Striking out on player safety?

Among the differences you'll notice between high school baseball and softball in California is that while most baseball players do not wear protective masks on their helmets, all softball players do.

They have to.

Elizabeth Kyle, commissioner of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Northern Section, said that the face masks are mandatory on all batting helmets worn by high school softball players in the state. High school baseball players, however, are not required to wear such equipment.

This is where California, along with every other state that does not make the face masks mandatory, is striking out when it comes to fully protecting our children.

Am I thinking more like a parent than a sports editor? Absolutely. I was a parent long before covering high school sports for newspapers. If you dismiss my point of view, maybe you should view it through Mike Clegg's eyes, which have no doubt shed buckets of tears in the past week. He buried his 16-year-old son Tuesday. Patrick Clegg died after being struck in the head by a pitch during a high school baseball game in Missouri.

The younger Clegg was reportedly attempting to turn away from an inside pitch when it struck him under his helmet. It is unclear where exactly the ball struck him, although if in an area not normally protected by a batting helmet, a face mask would have absorbed and deflected the blow.
 
Can you imagine not only the pain felt by Patrick Clegg's parents, but also imagine what the opposing pitcher is dealing with? There is absolutely no reason a teenage baseball player should have to live with the knowledge that a ball they threw killed someone.
 
I've seen area softball players get hit in the head this year, and I've also seen area baseball players foul off balls that then struck them either in the helmet or face. Yes, getting hit by pitches is part of the game, and the odds of the same deadly outcome occurring from being hit by a pitch may be one in a million. But if that "one" is preventable, it's something we must do.

Make face masks mandatory on ALL batting helmets worn by high school baseball and softball players. It's a decision our children can live with.

Contact Craig Purcell at 824-1036 or sports@tcnpress.com.