The NCAA Softball Rules Committee is considering on-site compression bat testing at preliminary rounds and the finals of the Divisions I, II and III championships by 2011.

For the last three years, bats have undergone extensive lab tests to measure their performance level at the end of the championships. Those tests were solely for research purposes, with the hope that rules officials could find a way to conduct examinations on-site to determine if a bat complies with NCAA specifications.

By NCAA standards, any bat having an exit speed higher than 98 mph does not comply.

“We’re trying to best predict which bats will fail when they go through the more expensive and time-consuming tests in the lab,” said Dee Abrahamson, the NCAA softball secretary-rules editor. “It involves conducting a compression test of the barrel. If that is a certain number, it is an indicator that the bat isn’t compliant.”

The compression test would be conducted by a portable machine, which is similar in size to a radar gun. Those machines cost about $500 compared to the $750 per bat it costs to conduct the more extensive tests in the lab.

“The next step is to take the machine to regional sites and at the final sites before the tournament begins,” said Abrahamson, senior associate athletic director at Northern Illinois. “We would be able to test a team’s entire selection of bats. We could pull out any bat that the machine indicates shouldn’t be used in play.”

Bats would also be subject to compression tests after a game.

Any bat found to be non-compliant would be removed and the student-athlete or team could be subject to championship misconduct penalties.

The rules committee also reviewed pace-of-play issues and recommended that pitchers take only five warm-up throws between innings. The throws could all be to home plate or to any base as long as the number of throws does not exceed five.

In a recent trend,  pitchers have been delivering to home plate, and the catchers have rolled the ball back simulating a bunt. The pitcher then throws the ball to a base as she would in live play.

“This was never meant to be fielding practice,” Abrahamson said. “If she wants to use her throws going to bases, that is fine, but she only gets five warm-up throws.”

Other proposed rules changes include:

• The committee clarified what constitutes a called game when play conflicts with airline travel. Coaches must communicate the drop-dead time with the opposition and the umpire in the pre-game meeting. The game must go five innings (or four and a half if the home team is winning) to be an official game.
• If a hitter is struck by a pitch while in the batter’s box, she will be awarded first base regardless if she tried to avoid being struck by the ball. Previously, the umpire had to judge whether the batter in the box tried to avoid being hit by the pitch. The umpire still can keep the batter in the box if, in his/her judgment, the batter initiated the contact by trying to get hit by the pitch.
• Any coach who argues balls and strikes will be subject to ejection by the umpires.
• The committee recommended new distances that fences should be from home plate. A permanent fence should be six feet high and be a minimum 190 in left and right field and 200 feet to center field. A temporary fence should be a minimum of four feet high and measure 210 down the lines and 230 to center field. Also, the committee clarified the foul-pole rule. The foul pole should extend 10 feet from the ground and should be immediately adjacent to or attached to the outside of the outfield fence.

The Playing Rules Oversight Panel must approve all proposed rules changes. PROP will examine the softball rules changes during its September 9 conference call.