Section 2: Equipment
Bat. Per Appendix 2.A, an official bat must be of one-piece, multi-piece permanently assembled, or two-piece interchangeable construction, stamped with the WBSC (or former ISF 2005) approved marking. A bat must be no more than 86.4 cm (34 in.) long and no heavier than 1,077.0 g (38 oz.), and no more than 5.7 cm (2¼ in.) in diameter at its largest part (a tolerance of 0.80 mm/&frac132; in. is permitted for expansion). Non-wooden bats must have a safety grip of cork, tape, or composition material at least 25.4 cm (10 in.) long and a safety knob of at least 0.6 cm (¼ in.) protruding at a 90-degree angle from the handle. A separate warm-up bat, marked "warm-up" in 3.2 cm letters on the barrel and with a barrel end in excess of 5.7 cm, may only be used per Appendix 2.B.
Ball. Per Appendix 3, the official softball is a smooth-seamed or flat-surfaced, concealed-stitched 30.5 cm (12 in.) ball measuring between 30.2 cm (11⅞ in.) and 30.8 cm (12⅛ in.) in circumference, weighing between 178.0 g (6¼ oz.) and 198.4 g (7 oz.), with not less than 88 stitches sewn by the two-needle method. Balls used in WBSC Competitions must carry a white or yellow optic cover with white or red stitching, a Coefficient of Restitution (COR) of .47 or under, and require no more than 170.1 kg (375 lb.) of load force to compress the ball 0.64 cm (0.25 in.), per the ASTM test methods adopted by the WBSC Equipment Standards Commission.
Gloves and mitts. Rule 2.4.1 permits any player to wear a glove, but only the catcher and first baseman may use a mitt (a glove with a solid, deeper pocket and no separated finger slots). No top lacing or webbing on a first baseman's or catcher's mitt, or a fielder's glove, may exceed 12.7 cm (5 in.) in length. A pitcher's glove may be any color, provided no part of it (including lacing) is the color of the ball; any glove or mitt with white, gray, or yellow optic circles that give the appearance of a ball is illegal (Rule 2.4.1d).
Helmets. Rule 2.1.9 requires an on-deck batter, batter, batter-runner, runner, youth coach, and bat person to wear a helmet with two ear flaps and safety features equal to or greater than those provided by full plastic cladding with padding on the inside; a helmet that is cracked, broken, dented, or altered is illegal and must be removed from the game.
Catcher's protective equipment. Rule 2.4.3 requires every catcher to wear a mask, throat protector, and helmet, including while receiving warm-up pitches from the pitcher's plate or in the warm-up area. Both adult and youth catchers must also wear a body protector and shin guards offering protection to the kneecap while on defense.
Shoes and uniforms. Rule 2.4.2 requires all team members to wear shoes with canvas or leather uppers, ordinary metal or molded cleats (spikes not extending more than 1.9 cm/¾ in.), with hard plastic, nylon, or polyurethane spikes prohibited at any level. Rule 2.5.1 requires all players on a team to wear uniforms alike in color, trim, and style, including mandatory caps for male players, and a contrasting-color Arabic number 15.2 cm (6 in.) tall on the back of every shirt, with no two players on a roster wearing the same number.