fastpitch softball bat

Question
I bought my daughter a new Worth Storm 30/17  -13 bat. She has used it once in batting practice and says it stings her hand. She has never complained of that in her 4 years of softball. Will a
-13 have a higher sting than say a -10? Which is better for her?

Answer
Mike,

You have asked about the most subjective question in youth fastpitch.  I don't know if I can answer your question, but I will attempt to steer you in the right direction.  

Bats are subjective to the batter.  In our case that is teenage or pre-teen girls.  The value they place on something is often based on what their friends think.  Fortunately it sound like your DD has a valid issue with the bat not a subjective one.   

First of all if she can't hit the ball without stinging and there are other bats that don't sting, I think that you automatically head in that direction.  I am not sure how much swing weight has to do with whether a bat stings or not, I will leave that for another discussion.  

After four years of softball I am assuming that your DD is a 14U player.  It seems to me that 30" drop 13 bat is tiny even for 12U use.  I know that there are many promoters of light bats to increase bat speed.  I am  not one of them.  I believe that you use the heaviest bat that you can while maintaining correct mechanics and good swing speed.  I am leaving slapping out of this discussion as that is an entirely different animal.  With proper mechanics of keeping the hands inside the ball and using body rather than the hands to swing the bat.  You can move to a much more substantial stick.  The end result is good bat speed and a very hard hit ball.  You will have fly balls that become bombs hit to the fence or beyond, live drives that hit the gaps before an outfielder can drop step and ground balls that burn through the holes or careen off of the glove of all but the best infielders.

Have your DD swing the heaviest bat that she will tolerate personally while maintaining good mechanics and bat speed.  There is my two cents.  BTW, my 19 year old swings a 34" drop 10, my 15 year old swings either a 34" drop 8 or a 33" drop 9.  My 17 year old swings a 32" drop 10.  Three very different girls with very different abilities.

Best of luck on this one.

Tom