News-Record.com

GREENSBORO -- Rest assured Josh Leonard needs no help hitting a softball. With his thick, muscular arms, he could swat home runs with a straw.

But that was before Leonard joined an experimental softball league this summer. Twice a week, his bulging biceps are no match for that piece of white ash in his hands.

Leonard's new league requires him to leave his high-tech, double-walled aluminum bat at home and use a wooden bat.

In the four games he's played in the city-run wooden bat league at Rankin Field, he has learned to appreciate hitting the way it used to be.

"It gives you a lot more respect for the major league guys who have to use wood bats all the time," said Leonard, who plays for Westover Church. "It's a completely different game (with wooden bats) than with metal."

That's exactly what Don Tilley was hoping for. July is normally a month of rest for the city's estimated 3,000 softball players, a brief respite between the spring church and industrial leagues and the co-ed and modified leagues of August.

Tilley, an assistant athletics director for the city's parks and recreation department, was looking for something to fill the gap. He borrowed the wooden-bat idea from the Baptist Athletic Union, a Greensboro-based softball league that came up with the idea last year.

Six teams are competing in the city's inaugural season, a number Tilley said could double by next summer as word trickles out about the new league.

"There's a lot more strategy with a wooden bat," said Tilley. "You can't just swing away and hit the ball hard. You have to place the ball more than anything else."

That's a common refrain from players, who are used to the extra spring an expensive aluminum bat provides. Indeed, most softball games today resemble a video game. Scores of 22-15 or 19-16 are the norm in traditional softball leagues, many of which limit the number of home runs a team can hit during a game (any homer over the cap is an out).

By contrast, there hasn't been a home run in the 24 wooden bat games played at Rankin this month.

"You can't rely on the big hit," said Kenneth Wolfe. "You have to string your hits together and get a run here and there."

Wolfe, 51, grew up using a wooden bat in Little League. He switched over to aluminum bats when he made the transition to softball, but has enjoyed his summer fling with wood.

"Defense is a big part of this league," said Wolfe, who plays for Richard's Delicious Seasoning. "The outfielders are in a lot closer and the shortstop usually plays in a step or two because you're not going to see the long ball as much."

No better example came when Leonard, one of Westover Church's power hitters, went after a fat pitch over the plate. With an aluminum bat, Leonard might have ended up on second base with a double. Instead, he hit a short fly ball that the shortstop easily ran down.

Wooden bat leagues have a downside. Namely a lot of broken bats. The city supplies them to teams at cost, $20, but teams can find their own.

Tilley said the league has other benefits: Wooden bats close the talent gap between teams, making games more competitive. And the games themselves usually go the full six innings in the 55-minute time limit -- something that doesn't always happen in other leagues.

Still, not everyone loves the new league. Donovan Hofacker, a member of Westover, misses the extra pop his aluminum bat used to supply.

"To hit it as hard as I do and watch it never leave the infield is frustrating," he said. "Sad, actually."

Contact Robert Bell at robert.bell@news-record.com or 373-7055