The United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA) announced yesterday that following further consideration, it lifted its ban on the 29” and 30” models of the popular DeMarini CF Zen ¾” -10 model bats (pictured above).
USSSA, a governing body of youth baseball action nationwide had disallowed the bats from play since April 13, 2018 after slightly altering its testing protocol from the prior year. According to a release by the bat maker DeMarini, the bat was approved in all lengths by the USSSA in mid-2017 using the established testing guidelines.
But after delivering the 2018 version of the bat in the fall of 2017, USSSA made slight, but significant changes to its testing which caused certain sizes to be suspended from USSSA play, according to DeMarini.
USSSA said yesterday that effective immediately the previously banned bats will be allowed in USSSA sanctioned play. However, a number of lengths at the drop 10 level are still on the disallowed list including 28”, 31” and 32” 2018 DeMarini CF Zen.
A bat goes through a series of tests to determine its safety, among other factors. In this instance this piece of equipment failed USSSA’s BPF test which was performed the second week of April 2018. In 2017, the same series of bats, the popular CF Zen, also failed the BPF test but would ultimately be re-engineered and approved, according to JustBats.com.
Wilson Sporting Goods, the owner of DeMarini, has offered youth players an exchange for their disallowed bats if a claim is submitted through their website. A 2018 version of the bat will be replaced with a 2019 CF Zen (-10) 2 3/4”.
It is important to note that this bat is not banned universally in youth baseball. There are a number of other sanctioned organizations that allow the popular make and model such as: Travel Ball Select, East Cobb Baseball Facilities, Baseball Youth, Triple Crown, among others.
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