Composite Bats....

Unless I'm mistaken, there is no regulation related to composites. Usually you can tell by a clear distinction where the wood meets the composite material. Several manufacturers now have composites with no "transition".  If if has BBCOR silkscreen, bat is OK. If it a BESR bat, It must be on CIF approved list. Some sneeky coaches try to have the Demarini CF3 allowed. Only the CF4 is on the approved waiver list. Hope this helps a little.

Starting next year the NFHS will follow in the steps of college concerning bats.  All bats next year MUST have a BBCOR silkscreen on them.  The confusion has been this current season we are in.  And again, to the best of my knowledge, this only applies to the Federation of High School Sports.  There are two types of bats, wood, or non-wood.  Wood bats do not fall into this.  So, that leaves non-wood.  There are several types of non-wood bats.  We are concerned with the barrel only.  So basically, the barrel is either aluminum or compositie.  If it is an aluminum barrel bat, it must have a BESR silkscreen on it.  That's it.  Don't make it any harder.  Look for that silkscreen and you're good to go.  Composite bats that I have seen will say composite somewhere on the barrel. Now it gets realy confusing when the bat says half and half.  Normally handle is composite, but barrel is aluminum. So again, go by barrel.  If it is truly a composite bat, it must be on the list that is provided on the NFHS web-site.  If it's not there, they can't use it.  I have personally made my own little list I carry in my score cad holder.  Smaller than an index card because there are only four or five companies that make them.  It's actually pretty simple.  I have heard Little League International has addressed this, but not sure of their outcome.  All we have to do is get through this year, next year it's BBCOR or nothing.  Hope this helps.

Brad

You describe the National Federation rules correctly. In California was are under a slightly different set or restrictions. The CIF adopted next years standards this year. So all aluminum bats in California must have BBCOR properly displayed from the manufacturer. Composite bats must be BESR and on the ABI tested list. So there are only 7 composite bat types in use in California HS bat rules. We are having some difficulties here because some coaches have only read the NFSH rules and not the CIF more restrictive rules. Also both groups have lists of accepted bats which are not interchangeable. Next year should be much easier for everyone all non wood bats must be BBCOR.