Excitement can turn to confusion when you go to buy some softballs for your new league. At the store you'd see a variety of softballs -- different sizes, different colors, different codes and different-colored dots. The dots are the Worth company's coding system for each ball. Buy the right one used by your league.
Bounce Rate and Hardness
Every softball is rated for coefficient of restitution, shortened to COR, and compression. COR shows you how bouncy the ball is, measured at a bounce-back speed ratio. If a 0.44 COR softball is fired at a wall at 100 miles per hour, then it would bounce off that wall at 44 miles per hour. A lower number signifies a less bouncy ball. Compression is how hard the surface of the ball feels and is listed in pounds. The higher the compression; the harder it feels, the more it hurts and the farther it flies.
Worth's Dot System
The dots on Worth softballs are a visual way to tell how bouncy and hard each ball plays. Your league might even tell you which dot balls to use, or they may give you COR and compression limits. The 12-inch blue dot ball is larger than the 11-inch green dot ball. It's also bouncier, with a 0.47 COR versus the 0.44 COR of the green dot. All blue dot balls have a max compression of 525, while the 400-pound green dot balls feel softer. Generally, blue dot balls are used for men's slow pitch and green dots for women's.