A softball pitching machine in accordance with the present disclosure is configured to lob a softball along an arcuate path with forward spin to mimic the motion of an underhand, slow pitched softball from a human pitcher. The softball pitching machine includes a throwing arm having a curved hand configured to move along a predetermined arcuate path to a preset stopping point that imparts the arcing path and the forward spin on the softball.

The invention describes a bat for baseball or softball having a composite or metallic outer barrel and an insert assembly formed from composite or metallic materials and soft foam materials. The invention describes a number of embodiments of the insert assembly which may include adjustable floating or fixed power cones and adjustable sleeves, as well as a dual wall construction with the radially outer wall having an annular gap to allow limited directional flex of the radially outer wall of the insert assembly upon impact with a ball.

Protective equipment for protecting a portion of a user's body (such as a leg guard for protecting part of a user's leg) may include a cap configured to cover a first portion of a user's body and a cap-extension element connected to an end of the cap and configured to cover at least another portion of the user's body. The cap-extension element is removable from the cap and connectable to the cap via an attachment mechanism. The attachment mechanism may include a tab element on the cap-extension element that connects to a socket element on the cap. The protective equipment may include a cap liner attached to the cap, a cap-extension liner attached to the cap-extension element, and the attachment mechanism may include liner-attachment elements on the liners.

A method of making a ball bat may include forming a bat frame with a handle and an inner barrel structure, providing spacer elements extending radially outwardly from the inner barrel structure, and forming a barrel shell having a main barrel and a tapered section. An inner diameter in the tapered section may be equal to an outer diameter of a first one of the spacer elements. The method may include mechanically locking the barrel shell to the bat frame by passing the handle through the barrel shell and moving the barrel shell toward the inner barrel structure until the barrel shell contacts the first one of the spacer elements. A gap is maintained between an outer diameter of the inner barrel structure and the barrel shell. The barrel shell may deflect during a hit to create a trampoline effect, while the inner barrel structure limits the deflection.

A pneumatic ball launcher includes a tube, a ball pathway unit, a push unit, a holding unit, an airway unit and a pneumatic unit. The ball pathway unit is used for connecting one end of the tube and wrapping part of a ball channel of the tube. The push unit includes a push bar, a slide base, a first driver and a second driver. The holding unit, detachably connected with the push unit, is used for holding the ball pushed by the push bar. The airway unit is connected with the holding unit. The pneumatic unit includes a valve mechanism, a pneumatic cylinder and a gas tank. When the valve mechanism opens to allow the gas tank to discharge into the holding unit via the airway unit, the ball held by the holding unit would be ejected out of the tube.

A system is disclosed that includes a ball-throwing machine included within a first housing, a controller communicatively coupled to the ball-throwing machine and included within a second housing different than the first housing, a camera, and a non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon logic, the logic being executable by one or more processors to perform operations including: receiving information associated with a selection of a first training drill from the controller, responsive to receiving the information associated with the selection of the first training drill, causing the ball-throwing machine to impart motion to one or more balls in accordance with the first training drill, receiving multimedia data of a player captured by the camera, and performing a player recognition procedure to locate the player within the multimedia data.

A slide training apparatus is provided including a slide support structure. The slide support structure includes side supporting elements and a cross bar supported by the side supporting elements and having an adjustable height. The side supporting elements may be attached at lower ends to feet, wheels, or base support elements. The apparatus may further include a mat disposed at least partially under the slide support structure.

A training bat for optimizing the swing of a hitter includes a barrel portion and a handle portion connected to the barrel portion. The handle portion includes a handle having a generally cylindrical exterior surface that is engaged by a user to enable the user to grab and swing the training bat. The generally cylindrical exterior surface has a handle diameter sized large enough to substantially inhibit at least one hand of the user from wrapping around the generally cylindrical exterior surface when said at least one hand of the user grabs the generally cylindrical exterior surface of the handle to swing the training bat.

A bat, which has a hollow barrel and an internal assembly configured to resist deformation of the hollow barrel, is disclosed. The internal assembly includes a rod disposed longitudinally in the hollow barrel, a ring attached to the rod, a deformable sleeve disposed around the ring and extending longitudinally in the hollow barrel. The sleeve can include an outer diameter smaller than an inner diameter of the hollow barrel. The bat can include an end cap attached to an end of the hollow barrel and having a recess configured to receive an end of the rod. The rod can be configured to maintain the deformable sleeve in a predetermined suspended position within the hollow barrel such that, when the bat is at rest, the sleeve is disposed a predetermined gap distance from an inner surface of the hollow barrel.

A luminous safety ball including an inner glowing body and a foam sphere covering the inner glowing body is provided. The inner glowing body is not a perfect sphere, the foam sphere has a non-uniform thickness, and light emitted by the inner glowing body passes through the foam sphere and permeates through a surface of the foam sphere to form light with different brightness thereon.