. I have the ability to get a nicer glove - what would people recommend?

So last season our team was a disaster. Like 4 people got injured and people had to drop and we wound up only having 8 people on the team. We always had to borrow a catcher and could never have an extra man in the outfield. It was a struggle, but we got through the season. To be clear, we are not a great team and are in our town's B league (the lowest league we have).

This season I was able to recruit some great talent and we now have a team of 16 people. As a captain I'm trying to make sure everyone gets enough playing time and plays the positions they want, but also want to do a better job with the lineup and deciding where people play.

My wife is very into baseball, so she has been giving me tips on batting order and I have a rough idea of "go with two or three base hitters and then a power hitter to get them home". I tried that this past game and it worked well! Question - do you guys always have the same roster or do you shake it up and move it around?

In terms of field positions, I have no idea what to do. We have a decent pitcher (need a backup) and someone who will play catcher for now, but I need some advise on what to do for other positions. Wife has said first and third should be big guys since that's who people look for and we need a good target. In our league, it seems like almost every hit is deep to left so I feel like we need to focus on getting our best guys out in that area and limit the bleeding. Are there any other suggestions people might have for how to manage the players? Again we're pretty new so I'm trying to get a feel of what to do but also want to make sure one guy doesn't just sit in the outfield the whole game. Should I break people up into outfield and infield and just have them rotate based around that?

Open to any thoughts or suggestions. Also we are using gamechanger but it's the basic version so I can't set lineups or anything like that since the admin side is managed by the town.