mike leonard
Addicted to Softballfans
A friend of mine plays on a team that won these in a tournament last week and they are not big fans of Easton, but he knew that I liked them and offered me a 28 oz. for $125. I figured for that money if nothing else I could beat it up in bp. To get a perspective on what I like, I think that the 15BH is the best bat Easton has ever made. I have an scn 17 and 19 and I don't care for those bats at all, I had a St100 but traded it for a 100H and like it a lot better. The point I am trying to make is I like the short barreled end loaded Eastons, and I prefer the Stealths to the one piece bats. I asked about this bat earlier this week and Louconn came on and said they were very good so I thought I would give this a try.
When I first felt the bat I thought this doesn't have 3 0zs of end load in it. One of my other friends had his L1 there and it definitely felt more end loaded than the L5. Like I said if I didn't like it I could always just beat it up in bp. We were hitting on a small field 275 to the fence, there is a road behind it and we measured down the line and it was like 317 to the curb on the other side of the road.
At first the bat hit very stiff, I was hitting line drives, but they did not have the zing on them, I always rotate the barrel after every swing, and a lot of the balls were just getting over the 275 fence. What I really liked about the bat is that it felt so smooth swinging thru the zone, even though it did not feel end loaded it was a real smooth swinging bat. Soon the line drives started to get a little more speed thru the infield, and the long balls were landing about middle of the road. Then I would say after 30 some odd swings the bat just started going off. I hit one to left center, remember it is 317 down the line, and 10 feet back of the road a row of trees start, and it hit up into the trees, so if it is 317 down the line I am thinking at least 327 to LCF and 337 to the trees, and it hit well up into the trees. My friend who does not like Eastons turned to me and said I might need to give you your money back and take that bat if it does that (he was kidding of course). From that point on that bat was really fun to hit, I was launching them to see how high up into the trees I could hit them, there is even a telephone pole closer to center that is along the line of trees that I hit it over.
I don't think this bat is ready to take over for my 15BH with 1,000's of hits on it, but I was very pleased with the results of this bat, and only has 75 swings on it so far, my friend hit this bat and he said it was the best Easton he has ever swung, still didn't make him put his Z2+ down but he was impressed. I think if you like smooth swinging end loaded bats, and don't want to pay $300 for a bat these are a very good alternative. If this bat wakes up even more I might have to retire the 15BH.
When I first felt the bat I thought this doesn't have 3 0zs of end load in it. One of my other friends had his L1 there and it definitely felt more end loaded than the L5. Like I said if I didn't like it I could always just beat it up in bp. We were hitting on a small field 275 to the fence, there is a road behind it and we measured down the line and it was like 317 to the curb on the other side of the road.
At first the bat hit very stiff, I was hitting line drives, but they did not have the zing on them, I always rotate the barrel after every swing, and a lot of the balls were just getting over the 275 fence. What I really liked about the bat is that it felt so smooth swinging thru the zone, even though it did not feel end loaded it was a real smooth swinging bat. Soon the line drives started to get a little more speed thru the infield, and the long balls were landing about middle of the road. Then I would say after 30 some odd swings the bat just started going off. I hit one to left center, remember it is 317 down the line, and 10 feet back of the road a row of trees start, and it hit up into the trees, so if it is 317 down the line I am thinking at least 327 to LCF and 337 to the trees, and it hit well up into the trees. My friend who does not like Eastons turned to me and said I might need to give you your money back and take that bat if it does that (he was kidding of course). From that point on that bat was really fun to hit, I was launching them to see how high up into the trees I could hit them, there is even a telephone pole closer to center that is along the line of trees that I hit it over.
I don't think this bat is ready to take over for my 15BH with 1,000's of hits on it, but I was very pleased with the results of this bat, and only has 75 swings on it so far, my friend hit this bat and he said it was the best Easton he has ever swung, still didn't make him put his Z2+ down but he was impressed. I think if you like smooth swinging end loaded bats, and don't want to pay $300 for a bat these are a very good alternative. If this bat wakes up even more I might have to retire the 15BH.