The NCAA Softball Rules Committee has obtained data from swing-speed testing that validate the use of the current bat standard.

The committee initiated the testing in conjunction with the Amateur Softball Association to determine for the first time the swing speed of the female collegiate student-athlete.

The field testing, which was completed at the same site as the Women's College World Series at the end of May, repeated research the ASA previously had completed for male slowpitch players to determine the ASA 2004 Bat Standard currently used in the collegiate game.

"Without this field test, we didn't know the swing speed of our student-athletes, which is a big part of the bat standard," said Christi Wade, chair of the Softball Rules Committee and head softball coach at Saint Leo University. "The science had always suggested that the bat standard was applicable for our game. Now we have proof."

The ASA 2004 Bat Standard uses a laboratory testing speed of 110 miles per hour, which includes the male slowpitch swing speed of 85 miles per hour with the incoming pitch speed of 25 miles per hour. The swing speed for the fastpitch student-athlete was determined to be 60 miles per hour, which, coupled with the 60 miles per hour pitch speed, would call for a test of 120 miles per hour.

"The current test is performed at 110 miles per hour, and our game technically calls for a test of 120 miles per hour," said Dee Abrahamson, the committee's secretary-rules editor and NCAA representative on the ASA Equipment Standards Committee. "The laboratory testing indicates that performing the test 10 miles per hour faster will not change the results of the test."

The ASA 2004 Bat Standard measures the batted-ball speed or exit speed. Any bat that measures below 98 miles per hour is certified under the standard. The committee also learned that the 98 mile per hour standard in slowpitch equates to a 67 mile per hour batted-ball speed in fastpitch. The difference can be attributed to the swing speed being 80 percent of the batted-ball speed (or exit speed off of the bat), and the pitch speed is about 20 percent.

The Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet approved $25,000 for the study, which included Divisions I, II and III student-athletes and also incorporated high-school student-athletes and two Olympians.

"Now that we have confidence that the standard is applicable to our game, we can make adjustments, if desired," Wade said. "We are going to spend the next six months asking coaches what they think about the speed of the game. Is it too fast, is it too slow?"

The committee will use its annual rules survey in April to ask coaches about the speed of the game and discuss the future of the standard during its annual meeting in July.

"It is only the second year that we have had the reduced COR (coefficient of restitution), so it is important for coaches to experience another season with the current bats and balls," Wade said. "We are not going to make any knee-jerk reactions. We are going to continue to do our homework."