I play a lot of softball here in San Diego. Like most places outside Chicago, it’s 12". Next week I’ll be organizing what I grew up with…16". Not sure of what bats are being used in Chicago these days. Wood? Aluminum? Composite?
Thanks.
Wood. The leagues I played in (this was the 90’s and 00’s mind you) would check each bat and it had to have “16 inch official” stamped on it by the manufacturer. Any good sporting store in Chicago will have plenty of them.
Thanks. Anyone know if there is any difference between a “16 inch softball” bat and an “ASA” softball bat?
What exactly is “12 inch softball” or “16 inch softball”? I’m having a hard time thinking of anything in softball which could plausibly have those measurements.
It’s the circumference of the ball. I’m totally being whooshed here, aren’t I? 
No, I assumed that they would use the diameter of the ball as the sizing dimension and I think Chronos did as well. Weird that they would use the circumference.
Yeah, when I hear “12 inch ball”, I think basketball-sized (or a bit larger, I think), not softball-sized.
Baseballs are measured by circumference. Even in Major League Baseball.
*By definition, a baseball is “9 to 9.25 inches or 22.86 to 23.495 centimeters in circumference.” That means that the diameter is between 2.864788975 and 2.944366447 inches or 7.276564 and 7.478691 centimeters (an average of 2.904577711 inches or 7.377627 centimeters).
The weight is defined as, “between 5 and 5.25 ounces or 141.747615625 and 148.8349964063 grams.”*
It makes perfect sense. It’s fairly easy to measure the circumference with a tape measure. Not so easy to get an accurate diameter without some kind of caliper.
Good point
The NSA states:
You can find the rulebook here:
http://www.playnsa.com/Rulebook.aspx