Technology is now moving into high school softball. The National Federation of State High School Associations announced Monday that high school softball coaches will be able to use electronic devices in the dugout for one-way communication to their catcher beginning with the 2025 season.
The change was the biggest of the NFHS Softball Rules Committee’s two rules recommendations that came out of the committee’s annual rules meeting held June 9-11 in Indianapolis.
Sandy Searcy, NFHS director of sports and liaison to the Softball Rules Committee says “The committee has made these changes to support the use of emerging technology within the sport of softball. Being a permissive rule, the use of this one-way electronic communication will allow those who choose to embrace the technology an additional option to communicate with the catcher while on defense. It will also maintain the ability for those who prefer a more traditional approach to communicate using signals or a playbook/playcard to continue that approach.”
Devices such as earpieces, electronic bands, and smart watches are now permitted. The exception to the rule is that the player is not able to utilize the device to return information to the coaching staff.
Prior to the rule change, team personnel could record or transmit information pertaining to their players or team’s performance but could not relay that info directly to players on the field during the course of play.
Umpires will be allowed to issue a warning for a violation of the rule if they deem it to be minor in nature. If an umpire deems the violation to be major or is repeated after a warning, the violator is subject to ejection from the game.
Coaches are prohibited from using the device to communicate with any other defensive player or any offensive player, and cannot use the device outside of the area of the dugout or bench.
