By: Gordon Wise - - - ISC Information Officer

March 17, 2003

International Softball Congress Executive Director Ken Hackmeister and President Dick Mason have announced that at the present time, the ISC will NOT ban those bats which have been declared illegal by the Amateur Softball Association of America.

The reasons given by the leadership of the ISC include:

1. ISC competition includes many players and some teams which are not US citizens and the ASA is the only National Governing Body that has banned these bats. Additionally, the International Softball Federation has not banned the bats.

2. There have been no high speed testing data of bats and balls which could be applied to the men's fastball game.

3. The ISC doe not feel it is proper to expect working umpires to have the responsibility for checking every bat, every game, and matching it against a banned bat list which may change weekly.